Lace Acrylic Slump Bowl

#1

This is just a share. :slight_smile:

I designed a 3D Printer file a while back for creating a lacy bowl quickly, and someone with a laser just posted a make of it out of acrylic, so I already know it works.(Yaaaay!) :smiley:

Itā€™s a ā€œslumpā€ bowl. (Sounds terrible, but turns out kind of cool.) Itā€™s cut flat, and heated over a Pyrex bowl covered with aluminum foil, to shape the plastic. (We used to do similar things with old records.)

Anyway, I thought the technique was fun, and that some other folks might want to play with it, so hereā€™s a remade version of the file. (The original was on the small side - smaller printer bed.)

I wouldnā€™t try to use really thick acrylic on this - probably 1/8 inch or under. Iā€™m pretty sure they used a heat gun on the acrylic. (I used to just pop the PLA flats into a warm oven for about 30 seconds and down they went.)

Laser Version in Acrylic:

PLA Examples:

They come out differently every time you shape them, and depending on the size bowl you use underneath, they can be broad or floppy.

Files:

Lace Acrylic Bowl 3.zip (44.8 KB)

Any testing or input yet on bending acrylic?
#2

So cool!!! Love the patterns.

#3

I love this!!! What a nice fruit bowl it would makeā€“perfect Christmas present! Thanks so much for posting the file.

#4

Thatā€™s pretty cool!

#5

So, safety of lasering actual vinyl LPā€™s anyone?

#6

Sadly, not safe at all. :frowning:

#7

Donā€™t laser vinyl, or anything with vinyl in it (PVC).

Can still find a way to make what you want, tho. Just takes some doinā€™:
http://community.glowforge.com/t/can-glowforge-cut-record-album-silhouettes/1041

#8

Ooh, adding slump makes for all sorts of possibilities. How hot do you have to get the acrylic (i.e. what materials can you use for the ā€œmoldā€)?

#9

No idea, cause I havenā€™t actually tried it yet.

I suspect that a heat gun will be necessary for the acrylic, and you wouldnā€™t want to slump them over anything but heavy Pyrex. (Or a tin can or something like that.)

The PLA slumped easily in a toaster oven, but I wouldnā€™t recommend doing acrylic in your oven.

Might make your toast taste funny. :yum:

#10

Used this at my old job for heating stickers for easier removal and now I own one for home usage.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004TUCV/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

71ssgL5Nh3L._SL1500_.jpg1500x1490 112 KB

#11

Looks like another tool acquisition is in store for me. Garage sales are perfect for these sorts of smaller tools.

#12

These are so handy and cheap. Worbla is also laser-able and a heat gun helps immensely in working with it.

#13

Yep, so many things you can do with heat guns. Also soldering.

#14

I have some worbla like material (no name brand) but havenā€™t tried laser cutting it yet. That needs to happen soonā€¦lol
and I already have a heat gun :slight_smile:

#15

Iā€™ll be interested to hear how it goes! Especially if it happens to be cheaper. :wink:

#16

i generally stay away from harbor freight for anything that plugs in, rotate, or needs to last for more than a month, but I gotta say that I picked up their $10 heat gun about three years ago and it still functions great. Certainly beats using a Bic for heatshrink.

#17

Harbor freight is like WalMart. Good for certain things but not always quality. Although I will say I love the walmart brand salsa more than othersā€¦lol

#18

Thatā€™s good to know. I almost bought that heat gun a couple months ago but questioned the quality.

#19

I got it from my son in law that does DAGā€¦he makes lightweight armor and stuff.

#20

Well it ainā€™t no Steinel, but for the price Iā€™m happy. Of course, I may have lucked outā€¦ they tend to iterate with small changes (and possibly alternate factories). I have the one branded ā€œDrill Masterā€ and marked as ā€œItem #92869ā€.