Melting acrylic rods for effects

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**Argive**

Hi My fellow Dakkians!

So a straight forward question; has anyone have experience melting/heating coloured acrylic rods for effects?
If so are there any tips/tutorials?

I wanted to add some Energy/Lightning effect to my farseers hands. I have a blow torch and some acrylic rods.

Appreciate any advice before I melt my fingers off and destroy my freshly painted farseer lol

**Rybrook**

What's the overall effect you want?

Bent rods or melted like lightning has hit

I remember in school some time ago we used to bend acrylic sheets over a strip heater (sort of a one bar electric fire)

Heat enough that it starts to bend then shape it, heat it too much and it will bubble and burn

**Argive**

sort of like this but bulkier and more waterlike..
Damn, I saw a sick conversion somewhere and remember it was done using acrylic rods that have been melted/sculpted but for the life of me, I cannot find it. Should have saved it..

**Rybrook**

That looks like wire or pinning rod that has pva glue on or green stuff maybe

**Argive**

Yeah, i can't find the example I was enamoured by.. NVM I shall try the good ol trial and error method.

**Fajita Fan**

I used a propane torch to bend acrylic rod that was may .25" thick, it'll melt and bubble pretty fast so I just swooshed it over the plastic a few times till it started to bend.

**queen_annes_revenge**

Yeah be careful heating acrylic as it will burn, releasing toxic fumes.
Honestly for effects like that photo I'd just bend a fine wire to your desired shape then use GS. The result will be much more solid.

**Argive**

Yeah I figured it is not a good example of whats in my mind..

The plan is to heat it so its pliable enough to play around with but not burn it/melt it.

**greatbigtree**

You may want to try baking in an oven, instead of the torch.

You’d have a bit more control over temperature, which should make scorching / bubbling less of an issue. Ideally, you’d soften the plastic without melting it.

Start with a lower temp than you think you’d need, let it come up, and then adjust upwards by 5-10 degrees at a time. You should be able to hit the sweet spot of soft but not liquid.

Maybe. If you achieve that, hitting the twisted rods with a coat of contrast should let you create some awesome effects.

**Argive**

I spoke to a guy on a converters FB page and he's given me lots of great tips. Its a trial and error thing unfortunately.. For some reason I believe it will be better than sculpting with green stuff.. Because I suuuuck at greenstuff...

Also have had this idea for a diorama: making a forcefield "bubble". Going to try and do this by getting a thin acrylic sheet and heating it enough to wrap it around a cricket ball to get a spherical effect.

Might make a dedicated thread if I start getting some decent results. Its a titanic IF though haha

**Racerguy180**

you could always do what they do in baking. lay out a silicone mat. inflate a balloon proportionately to the thing you want to enclose, then while the plastic is malleable drizzle it on the mat and invert it over the balloon. it should cool down fast enough to retain the shape of the balloon. then pop the balloon. bam you have "cage/force field/etc" whatever you make it.

**queen_annes_revenge**

If you want to make a forcefield bubble get uv resin from greenstuffworld and pour it on a ball of some kind

**Argive**

That's an excellent suggestion good sir! I already have some UV resin form GSW as it happens

**Da Butcha**

There are heat guns (basically, supercharged hair dryers) that the construction industry uses. Many craft stores sell a less powerful version, which is much less expensive, and less likely to burn down your house. It is much hotter than a hair dryer, but not nearly as hot as an industrial heat gun.

I use it for straightening (or bending) resin. It will melt a plastic base into soft squishiness in very little time, so it might work for bending acrylic rods. Having no acrylic rods, I haven't tried it, but I got the craft heat gun for like $13 US, so it was worth it just for quick drying basecoats and the odd resin warping fix.

**Lance845**

Boil a pot of water and get the heat proof gloves. You dip the acrylic into the water to make it malleable and bend it carefully from there. Dip, a little bend, dip, a little bend.

I used that method to make a visor for a Master Chief helmet I made for a nephew one year.

**oadie**

Broadly speaking, a blowtorch is to much and too concentrated heat for working with plastics like acrylic or styrene. It can be done, with great care, but heat guns, (toaster) ovens, and hot water are a much gentler, more controllable, and safer method (both for you and the plastic). Even using fire, tasks like stretching and bending sprue are generally done over a candle (at most, an alcohol lamp), not the head of a propane/MAPP plumber's torch or a gas stove burner. You want to heat the material through, not burn the surface. Vacuum-forming rigs usually use resistive elements, like you'd find in a toaster, electric oven, or apparently Rybrook's school shop. Lucky.

Thicker sheets are often warmed (stretched in a rigid frame) in enclosed ovens, instead. Lacking the precise thermal controls of an industrial manufacturer, "low and slow" is the name of the game, regardless of thickness or form (sheet, rod, etc.).