Melting Plastic without Scorching

Hi Everyone!

I was wondering if anyone knew how to melt plastic to form an object without scorching it? I have this typical plastic baby toy that I want to form into a bangle. Boiling water was suggested, but I don't think that will soften it enough. I heard about the oven, but I'm not convinced about the fumes, and I'm also unsure it won't scorch the plastic and make it brown or black in places.

Any suggestions, techniques?

Tags: bangle, bracelet, jewellery, melting, plastic, scorching, technique

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Permalink Reply by MAGadmin on February 10, 2009 at 6:52pm: You should be careful of the fumes, they could be toxic if you burn the plastic. I'm not sure if your baby toy plastic will react in the same way but in an acrylic workshop I took at George Brown with Adam Paxon we heated and formed plexiglass with a paint stripper heat gun. You still had to be careful not to scorch or bubble the plastic but you could form it easily when it was hot without any fumes. Once cool the plexi held the new form. I think you might have more control using the heat gun than an oven as you can heat only one area or the whole piece by slowly passing the hot air over the plastic. You can control how hot it gets by varying the height you hold the heat gun over the plastic.
Good Luck
Sara
PS be careful of what you have behind the plastic to be heated, it can get scorched easily, we used pieces of old wooden boards.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Andrew Goss on February 13, 2009 at 10:06am: If the plastic is a thermoplastic, such as acrylic (Perspex etc.) or cellulose acetate, then heat will soften it. Other plastics are more unpredictable and may melt rather than soften.

If it is a thermoplastic, I use a 50:50 mix of water and glycerin and heat it in a saucepan until it starts to boil. You can buy glycerin in most drug stores. The glycerin changes the boiling temperature of water up to about 110-120 degree Celsius, which is about right for thermoplastics. The normal boiling temperature of water, 100 degrees, isn't quite hot enough.; ▶ Reply to This

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