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Ok, so today I had nothing much to do and I
had a piece of acrylic lying around for months now, and no use
for it. So I decide to make a stand for an LCD I am planning
to buy.
Materials used:
1 - 12" x 6" piece of acrylic
1 - Hacksaw
1 - Ruler
1 - Marker - Non-Permanent
1 - Heat Gun / Paint Stripper
* - Hand Protection - Gloves
* - Clamps - (Optional)
* - Water to cool the acrylic after bending
The Heat Gun |
Scrap Acrylic |
First thing, the acrylic was a bit to long for the size of stand
I wanted, so I decided to use only 8" of it. I measured
off 4", marked a line, and cut off the excess with my trusty
hacksaw. Then I decided what lengths I needed for the base,
and for the area where the LCD would be. I came to the conclusion
that I would make the base 3" and the top would be 5".
Just enough to support the LCD without it toppling backwards.
I then marked the line where I would bend it directly onto the
acrylic, with a non-permanent marker.
The acrylic after I cut it with my Hacksaw
After doing all that, it was time to get the acrylic bent. Now
I had never done thing before so I decided to try it out, with
the scrap piece I had cut off. I drew a line across half of
it so that I would know where to bend it.
I then clamped the acrylic to the table with
half of it hanging off, so that I would be able to bend it.
Next I turned on the heat gun, now the heat gun I was using
got very hot VERY quickly! So make sure to put on your gloves
before you start. I began by making very slow, near passes over
the length of the line. After about a minute one or two, I began
to put some pressure on the area that was hanging off, while
still passing the heat gun over the line.
I did this until it got to the correct angle
I was looking for. Once the angle was right I poured some of
the water over it to help it to hold the shape, and then I place
it directly into a sink with room temperature water, and left
it there to cool off.
It was perfect!
I followed the same procedure for the stand
and it came out great, I let it cool in the water for quite
some time, and took it out, and dried it off with an old cotton
shirt, I didn't want to get it scratched, at least not yet!
And this is how it turned out.
Please be sure to wear some sort of hand protection for this
cause the Heat Gun throws off some wild heat! So beware!
On a scale of 1 - 10, 10 being hard, I would
give this mod a 1. Its VERY EASY!
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