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JUNE: Tip of the Month

 
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jegner
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Joined: 30 May 2003
Posts: 2144
Location: Texas, USA

PostPosted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 7:51 am    Post subject: JUNE: Tip of the Month Reply with quote

I know it's been a few months since I've added a tip, but I thought I'd try to reanimate this thread. Usually, the tips deal with vacuum forming, or mold making/ props. This month, I'd like to talk about trimming your vac formed plastic. By in large the most common technique to trim your parts out is to use a stout , sharp utility knife, scoring the cut line, and bending and snapping to parts loose. This works great, but sometimes you can crack or break a part if you are not careful.

Another technique is to use a dremel with a cut-off wheel, and use it as a saw. This works pretty well, and can be handy when you need a special trim or cut. Also, a sanding drum on the dremel really helps clean up the edges.

Still another option is to use a 'hot knife' to cut the plastic. These are basically wood-burning tools, or hand-held soldering irons, with a special tip. You have to be careful not to burn stuff with it, but this can be a great option for certain plastics that don't like the score-n-snap technique.

If you have a bandsaw, these work great too. Just be careful, as the plastic tends to stick to the blade after a while, and eventually you will kill the tires on your saw. These can be a pain to find the right parts and replace.

A final option is the die stamp. If your plastic is thin, and your parts small, you can buy or make a die stamp, and hammer out the parts. Commercial printers use this technique all the time, and I suspect that commercial vac-formers have something similar, but think of it as a cookie-cutter on steroids, and you get the idea. Small die stamps can be made from scrap metal, but an edge will need to be applied, and you will want to heat treat it so it keeps it's edge longer.
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TK 109
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Joined: 11 May 2007
Posts: 712
Location: Galena, Ohio

PostPosted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

tin snips, utility knife, and a jigsaw work well for me. Wink and a dremel tool comes in handy as well.
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