Hello all, what do you guys do with your leftover acrylic? Like after cutouts and such? Is there a “relatively” simple way to melt and reform? I cut out a few solid logos for people and was wondering what could be done with the rest. Thank you
Some quick research suggests there are different types of acrylic and they all melt at specific temperatures, but it seems to be in a range around 350-425°F (175-220°C). I watched a rather long and boring video of a guy chopping his acrylic offcuts into smaller pieces, then baking them in an aluminium vessel before pressing the heated acrylic in a hydraulic press to force out the air before letting it cool. I saw another (much shorter) video of another person using an industrial chipper to break his acrylic offcuts into pellet-sized pieces, and spreading them out and pressing them into a sheet on a hydraulic press (without heating them first, or maybe the press heats it…?).
Anyway, it does seem as though it can be re-cast for re-use, but it looks like it might be a challenge to do it with typical home workshop equipment. Also, you’ll want to keep each colour of your offcuts separate, unless you want inclusions in your resulting recycled-acrylic material.
Here is the shorter video, using industrial grade equipment: Recycling plastic off cuts with the R25 Schredder and R30 Sheet Press - YouTube
Perhaps you should model a small maker coin and design your projects to cut coins out of the waste areas.
If you’re the father of a sparkle princess you can cut small gem shapes and let the kids assemble them into bracelets and necklaces. (watch out for sharp edges).
Thanks Henry, great idea. My princess is 7 years old. Good idea