ShapeLock is an amazingly useful polycaprolactone plastic that starts to melt and become moldable at 160ºF. When it cools to room temperature it becomes rigid and tough with qualities similar to nylon. By heating it in water with a microwave or using a heat gun, you can easily hand form it into almost anything.
Following on the heels of our Working with ABS piece, here’s a Make: Project that furthers your working with ABS (assembling via rivets) and includes use of translucent polycarbonate sheeting to create a cool dodecahedron lamp.
As part of our Plastics theme, we’ve uploaded Charles Platt’s excellent ABS Plastic Fantastic Desk Set article from MAKE Volume 10. By the time you’re done, you’ll have three handsome, handmade desk set pieces (a pen holder, a CD caddy/drawer, and a book/magazine stand) and a great introduction to working with ABS. What is “ABS” you ask?
In honor of Plastics month here on MAKE, I’m excited to chime in with some of my recent Zero to Maker exploits into the world of silicone. For the non-maker (or “pre-maker,” as I like to say), working with plastic can be revelatory. It opens your eyes to the wonders and possibilities of easily creating everyday objects and provides a new perspective on the way so much of our world is manufactured.
If you’ve ever tried to build a box from clear acrylic, you know how hard it can be to get good-looking joints between the panels. The folks at TAP Plastics have gotten pretty good at it, but even they admit that the basic slab-joint method “will not produce museum grade products.” This video was produced by the German firm…
A while back I did some experimentation with stewing plastic bags in canola oil and then pressing them into solid forms. The process I followed used this method for molding a self-lubricating replacement bushing on a washing machine. While the results were certainly interesting, they had a side-effect of being impregnated in the oil, leaving grease stains in their path forever.
I love clockwork things. (I’ve built a couple of clocks myself) and so I am seriously impressed by the work of Chris Raynerd over at the raynerd.co.uk site. He’s only 28 and has already managed to equip himself with some excellent machining skills.
