I wanted to narrow an ice scoop and figured I'd make a video to teach you a little more about how to use a heat gun to re-shape plastic. I hope this helps. Thanks for watching!
In general, you can force a plastic part into the shape you want with clamps or whatever and then heat it up and it'll assume the new shape. You're not stuck with the way it came out of the factory. Super useful, I hadn't thought of this.
Very helpful. Just got mine in the mail and will be using it to replace battery in a few tablets. After that I'll probably be a terror in these streets
Awesome, I want to try making my own historical fencing gear. So my mind's set on cutting up 5gallon buckets to make: knee/elbow pads, gloves, shinguards, etc 😃
I stumbled across a thrown-out bin and lid that the only problem with it was that raccoons (we assume raccoons) had chewed enough on the hinges that the hinges were deformed. Fortunately, the hinges were just deformed and not torn up. So, I applied a heat gun and reformed the plastic back into shape.
Lets say you wanted to mofify, enlarge the ice scoop so it carried more ice? Honda placed a relatively thin inner tire “hugger” with no clearance for upsize. Make “mold” using upsized tire stretch-by-hand?
A heat gun is the same thing regardless of what a manufacturer calls it right? I just picked up an old Wagner "Power Stripper", and it looks at lot like a heat gun and performs like one, but they say its for stripping paint. I looked all through the manual and it doesn;t say for example what I want to use it for - heat shrink tubing and electrical repair. It just has two settings, 600 and 1100F. It's from the 80s or early 90s.
Yes. Even a hair dryer is a heat gun. I’ve used mine to strip paint. You can vary the temperature by holding it closer or further away, or by heating for shorter or longer duration. Obviously a hair dryer can only get so hot, depending on power. You probably only need to use the lower setting on your heat gun for plastics, as most thermoplastics melt well below 300°C/600°F. Polypropylene melts around this temperature, hdpe melts at a lower temp. You can look up the hot welding/melt temps for different kinds of plastics to have an idea. Did you try it for heat shrink and electrical repair?
I think you'd been better to target the convex side of the scoop. I think.My train of thought goes the way of , initial surface that needs the most shaping in the way of stretching. I know it's a minor detail for that thin of material, but the cooling and memory might be more positive....? O.K., I paused and commented too early. As I continued whilst working on my own project, I seen that you turned it over. Less in, lesson, listen. Hey, I just made that up.
I want to stetch the width of the paddle of my icemachine for about 2 milimeter so that is better scrapes off the icecrystals on the side of the bowl. The gap is too wide now, so a layer of ice clugs to it which is not good, so I want to make the gap smaller by stretching the paddle. I also have the same clamps as you do and they can be tweaked, for this job, to stretch material or things instead of pressing material. Do you think it is possible to stretch a plastic item when I heat it very gradually and cautiously apply force to it to stretch the material to the desired length? And does it matter of which plastic it is made of? because I have not managed to do so, thus far. It is white dense and a little flexible, but it has no identification on it. I also have a heatgun for which I can set the temperature, which I want to do to be more safe. Which temperature would be suitable do you think?
Doubtfull. Best thing is a plastic welder or the heated staple type things that melt into it and hold it back together. Being a chair though you are now getting into a safety issue so might be best to make sure you're the only one using it for a while after the repair.
What it is is I have a bumper cover It's made of plastic I want it to attach it to my bumper but the bumper is straight it won't create this weird bin so I wanted to heat it up while I'm doing it I have to be very careful it doesn't burn it or eat it up but I'm trying to reform it so I can put this piece on or else I have to use force which is not good
does it work for full face visor like the reflective stuff on motorcycle helmets because i’m trying to make it abit flat rather than the circular shape. and my 2nd question is what type of heat gun should I use or is all heat guns the same and affordable?
It may distort the plastic and make it harder to see through. Not sure i would do that on anything of real value. Like most things...you get what you pay for. If you do get a cheap one you cant use it for long extended sessions. Maybe a few minutes at a time. Good luck
@@thehandyhomeowner9781 would you recommend using it on a full face visor at all or nah just leave it as it seems. Because you do bring up a good point i do wanna still see really well through it
@@funy.spidey10 see if you can find a used helmet/visor that you can test it with. I’m sure it’ll work but it might take some experimentation to figure out how long to heat it for and how far away to hold the hot air gun to not change the clarity of the plastic.
Bro i have a question i repair car batteries so i usualy have to break the cover of maintenance free bartery can i use heat gun to remove the top cover
Im sorry but i have no idea if that would work or if it would work safely. Perhaps there is a google search that could help answer that but im not sure at all.
From my experience the only way to accomplish that is to divorce her. She will then start working out hard and get very fit and attractive again for the next guy.
In general, you can force a plastic part into the shape you want with clamps or whatever and then heat it up and it'll assume the new shape. You're not stuck with the way it came out of the factory. Super useful, I hadn't thought of this.
Thank you for the comment
Thank you so much for making this video man, I have one of these at work and I've never put a second of thought into what I'd use it for.
That's great.
So happy I came across this video. I sell items that are used and plastic, a lot of them don't fit right and now I can just bend them back to fit!!
That's great. Good luck
Very helpful. Just got mine in the mail and will be using it to replace battery in a few tablets. After that I'll probably be a terror in these streets
Haha. Be careful out there. Glad i could help.
Awesome, I want to try making my own historical fencing gear. So my mind's set on cutting up 5gallon buckets to make: knee/elbow pads, gloves, shinguards, etc 😃
Wow that sounds interesting. Good luck.
knees and elbows, any 'bowl' shape, is giving me trouble, but i'm doing the same thing.
I stumbled across a thrown-out bin and lid that the only problem with it was that raccoons (we assume raccoons) had chewed enough on the hinges that the hinges were deformed. Fortunately, the hinges were just deformed and not torn up. So, I applied a heat gun and reformed the plastic back into shape.
That's great!
Awesome project
Thank you. I used this technique again this week to change the shape of a pulley cover for a snowblower.
I can't find a new spark plug channel to replace the bent one on my old car, so I'm going to try this to fix it 😀
Good luck!
I wonder why they made it so wide in the first place. It can gather more ice, and people don't think beyond that, maybe. Thanks nice video.
Sure thing. Im probably just being picky about my ice scoop. Lol
Lets say you wanted to mofify, enlarge the ice scoop so it carried more ice? Honda placed a relatively thin inner tire “hugger” with no clearance for upsize. Make “mold” using upsized tire stretch-by-hand?
A heat gun is the same thing regardless of what a manufacturer calls it right? I just picked up an old Wagner "Power Stripper", and it looks at lot like a heat gun and performs like one, but they say its for stripping paint. I looked all through the manual and it doesn;t say for example what I want to use it for - heat shrink tubing and electrical repair. It just has two settings, 600 and 1100F. It's from the 80s or early 90s.
Ya. I think so. If it get hot it should do the same thing
Yes. Even a hair dryer is a heat gun. I’ve used mine to strip paint. You can vary the temperature by holding it closer or further away, or by heating for shorter or longer duration. Obviously a hair dryer can only get so hot, depending on power.
You probably only need to use the lower setting on your heat gun for plastics, as most thermoplastics melt well below 300°C/600°F. Polypropylene melts around this temperature, hdpe melts at a lower temp. You can look up the hot welding/melt temps for different kinds of plastics to have an idea.
Did you try it for heat shrink and electrical repair?
I think you'd been better to target the convex side of the scoop. I think.My train of thought goes the way of , initial surface that needs the most shaping
in the way of stretching. I know it's a minor detail for that thin of material, but the cooling and memory might be more positive....?
O.K., I paused and commented too early. As I continued whilst working on my own project, I seen that you turned it over.
Less in, lesson, listen. Hey, I just made that up.
Awesome. Thanks for the comment!
Great job
Thank you.
I learned alot from the video thank.you sir
Awesome. Thanks for the comment.
I want to stetch the width of the paddle of my icemachine for about 2 milimeter so that is better scrapes off the icecrystals on the side of the bowl. The gap is too wide now, so a layer of ice clugs to it which is not good, so I want to make the gap smaller by stretching the paddle. I also have the same clamps as you do and they can be tweaked, for this job, to stretch material or things instead of pressing material. Do you think it is possible to stretch a plastic item when I heat it very gradually and cautiously apply force to it to stretch the material to the desired length? And does it matter of which plastic it is made of? because I have not managed to do so, thus far. It is white dense and a little flexible, but it has no identification on it. I also have a heatgun for which I can set the temperature, which I want to do to be more safe. Which temperature would be suitable do you think?
Thanks good to know ...
Thanks for the comment.
I have a plastic chair in my classroom that has a crack do you think this technique would mend the crack?
Doubtfull. Best thing is a plastic welder or the heated staple type things that melt into it and hold it back together. Being a chair though you are now getting into a safety issue so might be best to make sure you're the only one using it for a while after the repair.
What temperature is safe to reshape plastic without melting it? I need to reshape plastic mounting in back of car doors.
What it is is I have a bumper cover It's made of plastic I want it to attach it to my bumper but the bumper is straight it won't create this weird bin so I wanted to heat it up while I'm doing it I have to be very careful it doesn't burn it or eat it up but I'm trying to reform it so I can put this piece on or else I have to use force which is not good
Good luck. Hope it works out.
What if i have a lid that has been sealed, and needs to be loosened to get at the panel/screws underneath the plastic-cased machine
Im not sure i understand but give it a shot. Good luck
Have you ever tried to form any of the plastic from a blue barrel ?
Yes. They are thick so it takes longer but it works
does it work for full face visor like the reflective stuff on motorcycle helmets because i’m trying to make it abit flat rather than the circular shape.
and my 2nd question is what type of heat gun should I use or is all heat guns the same and affordable?
It may distort the plastic and make it harder to see through. Not sure i would do that on anything of real value. Like most things...you get what you pay for. If you do get a cheap one you cant use it for long extended sessions. Maybe a few minutes at a time. Good luck
@@thehandyhomeowner9781 would you recommend using it on a full face visor at all or nah just leave it as it seems. Because you do bring up a good point i do wanna still see really well through it
@@funy.spidey10 see if you can find a used helmet/visor that you can test it with. I’m sure it’ll work but it might take some experimentation to figure out how long to heat it for and how far away to hold the hot air gun to not change the clarity of the plastic.
Can I use this to kill termites? What temp does it get to?
Im not sure about that. Maybe call a pro to remediate.
My grandma Do this with rusty lighter only
Haha. Thats fantastic
Bro i have a question i repair car batteries so i usualy have to break the cover of maintenance free bartery can i use heat gun to remove the top cover
Im sorry but i have no idea if that would work or if it would work safely. Perhaps there is a google search that could help answer that but im not sure at all.
Can I use a hair dryer? I trying to reshape a halloween mask that's hard plastic so it fits tighter on my face.
Probably wont get hot enough. But worth a shot
Yes, if you have a powerful hairdryer or if the plastic is relatively thin.
did it work?
@funy.spidey10 I ended up never trying it. I didn't want to risk damagine or destroying the mask before hollaween.
Can i use it on tail lamp plastic cover?because the shape not fit to my car tail lamp..
Probably yes. The only way to know for sure is to try.
Would you know how to reshape my wife?
From my experience the only way to accomplish that is to divorce her. She will then start working out hard and get very fit and attractive again for the next guy.
That's not nice! 😂
heatgun at the highest setting
@@thehandyhomeowner9781😂
Always the next guy huh😂😂😂😂
Can it be done on painted plastic? Will it not damage the paint?
I would expect the paint would be ruined.