Bending Acrylic

Just thought I would share a new way I found to bend acrylic.

Origionally when I did diy projects with acrylic that needs a bend I would take an iron (meant for covering model airplanes) and would run it across the plexiglass until it became hot enough to bend. Unfortunatly it was a long process and the acrylic at the bend didn't look so hot.

So last night I got to thinking about the heat gun you use for the same thing (model airplanes) and decided that it was hotter than the iron, and so I would give it a try. So using the heat gun on a small piece of acrylic, I heated up for about 30 seconds to 1 minute and wala, a wonderful bend that looked wonderful. So then I did the same thing on another piece of acrylic, that was 3" bend and 1/4" acrylic. Took a little longer but once again a perfect bend.

I don't know if I would reccomend it on really large bends, but it works wonders for small bends (3-6" I would say).

Just thought I would share.

I have used a propane torch with great results before. You cant hold it in one spot for any amount of time or it will blister the acrylic.