Gold Mallet/Milk bottle Mallet

[xy mosian]

Would a large piece of milk bottle cut up with an office shredder? Nice mallet by the way.
xy

 

[Racers]

Thanks.

I would think you would need a big one suitable for shredding cd’s etc.

Pete

 

[Lons]

Nice mallet Pete, love the colours.

I made one a few years ago using milk bottle tops and some of the cartons, red, white blue and green. It was as hard as **** once made and my brother eventually pinched it as I'd decided to make another. never did though as my missus strongly objected to me using her oven and the stink in the kitchen as it heated up.

I can buy a mallet or make one out of wood while I can't afford a divorce! (hammer)

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Anyone looking for a bit of colour? Chewing gum drums are polypropylene and sometimes coloured if you know anyone who uses the stuff.

 

[Lons]

Anyone looking for a bit of colour? Chewing gum drums are polypropylene and sometimes coloured if you know anyone who uses the stuff.

I'm not sure from memory if it's a good idea to use popyprop Phil, can't remember from my plastic days tbh certainly it has different properties to HDPE which milk bottles ant tops are made from.
Another source is Domestos bottles which you can get in dark blue and yellow.

The symbol, usually on the bottom is a triangle with a 2 inside and sometimes HDPE stamped under.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Ah, sorry. I thought for some reason it was polyprop he was using.

 

[Lons]

Ah, sorry. I thought for some reason it was polyprop he was using.

Polyprop might be ok, I can't remember the differences these days Phil. They shouldn't be mixed though I guess.

 

[Racers]

I used No2 HDPE, I should have used No1 PETE :wink:

Pete

 

[ColeyS1]

The mallet looks really good Pete, Smart job !! I was having a tidy up yesterday and noticed this on the bottom of a part plastic container.

It just seemed quite brittle to be the right stuff for mallet making. I could snap it into tiny pieces with minimal effort. I started collecting bottle caps which seem much more flexible but I'm thinking this would be much quicker (and I've got quite a bit of it.) Any thoughts ?

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[thick_mike]

That’s the right stuff. If you are fussed about the colour, put the stuff you want for the colour around the edge of your mould, and put the white stuff in the core.

 

[ColeyS1]

That’s the right stuff. If you are fussed about the colour, put the stuff you want for the colour around the edge of your mould, and put the white stuff in the core.

That's a good idea Mike. White would be fine at least as a temporary fix. Is the brittleness anything to be concerned about or is it just because of the thickness?

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[Racers]

Its the right stuff to use, I would try melting some and seeing if it's still brittle when its cooled.

Pete

 

[ColeyS1]

Its the right stuff to use, I would try melting some and seeing if it's still brittle when its cooled.

Pete

Thanks Pete. Final question did you use your oven you use for food? I'm just wondering if it might harmful.

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[Lons]

That’s the right stuff. If you are fussed about the colour, put the stuff you want for the colour around the edge of your mould, and put the white stuff in the core.

That's a good idea Mike. White would be fine at least as a temporary fix. Is the brittleness anything to be concerned about or is it just because of the thickness?

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The best material is HDPE as Steve used as not all others are suitable and you need to be careful with some plastics as they produce some rather unpleasant fumes when heated.

I did know the differences but have forgotten most details as its over 30 years since I was in the industry.

Look at the item for the HDPE stamp before you cut it up, base of cartons and inside the caps, don't assume that because the base is stamped the cap is the same material and vise versa as not always the case. My strong advice is if no stamp then don't use it or at very least don't heat it indoors.

I melted mine in an old deep oven tray, never thought of a can like Pete did, #-o although I wanted a sheet of material but it needs to be something you can afford to destroy if it sticks solid otherwise make a sacrificial former to sit inside the baking tin. I used tin foil first time, big mistake as it wouldn't come off and I ended throwing the lot away.

Stank the house out so almost a divorce but doesn't harm your oven, best of luck convincing the missus of that however.

Do a youtube search there's a lot of info and it's not just mallets being made. HDPE when reformed as thick material is pretty resilient and takes some breaking but turns and machines well.

cheers
Bob

 

[Fergal]

I've done some experiments melting HDPE milk bottles and forming cylindrical billets using an empty aluminium deodorant canister as the mould with clamping pressure applied while it's cooling.

I managed to sneak it in the back of the oven for about 2 hours at 180C while roast was in there

The billets come out quite nicely and machine easily, but you must be stringent with cleaning the HDPE chips before melting as any milk residue on them contaminates the resultant billet with brown stains.

I've had better results with the HDPE from clothes washing liquid containers (Bold etc) which is a more opaque white colour and seems gooier when molten resulting in better flow and fewer air bubbles in the final billet than the milk bottle HDPE. The billets also retain a nice smell

The next type of HDPE to try is that from motor oil containers which are often available in gold and silver.

Fergal

 

[Fergal]

I forgot to mention in my previous post my method of shredding the HDPE. This is a tedious process as the chips need to be quite small for best results, less than 10mm square ideally. I tried an old manual meat mincer which didn't work, I also tried an old food processor and promptly killed it as the HDPE is pretty tough. I eventually resorted to doing it manually with sturdy scissors.

I've since acquired a faulty heavy duty office shredder for the princely sum of £1 off ebay. Like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rexel-Mercury- ... B0031YP7GO

I intend to extract the shredder mechanism from it and hopefully it will be robust enough to shred HDPE bottles.

Fergal

 

[Phil Pascoe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUR6_bQLU-E

I doubt very much the domestic controller would approve the use of the blender.

 

[Racers]

Its the right stuff to use, I would try melting some and seeing if it's still brittle when its cooled.

Pete

Thanks Pete. Final question did you use your oven you use for food? I'm just wondering if it might harmful.

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I did use the oven in the kitchen at 140C I didn't notice a smell, I used a heat gun to do the initial melting them a bake and compress in the oven.

Pete

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If you want some colour, the tops of milk cartons, many flavoured water bottles and two and three litre cider bottles are HDPE.

 

[Racers]

I cut a couple of milk cartons up today you get a useful amount of plastic from them, I have been saving bottle tops so a white and speckled mallet will be next.

Pete