Page 1 of 1

Polymorph - make your own plastics

Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 1:58 pm
by Chuckt
I was watching a video on Polymorph. You can boil water, place polymorph in the water and then once it melts, you can mold it or place it in your own molds and then it gets hard until you melt it again. I have no idea if the product is safe or is lead free.


Re: Polymorph - make your own plastics

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 11:43 am
by brad
That would be fantastic for super pixel bros!

Do you know where you can buy it?

Re: Polymorph - make your own plastics

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 1:37 pm
by Chuckt
Yes.

http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10951

I learned about it from this video at 1:34:



It is available at a little more at Robotshop:

http://www.robotshop.com/dagu-polymorph ... mpaign=jos

From what I read, this is non-toxic but read the labels and make sure. I'm sure it isn't healthy to ingest.

I'm sure google is our friend at finding it under other names.

The alternate is Sugru and I think Hackaday might have had a formula for this.

https://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main ... word=sugru

http://www.sparkfun.com/search/results? ... t=products

Hackaday did show some other chemical for making cases but I can't find it. I haven't been able to find it but I think it is more professional.

Re: Polymorph - make your own plastics

Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 1:55 pm
by Chuckt
How to make your own resin:

http://blog.rhysgoodwin.com/fabrication ... enclosure/

This isn't it but I'm trying to find it. This is an eye irritant.

Using polycarbonate filament with a RepRap
http://hackaday.com/2011/09/30/using-po ... -a-reprap/

It was something about a case and spot putty and using a dremel but it was on Hackaday and not Benheck.
http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=23372

It might have been Bondo or ABS cement:
Starting with the case from a Kidz Delight Datamax game, he used Bondo ABS cement and plastic bumper filler to alter the case but still provide a professional look.
http://hackaday.com/2009/11/08/gamecube-to-go/

Now I'm going to search for Bondo.

Case Mod with Bondo and Fillers:

http://www.overclock.net/case-mods-gene ... ers-q.html

This "The Power of Bondo" has some good tutorials on using Bondo to make a case:

The Power of Bondo:
http://hacknmod.com/hack/the-power-of-b ... -tutorial/

When I find a better demonstration on bondo, I will try to post. I saw a really good one on Hackaday but I can't find it. I'm emailing them.

Re: Polymorph - make your own plastics

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 6:09 am
by brad
I wonder how much you get in the box. I see that it says 1000 grams, but if this stuff is really heavy then that means you don't get a whole heap. But then again if it is pretty light, then one box should go a long way. I like that it is reuseable :)

Re: Polymorph - make your own plastics

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 12:27 pm
by Chuckt
I emailed sparkfun about the size of the box. They may try to get back to me sometime on Monday or whenever they get around to it.

Re: Polymorph - make your own plastics

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 8:58 pm
by brad
Excellent!

Re: Polymorph - make your own plastics

Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 12:56 am
by Chuckt
Robotshop sells it and first answered my question:
The bin measures roughly 3x4x6" and the bag inside is about 3/4 full of the pellets. Given that there are many voids between the pellets, we can guess that the space taken up by the melted plastic would be ~1/2 the volume.
Since this stuff melts, I wonder how much you don't get back from repeated meltings. Clothes shrink in the dryer. At what proportion are properties that don't re-solidify are lost in the water? I wonder if there is a home made recipe for this stuff...

Waiting on Sparkfun.....

Re: Polymorph - make your own plastics

Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 1:27 am
by Chuckt
Plastics has a number for recycling. I'm wondering now how they recycle it. Is it possible that certain plastics with certain numbers can be melted like polymorph and that we're throwing away a valuable commodity through recycling?

Re: Polymorph - make your own plastics

Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 7:24 am
by Chuckt
Sparkfun answered:
The box is about 8" x 5.5" x 3.5"

Re: Polymorph - make your own plastics

Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:17 am
by brad
Thanks for the info Chuck!