Dare82

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Sculpty?...I gotta try that stuff then

Mercruisin

no luck with my sister on the clay (or sculpty). i'm gonna check a few art stores locally tomorrow, but i have no idea how well that will work out. my mom had this stuff (i think it was called fimo) and she said it was hella expensive. hopefully sculpty is cheaper.

Dare82

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I used regular modeling clay But I didn't use a blowtorch And I did it outdoors.

FlyingV77

thats excatly what i ment. it should prvent any wrinkles from forming as well.

Mercruisin

found out that sculpty is really sculpey. super sculpey looks to be the best. not coloured or anything. but they say to bake it at 130 for 15 minutes for every 1/4 inch of thickness. so, my question is, would 200 degrees hurt it? i also read that people have had it discolour when it was too hot. its a polymer based clay, so wouldnt a higher heat than the suggested 130 hurt it? i dont need the mould to start melting before the lexan does.

ThaMatrixHazU

I wouldn't over heat it ... I normally follow the baking instructions. Something thick may take a long time to bake. From my experience, it starts out white and bakes a lite greyish color, sometimes with a blue/grey tint if it gets too hot. Once that stuff bakes and gets hard, it's not melting!!

Sorry for the name mispelling, but I'm glad you found it.

Mercruisin

No worries on the mis-spellage. beleive it or not, when i did a search for it on the net, i actually came up with a LOT of pages that had it mispelled.

Ok, picked up a pound of super sculpey this afternoon after work. set me back 16 bones. the other kind (i think it was just original sculpey) was on sale for 11, but i figured you get what you pay for. i was amazed at how easy it forms, especially after you've been working it a bit. i used a butter knife to smooth it out. cooked it for about an hour since its about 3/4 inch thick. theyre cooling as i write this. despite what it looks like in the picture, theyre very symetrical. it actually turned out smoother after i baked it. SUPER SCULPEY IS THE SHIZNIT!!

tomorrow's task is to sand them as smooth as possible and then create the negative for both sides. does anyone know how thick it has to be before it wont crack? i only have about a third pound left to do both negatives. it might turn out a little thinner than i'd like. but i guess i dont have to put much pressure on it. but i'm not buying another pound just for that.

Dare82

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HOLY CRAP! Even modeling clay couldn't get as smooth as that! I really gotta try that stuff out!!! But too bad I got no scrap Lexan to work with...

Mercruisin

hey dare, you can buy sheets of lexan at your LHS. they come in 8.5 x 11 sheets. i paid about $3 for one. they basically look like transparencies for overhead projectors except theyre a little thicker. i wouldnt screw around with stuff you've cut off your bodies, there's just not enough there.

Dare82

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Sadly, I don't think my LHS sells Lexan. Even if they did, they would overcharge. I got ripped off last time when I bought an air filter that was 25 bucks.

Mercruisin

hey hey! did the ther****rming tonight. turned out pretty good i must say. i was rather impressed for it being my first attempt at something like this. i only finished one wheel cover, but it looks pretty good. i still have to buff everything (like the glue) to make it all nice. then tomorrow is the other side. should be ready for paint soon.

ok, sure youre all wondering how i did it. i took the moulds (positive and negative) and put a thin layer of vaseline on each one. very thin. it wont light in the oven, and it works GREAT as a release agent. if you dont put it on, you'll have yourself a lexan sandwich thats not coming apart. i heated the moulds at 200 degrees celcius for about 3 - 4 minutes. put the lexan peice on the positive mould and placed the negative mould over it. did the same for the other side and closed the oven door. the lexan wont change shape right away, so, just give it about 10 - 15 seconds. open up the oven again and while wearing some kind of heat protective hand covering (like a glove), push down on the negative and kinda push it all around to make sure its seated right. close the oven door again for about another 10 - 15 seconds. check it to make sure that it's melting all around. take it out and keep applying pressure while letting it cool for a bit, then take the moulds off. should slide out like a bar of wet soap in your hands.

it takes a bit to get the mould technique down. i know there are a few things i would definitely do differently next time. but, it just proves that it CAN be done without a ther****rming unit. as far as doing something with complex and sharp curves and contours, you may have some trouble, but give it a try.

Dare82

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HOLY SHIZNITS! That thing looks sweet...I really gotta try this technique...do you think it will work with regular sheet plastic that isn't polycarbonate?

Mercruisin

thanks man. i could post more pics, but......ahhhh, bandwidth. dont want the mods to start screamin.

as for regular plastic, i dont see why it wouldnt work. its just that it might not be as strong. try some PET (like a pop bottle, but dont use a pop bottle). you'll have to look up the forming temperature for it though. it will guaranteed be lower than the 200 C for polycarbonate. if you end up crackin it up, you can always still make one out of polycarbonate afterwards. just a little word of advice. make the negative mould thick enough. mine was pretty thin and ended up cracking in one spot. dont go cheap on the sculpey. leave lots of extra where your mould is gonna end, in other words, make your peice bigger all the way around than you need. it'll give you more room to play, and also you'll eliminate the possibilities of the edges being wavy (like i got a little on mine).

try it out man, let us know what happens.

Dare82

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I still have to find that Sculpey! But I'm concentrating on my new underglow design right now so it'll be a while before I try making the wing.

Mercruisin

you can find sculpey at any art supply store. sure there's got to be some in the bay area. it doesnt HAVE to be the sculpey brand. there's a number of different polyclays. just ask around the store. if it says you can bake it in your kitchen oven, youre good to go.

ThaMatrixHazU

That's awesome dude! I'm not quite sure how thin it has to be before it cracks, but making chess pieces with it, I've made some rather thin things and they haven't cracked on me yet. Good thing about the sculpey is that you can sand it down, I even wet sand it after it's completely baked and it it gets smooth as a a baby's bottom!

I've turned several friends onto that stuff and everyone that's used it loves it!!

rfoot

Man I wish I would have come to this forum earlier. I form lexan at work from time to time. We use vacuum forming. We make a plug that looks like the part we want then pull an epoxy mold off of it. This is the master mold. A production epoxy mold is made from that and we are ready to form lexan. Heat the lexan at 425 degrees until it just starts to smoke lightly. Then place over the mold and vacuum down. Let it cool for a while and pull it off and trim. It helps if the lexan piece has a wood border attached to the edges for handling. You only get one shot to form lexan. If it doesn't form right the first time, you need to start over with a new piece.

Mercruisin

if i had access to a ther****rmer, do you think i would be screwing around with kitchen ovens and sculpey? i would love to be able to get my hands on something like that, i would go totally nuts and make a totally custom body that would fit my car and everything perfectly. but i dont. so i'm SOL and have to do the kitchen method, which worked fine for what i was trying to do. but thanks anyway.

Dare82

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Yup! Experimenting is the fun part of a hobby! Yea..there are plenty of art stores around here...except I don't like taking public transportations there...I almost got mugged once...

SimSpace

For those interested check out [link=http://www.ther****rming.com/LexanTroubleShoot.htm]LEXAN THER****RMING TROUBLESHOOTER[/link]

Dare82

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Wow...thats a nice link!

rasko

full instructions ther****rming lexan check it http://www.marvin3m.com/vacuum/

Dare82

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WOW...that's a even better link!!!

Mercruisin

check it! just sprayed the copper. its on the outside, so its not too shiny. had to paint the outside cuz of the seams of the wheel covers. the middle's gonna be pearl white. maybe i'll do that tomorrow.

Dare82

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HOLY DONUTS!! That ride is looking sweet dude!!!