Can you soften Styrene with heat?

Captain Riker · Post by **Captain Riker** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:56 pm

I thought I read somewhere where people take Styrene and put it in a small oven to soften it for molding. Is this possible or would the Styrene just melt/burn?

I was also wondering how much temp the stuff can take.

Johnnycrash · Post by **Johnnycrash** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 11:05 pm

Yes, you can do that. The melting point of styrene is 240 °C (460 Fahrenheit). So, you can do a lot with it BEFORE it melts. It's the main plastic used in vacu-forming.

The main issue with heating styrene, at least with sheet styrene, it has a tendency to curl. A lot depends on what kind of forming you want to do. Different end use will need different methods for best results.

WarpeD · Post by **WarpeD** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 11:07 pm

Yes. And it will burn gloriously spewing wonderously stringy black fumes if you light it on fire. Don't.

Styrene plastic will soften nicely in a small toaster oven to be sure. Since all ovens are a little different, start with a lower setting and work your way up to the desired level of softness. A hair dryer on high will help you bend it, a hot air gun will accomplish a more focused version of the toaster oven melting. Be sure use of any oven or appliance is approved by mom/dad/wife/roommate before doing so. I would recommend using an old used unit purchased second hand instead of the one in your kitchen.

This is a chance to be creative. It's also a chance to cause a fire.

Johnnycrash · Post by **Johnnycrash** » Tue Dec 29, 2009 11:09 pm

WarpeD wrote:This is a chance to be creative. It's also a chance to cause a fire.

Those two things go together very well.

Captain Riker · Post by **Captain Riker** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:53 pm

Thanks for the info. I'm thinking of trying to form a few pieces with a little curve to them. The hair dryer method sounds best. Using any type of oven would probably be best done outside.

Johnnycrash · Post by **Johnnycrash** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:06 pm

How much curve?? It has a bit of a memory. So you can just bend it (gently). It will spring back, but not all the way. Repeat as needed.

As far as the oven outside issue... Not an issue. The only time you have to worry about it is if you do catch it on fire. But if you keep the heat down below it's melting point, you'll have no trouble. You do not need to heat it to that point for forming anyway.

Mark Yungblut · Post by **Mark Yungblut** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 4:31 pm

For small Vacuform job we used to use a heat gun like what they sell to remove paint. Works great once you got the hang of it. The cool part was after the piece was vacuformed you can go back and heat areas that did not pull down all the way while the Vaccuum is rinning.

Cheers,

Mark

Buzzbomb · Post by **Buzzbomb** » Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:48 am

You can also use the hot water method, which is great for creating curves in sheet and rod.

Find a form the right diameter and tape the plastic around it.
Plunge into boiling water (giving due care and attention to the safety, burnies etc etc), leave for a few seconds, remove and plunge into cold water to "set" the shape.

Warped Speedster · Post by **Warped Speedster** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 3:02 am

Just throwing this in.

Sometimes you have a large piece of plastic but you only want a very small area heated or bent. If you're using a hot air gun (or a hair dryer) you can make surgical bends in just a certain portion of plastic by shielding the other areas you don't want heated. Aluminum foil makes a perfect shield (insulator) for blocking hot air. I like using it because it conforms around any shape and sticks there. (Exactly like it's designed to do. Duh.)

I used it to help straighten out some warped ION wing panels on the Hasbro TIE. It took a lot of heat to soften them enough to bend, and I wanted to make sure I didn't deform any other details as I pressed on the panels with my fingers. So using the foil worked pretty good.