Looking for thin plastic? sheet

[irving2008]

Not exactly a machining problem, but I am looking for something that can be formed into a 150mm dia tube, 300mm long, that is non-porous and sufficiently rigid to withstand local deformation. I plan to use 3 x 150mm dia, 12mm thick MDF discs on a central spindle as a former to wrap this around. the nearest thing i have seen is thick acetate sheet (what would glue this to MDF?) but I cant find a large enough sheet locally - needs to be 500mm x 300mm at least and thats bigger than A3...

suggestions?

[FatFreddie]

You can get larger acetate sheets at Wickes but 150mm might be a bit of a tight radius to bend it to.

How about pipe? http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/FD61350.html for example

[irving2008]

Good suggestion... only issue is I need another one 200mm diameter as well and that pipe is 156mm external which is too big, . Thanks anyway. I looked in B&Q at polycarbonate sheet but even the thin stuff wont bend that much... laser printer transparency sheets would do (I'd use two overlaid to give stiffness), if i could get it it bigger...

[i2i]

pipe does sound sensible, but you could use laminate sheet and that comes in 8' x 4'. Contact adhesive works well.

[ecat]

Finding things is a bit of a trawl at this place but it is always worth a look...
eg

http://www.modelshop.co.uk/product/C...1000mm_RS20113 too thick maybe?
http://www.modelshop.co.uk/product/P..._black_RS30135 not strong enough?

... lots to look through :)

[irving2008]

I dont believe it... that place is not 100y from the arches where I park my car if I have to take it into the office... and I never even knew it existed... guess where I'm going tomorrow at lunchtime :lol:

[ecat]

heh, cool :)

Bit expensive to actually use but ask if you can play with their laser cutting bed while you're there, pictures or it didn't happen ;-)
http://www.modelshop.co.uk/article/show/18

[spluppit]

another one you can try if you get no luck.


http://www.davis-plastics.co.uk/index.html

[compfranon]

Could you use acrylic tube 150mm dia x 3mm wall thickness, available here

150mm Dia x 3mm Wall x 1000mm Long Acrylic Tube

[irving2008]

Thanks for that... they do 150 and 200mm tube. But its expensive stuff if you have to buy in 1000mm lengths... I'm going to "4D Modelworld" in the next hour to see what they have.