plastics

Re-Blowmolding Turns Pop Bottles Into Piggy Banks

Re-Blowmolding Turns Pop Bottles Into Piggy Banks

[viddler id=1409630 w=580 h=330]   In this video from Core77, designer Taylor McKenzie-Veal uses a toaster, a two-part wooden mold, and a bit of compressed air to turn an empty sports drink bottle into a plastic piggy bank.  So much win.  [via adafruit] This Little Piggy — Taylor McKenzie-Veal Design More:Homemade Blow-Molding Gun

Continue Reading
Reclaimed Plastic Number 5 Fender

Reclaimed Plastic Number 5 Fender

A bicycle fender made from a reclaimed plastic number 5 food jar and salvaged coat hanger. Submit YOUR upcycled before-and-after idea to the Project Remake Contest – deadline is TODAY at 11:59PM PST.

Continue Reading
Machinable HDPE Blocks From Milk Jugs

Machinable HDPE Blocks From Milk Jugs

Nice “short form” Instructable from user mfoster, who heats milk jug pieces to 350°F, loose, in a pot of canola oil, before pressing them into blocks using a simple scrap-wood mold and a set of manual clamps.

Continue Reading
Easy Vacuum Forming with a Guy Fawkes Mask

Easy Vacuum Forming with a Guy Fawkes Mask

My German pal Aram Bartholl shows you the principles of vacuum forming with his homemade rig for churning out Guy Fawkes masks. The video takes you to 28C3 and other public venues where visitors customized their masks while learning the process.

Continue Reading
What is the World’s Strongest Plastic?

What is the World’s Strongest Plastic?

It’s a simplistic question, possibly even naive. Put it to a chemical engineer or a materials scientist, and she or he will almost certainly not come back with a single answer, but with (at least) two questions: What do you mean by “plastic?” Do thermosetting materials like epoxy count? What about polymers that are reinforced […]

Continue Reading
How-To: Screwdriver Cutlery

How-To: Screwdriver Cutlery

Even if you don’t fancy the idea of a fork, knife, spoon, sporks, spife, knork or other eating utensil with an acrylic screwdriver handle, I was interested to discover, in this Instructable by user Patenteux du Nord, that these common plastic tool handles can be easily removed and )at least to some extent) interchanged by first softening the plastic with heat.

Continue Reading
Small Screw Top Capsules From Plastic Bottle Caps, Necks

Small Screw Top Capsules From Plastic Bottle Caps, Necks

Instructables user bfgreen makes small, lightweight, waterproof containers like this by sawing off plastic soda bottle necks right below the lip, flattening the cut edges on a file, applying cyanoacrylate glue, and clamping. Since these bottles are usually PET, they could also probably be solvent-welded with acetone and other common solvent cements.

Continue Reading