I'm starting to gather interior supplies and I'll need to form some curved panels to fit the quarters of my Model A coupe. I've seen Sintra/PVC board recommended. I know you can form ABS panels with a heat gun, how about PVC? Will it maintain it's shape once formed? How about double layering it with the panel clips in0 between? Thanks.
The companies that produce the pvc trim board for houses make an industrial electric blanket that you can wrap around the boards, after a while you can tie the stuff in a knot if you want. This is mostly used for atrium window or eyebrow trim. if you use a heat gun it will burn(brown up) real quick if you arent careful. I recently used a 3/8 sheet of some pvc form (i can get the real name later). left it in the hot sun and it was like putting up wallpaper.
Yes you can form it with a heat gun - did a project back in ID school out of Sintra. Watch the heat though - too much and it will burn/bubble. If you're upholstering it then it's obviously not a big deal. I've never mounted it with panel clips - I would bet it would work fine. If I recall correctly, we used a special adhesive that "melted" the plastic together - it (or a variant) is used for adhering plexigl*** as well. Steve
Be careful with a heat gun on Sintra. It likes widely dispersed, even heat across it's entire surface, not spot heat. Sintra will burn (turn brown) as stated above, and when it does, it becomes VERY brittle in that area... takes almost nothing to crack it. Check with the plastics supply house where you are buying it, often they have heaters for rent or loan that the sign companies use to fabricate Sintra projects.
Because of this thread: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=567674&highlight=pvc+sheet And, because I haven't found ABS -yet
Sintra board is used as a backing for advertising wall wraps ... It is really made to be flat ... It is durable and it does accept shape if heated. Joe
Where I get my ABS. They are local for me, but do plenty of online sales. http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/search.php?PHPSESSID=&search=abs&searchform.x=0&searchform.y=0
Thanks. Guess I will need to look around more. I can't see shipping big plastic sheets from CA to PA.
Ohio: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23013&catid=715 Pennsylvania: http://tridentplastics.thomasnet.com/viewitems/abs/abs-sheet?&forward=1 Pennsylvania: http://www.norcen.com/plastics-distribution.htm Pennsylvania: http://www.plasticsupply.net/Distribution.html
Thanks for the research Norcen's about 40 miles away, that's the closest. Maybe they have a delivery route.
Agreed...I used to run a huge flatbed digital printer, and we'd print directly onto Sintra, a**** other substrates. The ink was UV-cured, and if you'd get the settings wrong (like leaving the shutter open too long or moving the flatbed too slow beneath the light) and get too much UV light on it, it would heat up and do the same thing...discolor and turn very brittle. I'd be very careful when heating the stuff...or just use ABS. When tracking this kind of stuff down, try your local sign shop. There are companies out there that do free delivery of sign materials to these shops, so you should be able to pay the shop for what you need and maybe a few bucks for their troubles and not have to pay shipping or drive a long way to get it.
Speedway Ryan has it right. Akmost any sign shop will have a source for both Sintra and ABS. Also, depending on how much you need, ask about buying "drops", essentially leftovers from custom cut jobs. Both sign shops and plastic suppliers have drops. And, if you really need sheets, see if a sign shop will order your stuff with their next order... they'll get better prices than you will, and probably won't have to pay for delivery, depending on how big the order is.
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