I'm looking for any tips on bending plastic. Namely plastic rods in my case.

I need to bend a 6cm long piece of plastic rod into a horseshoe shape for my chariot conversion, but I don't know what's the best way.

Should I immerse in hot water to soften it, and just bend it when it's malleable?

Or can you think of a better way?

I might as well ask how to bend plasticard while I'm at it, just in case anybody else wants to know.

I don't have a lot of experience working with plastic junk but I would say either hot water or a hair dryer and then slowly bend it around the right-sized cylinder or something to get the corect shape.

a blow dryer will work, but sometiems it will melt the plasticard on your hands, and thats not a fun experiance, at all

i havent tried hot water, but i dont think it will work right

your best bet is the blow dryer, just be careful

Well, my advise is to make small slits on one side of the plastic rod and then take a hair dryer to it and start bending in short bursts, letting it cool in between each one and keep doing it until you get the desired shape ;)
hope that helps, and if you need more help let me know ;)

Pip Pip :)

I've asked elsewhere and gotten a few interesting suggestions.

Steam. Instead of putting it boiling water se steam to bend it, from one of those old kettles you put on the stove I suppose!

Hairdryer / Heated Blower. An electrical device that blows out heated air warming the plastic until it is malleable. Problem is I do't think there is one available at my place. We did used to have one of those hobby heated blowers, but it got given away before I could say I wanted it.

Low temperature oven. Stick it in an oven on low temperature, I guess it works best for those ovens with glass doors. Mine doesn't have a glass door. And you have to be careful as it can quickly reach it's melting point.

Microwave. Use the microwave to heat it. Not exactly sure how you do this one, besides just sticking it into the microwave. Apparently this has questionable safety as the plastic could end up producing noxious fumes.

A naked flame. Stick it over a candle flame and use the heat to make it malleable. Problem with this is it's a flame and it can cause the plastic to blacken and bubble, which would probably ruin it.

Another suggestion was 'Salt Dipping'.
It's a technique where you heat up a bath/tin of salt and dip at least part of what you wish to bend into it.

I made the shoulderpads for my Death Korps suit from very thick plasticard... I cut out the shapes, put them on a metal bucket and heated them gently with a paintstripper heat gun.

Once they achieve that magic temperature, they just wilt into place around the form. Then let them cool, and sand/smooth them as necessary.

I found that I got a little bit of blistering on the rough surfaces, but this sanded away just fine.

The hobby tool I was talking about is of a similar design to the paintstripper heat gun, just a little smaller.

I simply cut the piece I want, then roll it around a pencil or something round. I keep rolling it until I get it to the shape, then glue it in place.
Might not work everywhere as I've only done belts on my models plus the stuff I use is about 0.75 mm.

That's one of the techniques of what I call physical bending.

Personally, I use a plier-like tool I picked up. It's shape is similar to bent, needle-nose pliers except it has no flat surface between the arms. The arms are cylindrical, tapering down to the end.

I think they're used in engine maintenance to put elastic bands on certain parts.

But they're brilliant for putting curves in wire and, if you're careful, plasticard.


I tried the Hotwater technique on the plastic-rod, and I was able to put a small degree of bowing into it.
Instead of keep using the kettle I decided to put the brown 'pyrex' cup containing the boiled water and plastic-rod in the microwave for 30 secs on high (850 watt), repeating it's visit to the microwave every so often, and persist with the bending.

I then stumbled across something. I realised that cup itself was hot, and retaining the heat better than the water, so I pressed the plastic rod to the outside of the cup allowing the heat it radiated to make the rod more pliable.
I bowed it further and then dipped the rod in cold water to solidify the bend.
I then dropped the rod back in the water and returned it to the microwave for more heating.

Using this method I was able to get a nice curve into the rod (around that of a 7cm diameter circle), though not enough for my purposes.

I think I'm going to have to follow Kriegersen's and Shrouds suggestions and get some kind of heat gun to use on this, and similar future conversions.