Now I recently found this: http://www.austinpcmods.com/Plex%20B...20Tutorial.htm from this thread: http://forums.pcapex.com/showthread....ghlight=Bender

Now, recently Ive picked up some neochrome wire (its like the wire in your toaster, came from a working grilled cheese maker..)

Looking at this pic:

The element is in the middle. The wire I have is bare, but its coiled up, I was thinking of using the same setup, but I would cover the wires with AL sheet metal or something. (Or even going as far as making a box for the thing, But Im afraid it will overload or something) (then again I have something called a viarac which is a vairable transformer so I can vary from 120v to 0V)

Does any one have any suggestions?

Heres what the heater Looks like:


The wire is underneath the metal cage itself..I still have the old plates that went on top (either metal or ceramic)

I've seen plexi bending tutorials in CPU magazine, you can even use a heating pad to bend plexiglass. There's also some long slender thing they use..

I'll get back to you if I can think of it.

Quote: Originally Posted by turbopsi I've seen plexi bending tutorials in CPU magazine, you can even use a heating pad to bend plexiglass. There's also some long slender thing they use.. I'll get back to you if I can think of it.

...or you could REALLY go ghetto (like I had to) and (carefully) use an oven

I reckon that AL sheet would be sweet as a heatspreader - maybe you could rig up something with a cheap bending brake or similar (if you happen to have one handy )

Good luck Nerdz - keen to see how ya get on!

Can't wait to see if it can Bend 1/2" thick PlexI.........

I only have a vice or something. All it needs to do is melt it to a certain point (or heat it..) I want to hook it up (I know it works and all, but I dont want to hook it up directly to 120..not yet atleast...hmm I have a 50 Ohm Pot (its huge!)

I wonder if it will work on 12V even..

But will it still grill a Cheese samitch HEHE

Yea, Just gotta clean the grills

Plexy Bender/Grill Cheese Machine...

I got to this thing today, you'll find I left it alone. Why? Just look at it! I probably only need to use small peices of plexy to bend, so its perfect!

Heres My setup:


I had everything insulated, because the thing below it is dry wall material (contains paper, paper=flammable) Just in case something went wrong, I kept a fire extinguisher near by. The whole circuit was on one of those circuit protection thingies (the strip also for control).

The Big huge thing with the knob is the vairac (variable transformer) It can go from .5V AC (RMS) to 120v Rms @2.7Amps.

I made sure everything was right, Turned power on, and felt the heat at 25V, Increased to 50V and that was the magic Number. Except then I noticed something, something bad...I started seeing smoke coming from the transformer. I turned the power off and felt the transformer, it was a bit hot to the touch (like coffe mug hot) So I figured that was the prob. Guess Im going to have to make the circuit which controls the temp of the wire.

Heres what I bent:


Man, This camera Sucks...For a 3Mega Pixel camera, it does. But eh it does its job I guess.

I'll have to make a note, that I can only run this thing for short periods of time.