moldable plastics and similar materials

PCL (brand names Instamorph, Polymorph, etc.) is fun to play with but what is it good for? So far I have learned - it's quite strong but flexible - doesn't stick to much of anything except maybe some fabrics, not a substitute for epoxy putty - allegedly non-reactive and non-toxic - takes several minutes to harden, and tends to ooze while it does so you have to hold it in its shape (soaking in cold water helps but still) - can be reused without noticeable degradation, so you can form it into convenient bars, sheets, etc. - OK for handles, but you need a loop or something to make it adhere and it's kinda slippery Pic is a makeshift zip tool for siding. I didn't end up using it much but it sorta worked for what I did. In this thread we could also discuss similar materials like sugru and quiksteel, tips for using them and post projects made with them.

I run a sword making company and in the last few months we started putting a blob of this stuff to the tips of our blades for shipping. It's very fun material to work with. I sometimes use it to make custom grips for tools

>>4551 Recently I've been playing with balls of semi-dried wood-glue putty. The solvent needed to refresh wood glue is nothing more than white vinegar you can get from the grocery store. When worked between your fingers, you can mold wood glue putty into just about any shape and in a few days later it's hard. If you then smash it back up and put it into a jar of white vinegar, it reverts to it's original form and can be used again.

>>4552 Huh, that's a super interesting job. How'd you get into that? I've never tried PCL, definitely used sugru (or home-made and far cheaper substitutes) for a few things, mainly handles and building little ergonomic gizmos and gadgets

I remember PVA smell vaguely similar to diluted white vinegar, does it mean vinegar is the solvent?

What would be the ideal material to use for a wax tablet nowadays? Needs to be easy to "reset" with minimal amount of heat and also be easily digitized by some kind of scanner. Obviously legibility is important; perhaps this can be achieved by contrast with the tablet material underneath, in which case the wax would need to be extremely opaque. The next step would be designing a wax "printer" that can recreate a past tablet state somehow. The ancients used beeswax (I think) but there's probably some superior material discovered since then... anyone? >gotta love the catamite with his nintendo DS, wonder who got him that?

I made some anti-eye-poker-outers for my fenceposts.

>>4709 Aren't those supposed to be as spiky as possible to repel trespassers?

I made some shelf holder bracket thingies. FIrst I 3d printed two part molds, then spray painted them with some "glaze" clear coat to smooth out the ridges. I mooshed the PCL into each side and then mooshed the two sides together. After it cooled I pulled the halves apart and the piece out and then cut the flash off with scissors. It worked pretty good , but I got some bubbles at the bottoms on some of the pieces because there was nowhere for the air to go. I was pleasantly surprised I didn't have much trouble getting the pieces out.

>>4740 those aren't his fenceposts

By embedding a 1 ohm resistor in the plastic I made an electrically controlled mechanical disconnector. What is it good for? I don't know, but it seems like it could be useful.

>>4622 A very thin coat of heavily pigmented wax, black or white on top of a white or black underlay respectively, maybe a stainless steel would do, because I'm not aware of naturally black or white hard materials, maybe an ebonite wood veneer or some stone would do? Scrape with soft metal stilo to reduce damage to the underlay: bronze, copper or brass. Flatten back with moderately heated scraper dipped in hot water.

>>4825 God damn nice Well, it could be useful for some kind of alarm system or maybe security for mechanical stability.