Using HDPE In The Shop
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2024
- HDPE is a very economical material as it is considered waste for a lot of your food cartons! Milk bottles, mustard containers and soda caps to name a few. It also machines easily with woodworking tools.
This is about 8 or so milk bottles that I had previously cut up and melted but never used. Now that I got a block started it seems silly not to make put this great material to use.
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the table saw acts as a massive heat sink, which cools the HDPE super fast. if you make another one, try hitting the slot with a torch to preheat it a bit and you might get a few extra seconds to work with the material.
+dustlesswalnut I'm pretty crazy, but I'm not sure I'm up to using a torch on my table saw....yet....
Maybe with a heat gun....
Interesting anyway, thanks for sharing ;)
I was going to suggest a heat gun too.
The problem isn't so much that the runners expand as it is that the sled expands and contracts, so the distance isn't right anymore. Try placing the sled with just one runner in the table, or tear one of the runners off. That's why my sleds always have just one runner.
+Matthias Wandel Good idea!!
Heeeeyyyy Matty!
+Matthias Wandel My sleds are your design but the runners are out of oak and it has served me well despite not being the best choice of hardwood.
I built them when I didn't have access to any other hardwood. MDF worked surprisingly well for the small sled, I used particle board for the larger one and that wasn't the best choice edges have chipped up a bit and I imagine it will eventually fall apart but so far so good.
+Matthias Wandel I thought that was the main advantage of plywood, though the sled in the video was MDF I think.
As for the one runner idea, have you had any issues with the sled getting out of square?
Peter Brown I'm guessing with two runners even with a tiny amount of movement is enough mess it up.
MDF has a swelling effect and plywood I imagine moves a tiny amount.
You figure when a piece of paper is the difference between tight and not.
I don't think it would be enough to effect the square that much, the two runners probably double your error.
Hard again after ten minutes? Impressive. Maybe when I was twenty...
+Bob Daniel It's really is a miracle substance... :)
You made me laugh 3 years later 😂
Lol 4 year old joke still got people cracking up 😂
Just me? Yep ok
yep 5 years on you gave me a chuckle
that Bacon story, yeah sure... Old folks were cooking up meth i'd say
+Felix Dietz My granny-in-laws house also had the oven in the garage. gotta watch out for them old folks!!
I don't think it was "bacon" but rather "baking" that the people had a problem with.
If you don't keep your oven clean sometimes when you use it it can create an objectionable odor when what ever was spilled bakes off. Also, if you have mice that get into the insulated space between the oven chamber and the outer shell it will smell like baked mouse droppings when turned on :-(
until the mouse dies, and then it smells like death...
oldschoolsmart my mom's last fridge, a mouse dies in the back of it and I had to take care of the problem. Final solution was new fridge
That is one helluva brilliant idea Peter I am now going to save all my milk bottles, steal the oven from the kitchen, and put it in the garage, and make runners for all my different sleds! While I'm at it I will look for some new premises to live in, as my wife will be throwing me out :)
Great video mate
Take care
Mike
+Mike Waldt Probably buying some teflon / delrin would be the cheaper option rather than a divorce. :-)
+Mike Waldt haha!! On man....
Sounds like a fantastic plan Mike!
For some reason your videos are very satisfying to watch
Nice Peter, i was cutting up all my daughter's formula bottles, i was going to make a cutting board and some runners out of it, didn't think of using the actual slot to mold them. will try it , thanks.
Peter, thanks so much. Lately I've been considering building a yoyo out of hdpe, and have been watching your videos repeatedly. Thanks for another great project
I stated laughing so hard when you went to go put the HDPE down and it just bounced right off. Awesome idea btw :)
I've been playing around with hdpe for the last couple of weeks. I've turned a few really cool looking rainbow pens that everyone wants. I love the stuff!
Congrats on moving to the garage! You're going to love the additional space. I'm jealous of the oven. I'd use it for powdercoating small parts. Maybe baking small neighborhood children that don't stay off my lawn.
Lol! I had the this same idea but ended up using some plexiglass that I had. Congrats on your new space!
It'd definitely be easier to mold the plastic into the runners if you'd warmed up the table with a hair dryer or something.
Good thinking
Bacon on the burner, HDPE in the oven. Sounds like a great combination!
Was thinking that heating the runner track before adding the HDPE might allow the plastic to relax into the runner shape. Like the new space, Peter.
Couldn't you clamp the molten HDPE globs between flat boards and clamp them parallel until cooled and then saw or plane them to desired size instead of molding it in the tracks?
I think it will work in a heat press with heat elements on both plates
Exactly. I was thinking he should use cookie sheet pans.
Pretty impressed you got it to work! - I figured that cast top would suck all the heat out of it and make it set prematurely.
nice upcycle Peter, but I'm looking forward to the new shop "build". can't wait to see what you do with your new space
This is pretty awesome, Peter! I must admit I've been diggin' on your videos lately. Giving me lots of ideas for tomfoolery. And hello from the southern tip of Silicon Valley! (Gilroy area - South of San Jose). -Bradley
I love your HDPE videos Peter. I teach in a secondary (Age 13-18) school in the UK and I'm looking at ways to design a project around the theme of recycling materials. Your videos are a huge inspiration! Keep it up man
I dig the new shop, along with the new addition that will allow for some HDPE projects. I'm nearly set up to do some of those on the lathe myself.
congrats on the new house. excited to see your new shop
I always look forward to these, Peter! An extra spark no other craftsman channels have. You're a bubbly orb of happiness, and make my days brighter. (:
m.ruclips.net/video/-igxhoGEQFU/видео.html
Interesting idea for a runner. Congrats on the new space, cant wait to see what you make of it!
Visiting this (and your other HDPE videos) again as I just realized I have a bunch of it in the way of milk jugs, plastic coffee cans and Hershey syrup bottles. I plan to use it for resin molds etc. While searching I also found two large sheets of plastic that read HDPE on them so awesome! I have some resin protection to put down now :p I think they came with the new oven I bought not long ago... - Heidi
it will be sooooo nice of you to add metric subs to your videos like mr Sellers did. I'm sure you have subscribers all over the world and for those of us not living in US or UK it's a hard time every time we encounter imperial dimensions or degrees. You make amazing videos, btw. Thanks
I'm sure you'll love the new space. That oven I'm sure will come in handy once a year 😂
I use corian solid state countertop material for mine. I just made a bunch of rails at the same time so when I make a new jig there's no guess work. Works like a charm!
+CNWOODWORK That's a good idea!
Great idea Peter! The best was when it bounced off the table saw, I got a good belly laugh out of that one! I love seeing your experiments and can't wait for the next installment of HDPE.
Hey Peter.
If you take a torch and heat up the table saw top first, you would have more time to work with the plastic. Probably get a better result that way.
Great use of the HDPE! I've got a HDPE project planned soon! Have to collect and process some HDPE first :) Tried it once but it was a huge failure but we have a new more precise oven so the kitchen won't stink like plastic.
+knives&stuff There's always going to be some odor as HDPE melts. But if it is really strong then you're running way too hot. Still I'd say ventilate while you do it. An open window, or the fume hood going. Something. I melt HDPE out in my garage, and it has enough air leaks to keep me from dying of the fumes.
Liking the new shop. First time I think I'm seen HDPE through a planer. That was awesome. So, if you can do that, have you thought about putting the HDPE in an oversized mold and then planing it down to size?
Putting HDPE in a planer... This is what I subscribed for.
This is awesome, may end up doing this for my brothers table saw accessories. Consider cutting out a section in your wood, to pressurize the hdpe into shape, with a hole/port to release pressure. So its formed into the rail, removing inconsistencies by pressure. though its getting farther in depth than what may be needed.
ever since I saw your last HDPE video, I've been keeping a small box to toss bottles and caps into, slicing them up into chunks as needed for space.
I plan to eventually remove the labels and shred the pieces even smaller.
I'm even keeping a few smaller bottles whole to dump shredded bits into and make more patterned blocks with the various colors I've collected.
My girlfriend gives me wierd looks, but seems to tolerate my collection, thus far.
I will probably snag a toaster oven and bread pan from Goodwill in the next couple months.
looking forward to making my first HDPE blocks for later use.
My favorite source of HDPE is actually plastic shopping bags. If you go to a variety of stores you can get a variety of colors and being so thin it melts quickly. The downside is being so thin it shrinks quite a bit on melting so you need quite a few bags to get enough material to do anything with.
Instead of trying to mold the HDPE in the track itself to make the runners, try squashing your HDPE between two non-stick cookie sheets (with wooden blocks or nuts as spacers to control the thickness) to make a fairly uniform sheet. Then you can plane the sheet on top and bottom to make to make it smooth and uniform, then use your table saw or (better yet) band saw to cut the sheet into strips to use as your runners.
I have only just started experimenting with HDPE myself, and I find the band saw just loves HDPE and cuts through it like a hot knife through butter (Sorry for the cliché.), leaving fuzzy shavings like a plastic version of steel wool. :-D
great job on reusing hdpe one suggestion i have is to heat it at the lowest temperature for the lowest time possible as soon as it turns clear i like to take it out of the oven as quick as possible to prevent any degradation or yellowing/burning at 4:00 in the video it looked a little yellow and degraded however if you take it out of the oven as soon as its clear it will be reusable many more times without noticable degradation hope this helps oh and also maybe it would be easier to make a thick sheet of this material and plane it into a nice flat sheet and then cut out the saw runners with a table saw or bandsaw
Look forward to seeing what you do with the new space!
I'd suggest pre-heating your table saw runner beds a bit with a heat gun to give you more working time with the hdpe. That way you can get a nice solid non-lumpy bit of plastic :)
Welcome to the club of garage woodworkers. Beware tracking sawdust in the house.
Such fascinating projects. Love watching and hope you keep doing it for many years to come. Love this stuff!
new shop - I like where this is heading.
Cool project! I bought a HDPE cutting board from Walmart for a few bucks and sliced it up for runners - a good alternative if you don't want to melt things :D
Brilliant idea I am surprised you havent made a runner from epoxy before now thank you for the video and idea.
haha, in another video you nonchalantly mentioned your "shop oven," so I thought, "shoooot, if I get a shop I need to get an oven too??" This video clears that up for me :P
That is fantastic! I will definitely be trying it for my runners.
Although your HDPE method will work in a pinch albeit a bit crude. I would recommend something called StarBoard. You can get it at the home center or a local hardware store usually. It's not especially cheap and it's meant for marine applications like making boat center console doors or things like that. I have some that I keep around and it works great for sled runners. If you are lucky you might find someone with a boat who has scraps of it that will serve the purpose.
lol at least you have a 220 plug for a decent welder with that oven plug
+Xyienced and the project gets Hard in 10 minutes ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
+Xyienced That's a good point. Should pull out the stove...
Peter Brown xD didn't know your gonna reply to this guys comment
+Kimmo Erik Kattai I just thought story was funny and bonus nachos for 220v plug. I'm a fan
Your kitchen oven melts HDPE really nicely. I am using a cheap toaster oven and it struggles at 380F. If it were me making the table saw runner I'd make a sheet, then just rip it down to the width I needed. But like you said, even your lumpy runner works.
Very cool, Peter! I just picked up some 3/4" HDPE stock at the last woodworking show I went to for sleds. Never thought about casting my own in my table saw slots. of course, I would have to be careful with pressing it in with the clamps because I have a T slot and I imagine it would seep into the T while it's still soft. Not a big deal for function, but I wouldn't be able to just drop the sled down on the saw. I would have to slide it in from the front edge.
+Jason Rausch You could still cast it that way and just trim off the sides of the T with a bandsaw or what have you. One of the nice things about HDPE is that it works just like a soft wood, so there's no special modifications needed for your tools.
Since you have a stove, maybe u can use a double boiler to melt the HDPE? Not sure about putting direct heat to it since it may burn it instead, but a double boiler may spread the heat evenly enough. Plus it maybe faster than using the oven. I don't know honestly since it was just a random idea I had while watching but it maybe worth a try. Can't wait to see more videos from you!
+Albert Westra Water boils at 100 degrees cesius, or 212 degrees fahrenheit... Peter baked it at 325 degrees fahrenheit and it hardly got runny at all.. using a double boiler wouldn't get warm enough i think
I always enjoy these videos but I really think you've hit on something here that could encourage more people to 'recycle' their plastic... And add ovens to their workshops! ;-)
I also look forward to seeing the new workshop progress. ;-)
this is a really bad way to encourage recycling imo. it'd be better just to give it to actual recycling companies instead of trying to inefficiently melt it down in your oven.
J Nichols
A fair point, with regards to white plastic. But here in the UK at least, black plastic, for one, is 'not recyclable' and it seems like this will not change.
Smart idea with the runners Peter. I've been binge-watching your videos and have come to the conclusion that subscribing would be the proper decision.
Love the work :)
Nice Peter creative idea. Just a thought here what if you heated the slot with a torch or heat gun prior to molding the runner. You might get a smother end product that way.
That is a great idea Peter !
Finally a new video!!! Loved it Peter!
Another great idea Peter, cheers Harry
This might be a good way to get runners for T-track table saws as well. You'd want to overfill the track and plane the resulting slide blank, but I think it would work.
I've been saving bottles since seeing the mallet video.
Cool! can't wait to see how your going to set up this shop, peter! Are you going to install dust collection or an airline?
good luck with your new space,
Peter
If you don't want to melt plastic, you could use a commercial kitchen cutting board. They are solid HDPE and cheap.
+Nate Cougill Brilliant!
I suspect those kitchen cutting boards are, in fact, LDPE ( I have a couple myself and was pondering what to do with them.) Nevertheless, the idea seems sound to me
Couldn't you preheat the mold surface a bit to prevent premature cooling as you worked the plastic in? Or perhaps remelt the plastic while it is in the mold with a heatgun or something to have more time to work the uneveness out? Or, heck, melt the plastic while it is in the mold itself.
Awesome idea Peter
What about using one of those makeshift furnaces that people use to liquefy metals, to melt your plastics so that you can pour it? But don't make it too hot as to burn it all out?
hey Mr Peter Brown can i just say i like your style of videos. little to no music and straight up honesty. i love your style. will heating/melting hdpe in the oven affect the "tastes" of foods later down the line
+MrJewripper Maybe if you have an extremely discerning palette. But HDPE is non-toxic. I use a toaster oven with those bulbs to melt HDPE and it can kind of burn the plastic a little. Then there are some fumes. I just took a whiff inside that oven, I don't smell anything now. One thing to be careful about is spilling little bits of HDPE in an oven. I'd imagine those bits cooking later would be nasty. Baked on HDPE can be a bitch to clean too. After a while it will turn into this dark brown crust that looks a bit like burnt sugar. So if you're going to use your cooking oven protect it in some fashion, to catch any errant plastic. Like say if you have two racks put aluminum foil on the lower rack, and work on the upper one. Then I'd say you should be OK. All in all melting HDPE is pretty safe though. Unless you really go out of your way to do something stupid. Nothing is completely idiot proof. So YMMV
+Paul Frederick woah thanks man! appreciate the info
You know who doesn't like the smell of bacon? ...a synth
Nice video Peter, keep up the great work!
Jellyness to the under bits....
This was the project I had in mind when I first found out one could reuse HDPE. Yours was the first video to come up, as well. Anyway, I was thinking about rolling the softened HDPE into a long "snake" first, then place it into the slot & clamp a board on top. I just need to stockpile some scraps to try this.
Yay! I love the HDPE projects
New space looks good. Love the idea of making HDPE runners, I don't know too much about it though... Is it possible to make it more liquidy? So you could just pour it in and it wouldn't be so lumpy?
presumably since he didnt havent the oven turned up the whole way, although one of the other commenters said that heating it too much makes the compound break down faster making it less reusable
+Live Free and DIY HDPE will never pour. Although there's different formulations of HDPE. There's injection, and blow molded HDPE. Injection molded HDPE flows much better than blow molded HDPE does. But injection molded HDPE still does not pour. Bottle caps are injection molded, and bottles are usually blow molded (thicker colored bottles may be injection HDPE - clear jugs are blow molded). Injection molded HDPE is a bit softer than blow molded is too. What you saw in this video is as liquid as blow molded HDPE gets.
You should glue a stack of cd's together and turn it on the lathe!
Great work Peter. I think the only thing better than HDPE would be UHMW. But at least the HDPE was free.
3:09 - Reminds me of Sonic the Hedgehog.
"Gotta go fast!"
"You're to slooooow!"
There's gotta be a fancy name for 'crafting with plastic.' Plastomancy? The Brown School of Woodworking? Iunno.
Anyway, great idea for HDPE use. If you still have the patience for it, a purpose-built mold slightly larger than the slots would allow for a runner that can be fine-tuned to be less bumpy.
Nice
Its about time they made bacon air fresheners. Great Video! Lovely Workshop to fill up.
Love these videos. Could you please try putting non stick spray in the melting pan
I don't think they were cooking bacon
My thoughts exactly
yea why would he believe that
I wonder if there's a finite number of time you can re-heat this stuff?
+Savvas Papasavva From what I've read of 3d printing when you melt plastics the polymer chains do tend to break down. For example if you were to 3d print some plastic then grind up what you printed, melt it back into filament and re-print apparently you can only do that a few times before the plastic starts to lose its properties and meltability. In this case with the HDPE it's not being heated all the way to a liquid state so it probably breaks down less. I assume you could melt-remelt it a few times at least before it would start to go bad.
+Savvas Papasavva yes there is a finite amount of times especially if its overheated i like to heat hdpe the least amount of time possible because this will prevent the polymer from degrading or turning yellow if its heated at for the least time possible you could probably reheat it possible over 20 times but thats only if you really make sure that you take it out of the oven as soon as its melted
HDPE has so many uses! Keep up the great videos!
I didn't think that would work at all, I thought the cast iron would sap the heat off to fast, good innovation! I have cut some runners out of a cutting board before, what was nice is the the cutting board was just a bit thicker then 3/4.
That was cool. Like the recycling part!
Hmmmm... an electric oven in the shop. Powdercoating, anyone...?
Great idea Peter...
What prompted the move? Wood hoarding getting worse? :) Happy to see another HDPE video too :)
Ive got an idea on how to better use the melted hdpe, and im unsure of the consistency so idk if it would be applicable but if you could somehow put it into a caulk tube you could use a caulk tube gun to apply it wherever you wanted much quicker.
Ladies and gentlemen, Peter Brown 5:05
Dude you know how to make me laugh:) Love this video and what a great concept as well! Keep up the great work Peter!
Fantastic video! Would it have been easier to place finely processed HDPE into your mold, and then torch it ? Being that you wouldn't have to do the hole moving molten plastic into the mold thing ?
Super solution and great recycling. Have you priced a chunk of HDPE lately to cut runners from? A 12" sq x 3/4" thk on Amazon is $20. For the time and effort, this method costs nothing.
what a great idea
+Sterling Davis thanks Sterling!
Thanks for sharing. The HDPE seems to machine pretty well after baking, so the process did not make it too brittle. Does it take screws now without splitting?
nice new shop man!
you should melt down aluminium cans and forge some tools or something, to go with the recycling theme :)
Here´s a challenge for you.
Is it possible to craft a knife out of folded aluminium foil? If you fold a piece of aluminium foil many times, it will become almost like a solid piece of aluminium. Try to forge a knife from foil, either by just folding it and pressing it in a vise or by pressing it in the vise after heating it up to "weld" the layers together.
Maybe pre-heat the table saw would give better results?
For my sled's runner, I just use the cheapest PE cutting board and cut them on the table saw :)
(one problem with using plastic is that they expand slight when screwed into the sled)
I know it wouldn't have made a great video, but you can buy square rods of PTFE (teflon), it's kind of expensive, but I bet the ease of sliding it through the guides would be great. Also you can buy thin sheets of it for relatively cheap, like 2 x 4 foot by 1/8" thick pieces, you could screw it to the bottom of the sled then the whole underside would be teflon. Glide like buttah.
I'm thinking about doing this soon except I may use a cookie sheet and then just cut it down to size afterwards, i'll have a bunch of scrap, but I also need varying table saw sleds
What happens when you dip HDPE into Epoxy ? ;)
Nice vid. Habe to try this.
They would also be great for making draw runners too :-) and I have to make a heap of them, was going to use wood but now I think I will use your HDPE option to make them :-)