This hammer holder is my first attempt at thermoforming a 3d printed flat pattern post-printing.
It's ugly, but functional. To make it, I modeled the part in Fusion 360's sheetmetal workspace and printed the flat pattern in Hatchbox PETG.
I put it in my "Weird stuff-not for food" Pyrex on parchment paper.
That went in the oven 5 minutes at 300F = 150C until it was soft enough to easily deform with my finger. Then, I draped it over form. I took too long because I was trying to photograph it and that didn't turn out. I stuck it back in the oven and it went back flat again.
The second time I went faster, and didn't try to film it. I laid the part over the form (the hammer) and held it into place until (burned the bejeezus out of my fingertips and) solidified.
The lack of pressure let it warp, not great. Oops. I tried to tweak it with an open flame heat source. That was a mistake. It burned a thin section. Still, the part is functional.
Lessons learned:
- * Wear gloves. Hot plastic is hot. In hindsight, this is obvious.
- * Dunking the part in water solidifies it to the target shape almost instantly.
- * Don't try to "tweak" it with an open flame.
Things to think about/Experiment with:
- If I'd printed it solid, only bottom and top layers, the infill pattern wouldn't telegraph through and it would look better.
- The jig I use for bending plexiglass, a heating element in a slot of wood, would probably work great for straight bends.
- A wet rag or bucket of water could be used to cool the parts that you don't want to bend.
- A mold to control the shape during thermoforming would significantly improve the quality of the final part.
- Try adding features to the model before printing to encourage it to deform in the desired directions during thermoforming. e.g. a small channel at the bend point.
- (Find where the fairies hid it and...) Try a heat gun instead of using the oven or a lighter.
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