Attempting to create a smaller radius would snap the sheet.
How to shape plexiglass sheets.
Have another person hold the sheet on either side of the desired bend.
Hold the heating gun approximately 4 inches from the line and direct the heat jet slowly back and forth along your line.
The size shape and optical requirements of the formed part generally.
Place the part of the acrylic to be bent just above the open door wait for it to soften enough and then bend it to the angle desired.
Since plexiglas acrylic sheet is an excellent insulator the surface.
Mark the shape with a black felt tip pen.
If you have a toaster oven set it to about 200ยบ and leave the door slightly ajar.
If you don t have a toaster oven you can carefully use a heat gun to heat the acrylic.
Most scale models won t need bends in acrylic more than 1 16 inch thick.
Force the plexiglass into the desired shape.
Then place the sheet on a table with the marked side facing up.
For a thin sheet of plexiglass that is material up to about 3 16 inch thick use a scoring method not dissimilar from a technique used to cut actual glass.
Moreover clear acrylic sheets can easily be cut down to accommodate whichever shape and size you want.
Have the other person apply slight pressure as you slowly bend the sheet.
Acrylic sheet for better energy efficiency.
Since plexiglas acrylic sheet is opaque to most wavelengths in the infrared spectrum the surface exposed to the heater absorbs almost all the energy.
Use a plastic cutting knife to cut the sheet down to the general overall size.
To create bends for small scale projects in plexiglass perspex or acrylic 1 8 inch and thinner you can use a small torch butane kitchen torches work well a paint stripping heat gun or an embossing heat tool which is a wand that works very similarly to a paint stripping gun.
The rest of the sheet is heated largely by conduction.
Note that the minimum radius of the bend you create is 180 times the thickness of the plexiglass sheet.
The sheet will eventually soften along the bend line.
Wait about 10 minutes for it to warm fully.
Lay the sheet on a flat surface and.
Place the plastic sheet on a cookie sheet and place in an oven set to 250 f.
Plexiglass can be cut by hand using a scoring knife or a dremel tool.
To cut the material with a scoring knife you should make a small cut in the marked area.
The difficulty with small projects having tight bends close together is control of the heat source so the adjoining curve isn t affected.
In both instances you would use a marker or ruler to indicate where you intend to cut it.
For instance the smallest complete circle you could form with a sheet of plexiglass 1 32 inch thick would have a radius of 5 6 inches.
