DIY plexiglass crafts. We bend plexiglass at home - new opportunities for creative work

Material such as plexiglass is widespread and used in many fields.
human activity. It is used in the roof glazing of modern greenhouses; the material is also in great demand in industrial and household glazing, different kinds protective fencing is also made using this durable material, production is also not complete without durable acrylic.

In stores you can find a huge selection of plexiglass products, these are:

bathroom accessories;
shower cabins;
kitchen aprons;
all kinds of shelves;
advertising posters;
boxes;
awnings, canopies;
dishes;
stained glass windows and various other elements.

Products made from this durable material are in demand. transparent material in offices, advertising, trade, these are price tag holders, stands for various products, menu holders, stands for business cards, stands for Cell phones, holders for jewelry and cosmetic products.

It is convenient to make products from acrylic and plexiglass, because processing the material is quite simple, there is no need to use special tools. It is thanks to these characteristics that plexiglass is actively used in the manufacture of various decorative elements, both on a production scale and with your own hands.

DIY acrylic products

If you wish, you can do it yourself, without special equipment make a product from plexiglass at home. Making such an item will require you to have this very acrylic; you may also need a cutter or jigsaw for cutting; for gluing, prepare a special glue based on acrylic shavings. If you are not going to work with a new element of plexiglass, then you may need to perform a polishing or grinding step in order to remove any existing damage or scratches from the surface of the material.

Plexiglas phone stand

A product such as a phone stand can be made at home. You can come up with a non-standard design, for example, adding a round or other geometric shape element. Below we will consider what is required to make such a stand and directly describe the manufacturing process.

You will need:

wire, it should be nichrome, 0.5-1mm thick, length within 30-50cm;
12V power supply;
a flat board, a furniture board will do;
plexiglass.

The peculiarity of the chosen material is that products from plexiglass and acrylic can be made with a smooth bend. In order to make a homemade cutter, you need to secure the prepared wire along the even end of the board. On the one hand, you can hook it onto a self-tapping screw, on the other hand, it is worth providing a “tensioner”, this is necessary in order to eliminate the possibility of the wire sagging when it is heated. You can use a spring available on the farm as a “tensioner”.

When the thread is secured, connect it to a power source, it is better if it has the ability to adjust the power. At this stage, you already have a product ready for bending plexiglass.

Now you need to prepare the workpiece of the desired size. Sand its ends with sandpaper, this will be the first stage. To get a really neat edge, use final stage processing GOI paste and a soft piece of fabric. After processing the ends, your workpiece should have neat edges, without grooves or hooks.

Next, you need to carefully bend the future stand. It is necessary to place the part on the edge of the bending board, the bend line should be located directly above the tensioned wire. Turn on a heating element and wait about five minutes. When the workpiece is warmed up, start bending.

Important!!! You need to bend the workpiece in the opposite direction from the heater.

When performing each new fold, give the workpiece time to cool, so to speak, fix the action. As a result of these simple manipulations, you can make your own acrylic phone holder with your own design.

Colorless polymers, various plastics and other synthetic materials are actively entering our lives. You should definitely include organic glass in this list. It is used during repair and construction work, in furniture production. Also, souvenirs, photo frames and other various handmade items are made from plexiglass. People often ask how to bend plexiglass correctly so that the surface is smooth and give it the desired shape.

What is plexiglass?

Organic glass is durable. This artificial material is highly transparent. Glass does not break thanks to the polymers in its composition. By chemical composition and in many characteristics, plexiglass is completely different from natural glass.

This material is also called polymethyl methacrylate and plexiglass. Plexiglas is mainly used for making aquariums, shelves, table tops, photo frames and other items. In addition, it is used as interior doors. Craftsmen who know how to bend plexiglass correctly, make figurines, keychains and various decorations from it. To give organic glass the desired shape, you must follow certain rules.

Properties and features of plexiglass

This synthetic material has a number of advantages due to which it is successfully used in the automotive industry. It is used to make billboards, greenhouse structures and roofs. Unlike natural glass, organic glass is not fragile, is light in weight and is easily cut and deformed under the influence of high temperatures. It is this feature that reveals how to bend plexiglass at home.

In addition to these features, this material has other important advantages, namely:

Has electrical insulating properties.
Transmits light well.
Does not break, is safe for others.
Moisture resistant, does not deform or deteriorate under the influence of external factors, frost-resistant.
When heated, it does not emit toxic gases; it is an environmentally friendly material.
It bends perfectly.
Not exposed to ultraviolet rays.
Resistant to chemicals.

Plexiglas sheets are sold with a film applied on top; it protects the material from cracks and scratches.

Rules for bending organic glass

Thanks to thermoplasticity, organic glass easily changes shape. Before bending plexiglass, you need to familiarize yourself with the following rules:

It is necessary to heat the glass only at the bend points.
For heating it is better to use special linear heaters.

If a linear heater is not available, a variety of improvised devices are quite suitable:

soldering iron;
electric stove;
gas-burner;
candle;
boiling water.

Before you start working with organic glass, it is better to practice a little so as not to spoil your work.

Principles of bending organic glass

A linear heat source is capable of heating organic glass so that it bends in certain place. This type of source can be made from an ordinary linear heat source. A linear heat source is often made from ordinary candles, simply lined up in a row.

Another option for bending plexiglass is using cylindrical objects. They are used as a template, this helps to give the organic glass the required shape. To avoid getting burned when heating the glass, you need to use thermally insulating gloves or silicone oven mitts.

After the work is completed, the resulting products need to be cooled gradually, thereby minimizing the stress inside. If the polymer needs to be melted completely and then poured into molds, you need to ensure that the casting containers are clean, otherwise this will affect the appearance of the product.

Preparatory work

A large supply of patience and accuracy greatly influence the quality of the work performed. You also need to know how to bend plexiglass evenly, in accordance with all technologies. It is better to prepare all tools and materials in advance. To spend this procedure, you need to take:

nichrome wire;
blowtorch;
Workbench;
metal pipe;
power supply.

Several operations need to be carried out with organic glass, this will allow for better bending:

How to bend plexiglass with a hairdryer?

Since organic glass is a thermoplastic material, it is easy to give it the desired shape and bend it by acting on the material high temperatures. It is very simple and easy to bend plexiglass with a hairdryer, so this method are used most often.

First you need to clean the glass from dust and dirt, and then decide on the place of bending and scratch it on the sheet. Once the material heats up to the desired temperature, the scratches will disappear.

Using a vice, we fix the glass on the edge of the table, heat it and bend it gradually. During work, you should not turn off the hair dryer, since the temperature must be constantly maintained.

Once you learn how to bend plexiglass with a hairdryer at home correctly, you will be able to make a neat bend without any problems.

Bending with wire

Flexion organic glass using wire involves four main stages:

Before bending plexiglass, it must be dried, otherwise the structure of the material will change and this will affect appearance products. Drying is carried out at a temperature of 80 degrees, about an hour and a half.
Next, the sheet is placed on a workbench, and the nichrome wire is attached along the line of the future bend.
In order for the nichrome wire to heat up, it must be connected to a regulated heat source.
Under the influence of heat, after some time the sheet will begin to bend under the weight of its own.

This method is good if the farm has a special machine, and glass needs to be processed in large volumes and quickly, preparing it for further use or designing furniture.

Other methods of bending organic glass

To bend organic glass, place it in boiling water for 1 minute. Then they take out the material and immediately bend it, putting silicone gloves on their hands. There are also many other ways to bend glass at home using improvised means:

Gas-burner. Using a torch, making a bend is very easy; just heat the organic glass in a certain place. So that heat gets exclusively to the bending point, to gas burner You should place a tin can, at the bottom of which a hole similar to a slit is cut out.
Soldering iron. Using a soldering iron to bend organic glass, you can get a high-quality and precise bend. But before you start the main work, you need to practice.
Hot pipe. Before bending glass hot pipe, it must first be prepared and wiped with a soda solution.

When working with plexiglass, you need to understand one thing important rule: In order to bend this material, it must be softened in a certain place. You can use any heat source for this. The shape of the material changes just as easily; you just need to put in a little effort, and an unremarkable strip of plexiglass will turn into a real work of art, you just need to heat it to the required temperature.

Now you know what this material looks like, what it is and what characteristics it differs from, which means you will be able to cope with the task by figuring out how to bend plexiglass.

LEDs, which appeared on sale not so long ago, immediately gained popularity among those who like to make various crafts. They were also useful to designers. In this article we will talk about easy-to-make luminous crafts - pictures made from LEDs. They can be useful in different situations - for entertaining children at a matinee (can be hung on threads, on Christmas trees, on clothes), for decorating a bicycle, can be used as a badge that glows in a darkened room and as an element.

This little thing can be done by anyone, even a child, if you tell him what and how to do it step by step.

What is needed for this craft.

Multi-colored LEDs; small resistors 100 - 500 Ohms; wires; heat shrink tubing or electrical tape, batteries, plexiglass.

Stages of work.

We cut the wires to the required length. If you decide to make a night light, it is better if each wire has a different length. If the luminous figures hang in different ways, it will be more interesting and beautiful.

After this, we put on the heat shrink and, as we should do in these cases, warm up the tubes.

We make holes in the crosspiece prepared in advance and lay out communications and batteries. We connect all the wires in parallel and connect them to the batteries through the switch.

When the electrics are completed, we proceed to the actual lighting part. Need to do required quantity plexiglass squares. Their number is equal to the number of LEDs.

We will remove the corner of the manufactured figures and make a side hole, which is necessary in order to insert an LED into it. Let's draw the desired design on a paper model, transfer it to a plexiglass blank and use a burr to draw the outline of the design.

When the above steps are completed, you need to clean the plexiglass and sand it.

In order to connect the blanks with LEDs, we use epoxy glue. You only need to put a little glue into the hole.

Immediately insert LEDs into the holes with just added glue. Once the epoxy has hardened, the work can be considered complete. All that remains is to turn on the illumination and enjoy the result.

All. The craft is ready. You can admire her.

At home, cutting plexiglass is very rarely required. Usually this work is performed by specialists in workshops. However, this skill can also be useful in everyday life. After all, sometimes there is a desire to make a vase, an aquarium or a small decorative table with your own hands. So, the subject of our review is plexiglass. How to cut such material?

Features of the material

Not everyone knows what plexiglass is. How to cut it at home and what features does it have? First of all, plexiglass has performance characteristics durable plastic, and also looks like ordinary glass. This material is transparent. However, unlike glass, it does not break.

Thanks to these properties, plexiglass has become popular. How to cut it at home? IN in this case not so simple. The material itself is quite durable. Plexiglas is widely used. Indeed, in some cases, using ordinary glass is dangerous and problematic. Almost all materials can be processed available methods. However, there are some nuances that should be taken into account when working with plexiglass.

Laser cutting of plexiglass

How are plexiglass products made in production? Typically, a laser is used to cut this material. This is the most convenient method. However, it is simply impossible to use it at home. Thanks to the thin laser, a precise cut can be made. Even small parts of future products are usually cut out in this way. However this method cutting has certain limitations: the laser beam creates high voltage material. In the future, it is simply impossible to glue individual parts together.

Products from plexiglass can only be cut in industrial conditions. If necessary, you should contact the appropriate organization for assistance. The main thing is to make all the drawings in advance. It is also worth choosing an experienced master.

Plexiglas: how to cut?

In some cases, the use of a saw is allowed. It can be tape or disk. The latest type of saw is designed for straight cuts. In this case, the seam is neat and clear. As for it, it is suitable for making blanks. It is unlikely that it will be possible to cut clear edges with such a tool. To make the surface smoother, it is recommended to use a milling cutter.

It is worth noting that this method of cutting plexiglass can be used not only in production, but also at home.

Special equipment

Plexiglas products are cut with a high-speed tool. This allows you to get an even and high-quality seam. The speed of such equipment can be up to 4 thousand revolutions per minute. After this, the plexiglass undergoes additional mechanical processing.

However, do not forget that this material has low thermal conductivity. Cutting at high speeds can cause the edges to heat up quickly. Some instruments have a Plexiglas mode.

A hacksaw will help out

If you need to cut plexiglass at home, you can use This is the most affordable tool. However, this method has a serious drawback: the cut area remains rough and rough. To eliminate such a defect, you need additional processing. Sandpaper or a file is usually used to smooth the cut area.

Cutting plexiglass with a cutter

Methods for cutting plexiglass at home can be completely different. Some people use a hacksaw, and others use a cutter. Essentially, this tool is a saw with just one tooth. To cut plexiglass, you will need a metal ruler of a certain length. This tool must be placed on the sheet of material in the place where it needs to be divided. After this, you need to run the cutter along the ruler.

When the cut reaches ½ of the thickness of the sheet, you can stop and then carefully break the material. If defects appear, they can be smoothed out. To do this, you need to sand the edge of the plexiglass with sandpaper. If desired, you can make your own cutter from emery cloth. Some experienced craftsmen For cutting plexiglass, pieces of glass are used. With this method it is required reliable protection for hands.

Using simple tools

If cutting plexiglass with a laser is an expensive pleasure for you, then you can cut the material using improvised materials. Very often, nichrome thread is used for such work. It needs to be heated before cutting. This will require a transformer with a power of 24 W.

As a result of simple manipulations, you can carefully cut plexiglass. When heated, it simply melts the material. This allows you not only to cut plexiglass, but also to cut out shaped parts.

Also some masters use this option will do for cutting plexiglass at home. The end of the screwdriver is usually pressed against the material. In this case, the tool must be held by the very edge of the handle. After this, the blade of the screwdriver is heated with a soldering iron, the power of which is 25 W.

The plexiglass should begin to melt. Using the tip of a screwdriver, simply draw a line in the place where the cut should be. After this, the plexiglass breaks easily. To get a straight line, you can use a metal ruler or a hacksaw blade without teeth.

In addition to the methods described above, you can cut plexiglass with a cutter or circular saw. The thickness of the blade in this case should be no more than 1 mm. It is worth considering that smoke may appear during the cutting process. In this case, the edges of the material often foam due to the increase in temperature as a result of friction. This can be avoided. Needs to be refrigerated work surface tool.

Plexiglas has recently found wide application in various sectors of life. Office partitions, advertising products, aquariums and other decorative items are made from it. This material is easy to work with at home. You can purchase it at any building materials sales department.

Good lighting in the house plays an important role in any design solution. Original decoration Your apartment can become a lamp made from plexiglass with your own hands. A little imagination and perseverance - and your room will sparkle with new colors.

How to make an original lamp yourself?

If you have decided on the idea of making it, then it’s time to get to work. The product requires a container made of organic glass. Tools you will need: Circular Saw, scissors, pencil. Stock up on copy paper, stencils, and paint. You also need a cartridge and a wire with a switch.

Expert opinion

Ivan Zaitsev

Lighting specialist, department consultant building materials large chain of stores

Ask a question to an expert

You can buy a stencil, or you can make it yourself. There are quite a lot of different options on the Internet, you should choose the one you like and print it out. You need to copy the stencil onto vinyl paper using carbon paper. Cut out the stencil according to the applied pattern, remove protective film and glue it to the plexiglass. Gluing requires care; the surface must be clean and dry.

The next stage in the work is painting the plexiglass. Better paint Apply from a sprayer: layer by layer. The number of layers is determined visually, depending on the quality of application. It is better to choose paint to match the home interior.

The paint should dry well, a day is enough. Remove the stencil carefully, without scratching the painted surface. You can use plexiglass as a material for the lamp, which can be either transparent or of various colors. color range. Then there will be no need for painting at home.

All that remains is to connect the socket and wire with the switch, check how the lamp works.

A table lamp or floor lamp, in addition to decorating with a stencil, can also be decorated with photographs. Beautiful landscapes, city streets will create a unique look for the product. And children's photographs, family vacations and celebrations will remind you of happy moments. This plexiglass lamp will not leave anyone indifferent. How nice it is to receive it as a gift! Photos of friends, parents, grandchildren with grandparents - whatever your imagination desires!

Little tricks in making

Favorite photos need to be printed on a printer using special paper. The paper should not be very thick, as it must transmit enough light.
Cut out the resulting photographs and record them on transparent film.
Attach a cut-out sheet of organic glass to the frame of the lamp, fix the film with the photo on it, then put more plexiglass on top.
Fasten all the elements with screws, cut off the protruding edges of the film.

In addition to floor and table lamps, you can also make a ceiling chandelier with your own hands. Additionally, you just need to provide special fastenings. Decorative thread is suitable for decoration, preferably linen. Choose the appropriate color to match the lamp or interior. It will look original in weaving.

Plexiglas for making lamps can be purchased at building materials stores. It is convenient to process at home. The material is easily cut with a circular saw. It is better to cut at medium speed to avoid melting due to overheating. You can drill it ordinary drills. It is recommended to place plywood under the glass when drilling to prevent cracking.

With absence the necessary tool At home, you can cut it in the store into the desired shape and size.

The light source is ready with your own hands. All that remains is to admire the results of the work. An original decorative product will not leave anyone indifferent.