Plastisteel thermplastic anyone tryed this for making components?

[Rocketman]

It says before the roll out of affordable 3D printing? What kind of companies were they dealing with I have been involved with SLA & FDM since the 90's and have been having them done for relatively acceptable cost for prototypes prior to low product run injection mould tools.

They say it's similar to nylon which is an engineer plastic for sure but for the really strong nylon parts you come in contact with they are glass filled. Also most parts on a car aren't made from nylon because it has the wrong type of properties. It's a bit loose the details and would be interesting to see the full data on it.

What is the exact loss in strength each time you re-heat it. Many companies use regrind plastic but I doubt it is ever used in the automotive trade for instance because every time because using regrind polymer has drastic effects on the polymers performance. So how I wonder with remelting this product what percentage loss in properties occurs each time?

 

[Shox Dr]

yeh the hottest day in the uk wass around 100F thats 37.7C if its was 100C thats 212F
This stuff says its turns soft around 62C - 143F
hottest temperature ever recorded was 56.7C - 134F (i suppose that's why they call it death Vally)

I'd google car temps: can be greater than 135*F

 

[Wendelspanswick]

It sounds like Polymorph, Maplins sell it.
It comes in a granular form which you pour boiling water over and then fish out with a spoon/stick etc and mold with your hands. It is like handling a hot potato.
I have had a ball of Polymorph on the dash board for years, and it has never deformed, it just rolls from side to side as I corner.
I have used it to replace broken handles on machinery, missing lever end knobs and a trigger mechanism for an elastic band machine gun I made for the kids!

 

[Warren2i]

Seems like i got a good deal then, from maplins it would be £40 for 1kg plus the drive up there,
also i emailed about a spec sheet and this is the data they sent me doesn't mean to much to me
The tensile strength of bulk PlastiSteel ranged from 10.5 to 16.1 MPa, its modulus ranged from 343.9 to 364.3 MPa, and the tensile yield strength ranged from 8.2 to 10.1 MPa. These values are consistent with reported literature values for PlastiSteel processed through various manufacturing methods. Across porosity ranged from 56.87% to 83.3%, the tensile strength ranged from 4.5 to 1.1 MPa, the tensile modulus ranged from 140.5 to 35.5 MPa, and the yield strength ranged from 3.2 to 0.76 MPa. The compressive strength of bulk PlastiSteel was 38.7 MPa, the compressive modulus ranged from 297.8 to 317.1 MPa, and the compressive yield strength ranged from 10.3 to 12.5 MPa. Across porosity ranged from 51.1% to 80.9%, the compressive strength ranged from 10.0 to 0.6 MPa, the compressive modulus ranged from 14.9 to 12.1 MPa, and the compressive yield strength ranged from 4.25 to 0.42 MPa
also i use to work with 3D printers, not the thermoplastic kind it was a American powder prototype and boy was that thing expensive, over £2k to refill the poweder and catalyst and you only got around 0.5m3 from a refil

 

[Mr shiney]

The inside of a car can reach nearly 60C on a hot summers day with ambient temps of only 27C.....

Why do thou think we don't leave dogs and children in cars in the summer?

http://ggweather.com/heat/heat study.pdf

 

[tommullin]

i used it to make an aftermarket steering wheel cancel the indicators when you turn past 12 o clock. it worked very well, and ive used it for loads of stuff, but when it got to summer the stuff remelted and wrapped around the horn wiring and broke that too (aswell as making steering interesting). it was a black car though.

very good stuff for some things, but it will melt in a car on a hot day...

 

[Wendelspanswick]

I wonder why the ball of Polymorph on my van dashboard has never deformed? Its about 25mm in diameter.

 

[Shox Dr]

I wonder why the ball of Polymorph on my van dashboard has never deformed? Its about 25mm in diameter.

All the crap that has stuck to it over the last xxx yrs is insulating it

 

[Jan]

If you doubt the temperatures that can be reached inside a car in the UK with the sun shining through the windows then you are dead wrong. The year before last during the heatwave I had left a plastic gas filled cig lighter on the front passenger seat. When I returned to the car it had exploded scattering the shards all over the inside. Had I been inside at the time I'm sure I would have been hit with several bits of shrapnel. If any had gone into my eye(s) I have no doubt that the result would have been far from pretty!
I would be more inclined to try and cast/remodel replacement parts from £shop epoxy resin. The latest version sets very quickly and produces a strong product which can then be machined or sanded to the final shape.

 

[Warren2i]

clearly your lighter was improperly filler or constructed, i am not doubting the temperatures in the UK, you lighter exploded because a compressed gas such as propane boils at -42C, to keep this gas a liquid it needs to be pressurized, when pressurized at room temperature a certain amount is left for SFP safe working pressure tolerances, on gas tankers to stop explosions happening there are refrigeration and liquefaction plants. The refer plants keep the temperature low to prevent excess pressure from the liquid gas violently boiling, the liquefaction plants allow the liquid to boil of and compress the gas back into a liquid, left alone and up operated in normal UK temperatures they would explode. I work on north sea refer gas carriers (i deliver the stuff that makes your household gas smell)

 

[Jan]

I can't swear about the quality of construction of the lighter, but it was a disposable one that was less than half full having been in use for some time. Also it was one of many freebies I've acquired over several years (shouldn't have buy another one for a couple of decades) when purchasing rolling tobacco in Belgium. However I'm certain that the internal pressure shouldn't have been enough on its own to explode the lighter. Softening of the plastic case must have also contributed to the self destruction of it.

 

[Warren2i]

the Plastisteel arrived this morning, if the mrs stays true to her word and lets me play out ill be up the workshop giving it a try first impressions is you get quite a lot for your money