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I don't have any metalworking tools or skills, so I've started fooling around with bending some Lexan that I've had around the house. (I use it to close off the space above our air conditioners since our windows all slide horizontally, not vertically.) Lexan is GE's name for polycarbonate plastic sheeting, BTW.
I got Brenda one of the closeout HP Touchpads, and was really annoyed at having to hold it the entire time I used it. Here's what I did with a scrap piece of Lexan (3/32 thick). I just heated the areas I wanted to bend with a propane torch and then bent them over the edge of the workbench:
Next, I fooled around with an idea for mounting the Droid Razr in the car. You can see where too much heat from the torch caused the moisture in the plastic to cause bubbling when it got too hot.
I wanted to do some brackets to adapt an SV1000S fairing to the upper fairing subframe of an EX500. The shapes were all compound curves, and I figured heating it in a stove would be better than using a torch. However, I couldn't find anything really helpful online. So, I've experimented on my own, and thought somebody might get something of value out of this.
Here's what I've learned so far. Lexan will bend, barely, at 250°. It'll bend more easily at 275°. At 310°, it bends really easily. At 350°, it becomes like silly putty, but only for about thirty seconds.
So far, I've made three brackets for the EX. They don't look terribly great, but they're strong as heck!
I've discovered some useful things along the way.
1.Use insulated gloves. Trust me on this one.
2.It's helpful to have a pot of cold water nearby for when you forget rule #1.
3.Going up on the temperature is best done s l o w l y. I spent 2 hours going up from 175° to 350° today to make the last bracket, going up in 25° steps. Even doing 15 minutes at 175° and then jumping right to ten minutes at 250° caused bubbling.
4.If your wife agrees to let you use the stove, be nice and put down some tin foil on the baking sheet. Move the plastic piece around on the foil every half hour or so, so it won't stick to the foil when you're ready to work with it.
5.Once you're ready to bend the plastic, you've got a minute or less. Be ready.
6.Cut broad shapes before heating. This way, when a piece bubbles on you, you won't have wasted 45 minutes crafting that groovy shape you were hoping to have. Cut the finer aspects later. (A rotary tool works fine.)
7.When you're cutting with a rotary tool, the plastic gets flung out at you, and it's hot. (See rule #2.)
8.Drilling is best done with the finest bit you've got, and working up.
Here's how I learned about rule #3.
I'd be interested to hear what others' experiences are. Whatcha got?
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Originally Posted by dontpanic
