Anybody ever worked with HDPE ?

[happytoast19]

I've been looking around recently and had some ideas to work with hdpe plastic .
The process seems fairly simple yet I have some questions and thought here would be a good place to find some answers so has anyone ever went though the process of it all? What did you make ?

Thanks as always

 

[Zeddedhed]

It needs fairly high temperatures to melt to a pourable consistency.

It sticks to frying pans like sh\t to a blanket.

 

[No skills]

Chopped up a load of milk bottles and bits and made a heart shaped key ring with jnr one morning, one day I'll have a go at a mallet head - even brought a tin the right size I think Peter brown did that one?

Be prepared to heat up more than once if your using lots of shredded material, sometime the first heat and squish doesn't always combine all the bits into one slab of material.

 

[happytoast19]

Thanks for replying , I've heard mixed words about cooking it in a indoor oven or outdoors in a toaster oven , I guess it won't effect the quality but I'm more concerned about inhaling some less than desirable fumes ...

Thanks again

 

[Adam9453]

my father who is a bit of a plastics expert says the melting point is around 140 degrees for HDPE so you shouldn't have much difficulty melting it. just wear a mask that protects you against fumes.

 

[Benchwayze]

There's a youtube video on melting this stuff and casting it into blocks of raw material. I can't remember the details, but I imagine typing in 'working with HDPE' should find something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpXq6mnbCus

There you go. (hammer)


HTH

C heers