Topic: Cutting Plastic

[hotjava]

Hi Seasalt,

Thanks for the info.  I never thought of using the backend of blade.  I'll give that a try!

Oliver

[Andrée]

How do you do when the plasticards are not 100% flat, which they aren't? In my opinion it is a difficult matter since you have to wait for 12-24 hours before the joint is fully dry, within this time you must not create movements. With a glue which dries within some minutes you can always keep it in place. Any advice or tips?

[Belgium Crazy Team]

When glueing: I have some square metal blocks where the corners are 90?.
These blocks I use to block the part that I'm glueing.
When the glue is drying, I try to start on something else, So most of the time I'm working on 3-4 items at the same time.
The most important thing is plce: you must have enough space to let it dry and don't touch it...

[Tommydean]

hope you guys find this usefull.  my wife turned me onto this and man did it save my hand from cramps when i was cutting alot of plastic sheet. this craft knife is made by "Fiskars"
and it worked great for me.www.fiskarscraft.co.uk/products/item/3368/FingerTip-Craft-Knife-

[Andrée]

What I meant was the force that appears when the surface is not 100% flat. If you want to glue one piece on a surface which is uneven, you would have to keep it in place by holding it for a long time, if you don't the piece will lift with gaps as a result.

[karlgalster]

Hi Andree
You need to keep the plastic parts flat whilst the styrene glue dries. You will not be able to do this by hand unless you are able to keep your hands in one position for 24 hours which you can't of course. You must work on a flat surface. Belgium Crazy Team uses metal blocks to maintain 90 degrees between the the plastic sheet pieces whilst they bond together. This will also be useful in keeping the lower piece of plastic flat on the work surface whilst the glue is drying. So one piece flat on your flat work surface held down by metal blocks or other weights whilst the other piece held at 90 degress using blocks bonds to it. Don't try and keep things flat with masking tape. Small metal blocks are ideal. Hope this helps. Or have I got the wrong end of the stick (English saying).
Robin

[Andrée]

Hi Robin,

Thanks for your help. I will try to make same sort of construction so that I can achieve both a flat surface and a stable arrangement for the supporters.

[Mark]

I always keep a baord and several off cuts of wood handy, so that when you are building structures that may net be flat, they can be put onto supporting blocks out of the way to dry while I start work on another part.

Mark

[arrowhead]

Has anyone ever used a band saw or a small table saw to cut the plastic?

I have just started the Robert E Peary.

It is going to be some model.

 

[colin]

i can safely say i have never used a saw 

there is definatly no need for one     

[swiftdoc]

Hello, fellow DM modellers,

thanks a lot to Tommydean for the photo of the Fiskars "Finger-tip-knife"! I didn't know so far of the existence of such a helpful tool. I bought myself one in Germany.

I prefer working with styrene as a material for the superstructure. In the Robert E Peary thread someone said he likes wood more. At the moment a build a kit by the German manufacturer Krick who uses wood. I hate the necessity of sanding-filling-sanding-etc. in order to achieve a flat surface.

I bought the Grampian Pride kit at the exhibition Intermodellbau in Germany this year. This one will be my next project. I had the possibility to speak to Mr. Ron Dean personally which was a pleasure for me. He and his team are such friendly and competent persons. I hope they will not change their attitude towards modern materials

[colin]

if you live in germany.... so do i ....

go down to your local chemist (Apoteke) and get your self a box of 10 throw away scalpels, the box cost me 8,- Euros.

there not a better tool to do the job when it comes to cutting Plastic.   

[swiftdoc]

Thanks Colin for your advice.

Yes, I live in Germany (Wilnsdorf, nearest city is Siegen). You can see the lake were our club run the boats on the following homepage:[http://www.igs-siegerland.de]. There you can also find the ship I am building at the moment.

Kind regards

Arno

[colin]

i remember a long time ago, i used to go to regattas in Siegen, in an old open air Swimmingpool

[swiftdoc]

Hello Colin,

so you know the location were I run my boats. Some years ago, the whole area was in a bad condition, but now as it is run by a private club, things have improved as you can see on the website. Every spring, we clean the pool when there is no water in it. In summer, we can use it after 7 p.m. when swimming time is over, which is no problem. For the rest of the year we are allone there.

Kind regards

Arno