How to make an Acrylic Bending Machine

In this video, I built an Acrylic Banding Machine from mostly plywood and some scrap wood I had. It's an enjoyable build to do!
You can get all my plans here!
www.etsy.com/s...
Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:21 Building the box
0:55 Adding the aluminum U-profile
2:42 Creating brackets for the nichrome wire
4:46 Installing power supply and harness
6:25 Connecting the nichrome wire
9:07 Fixing problems
10:17 Adding parallel support
12:24 Installing bending angle support
15:02 Taking the bending machine for a test run

[@rikityrik]

Beautifully done. You did a bang up job with the design and a great job documenting and recording the assembly. Nicely done, thanks!

[@rikityrik]

If you have a second could you answer a question. Would a PWM Controller serve the same purpose as the Relay you installed on yours. I’m trying to plan mine and love your plan but want to add be able to adjust the temp. Thought you may know, if not it’s ok. Thanks

[@oscar5980]

Your guidance is excellent, just loved your video, quite comprehensive.

[@BirckCox]

Great presentation, and a great design. I especially liked the fact that you included the installation of a built-in AC-DC power supply, rather than just telling the viewer to plug it into a bench power supply, then going on to something else. One question I have that no acrylic-bender-builder has bothered to explain so far: what is the purpose of the half-inch aluminum channel that gets mounted in the heating wire slot? Why is it there? What does it do?

[@homemadetools]

Nice job. We shared this video on our homemade tools forum this week 😎

[@mystreteacher]

Thanks for putting this out there. I was looking for some different for a bender because the other designs wouldn't accommodate what I need to do.

[@bobdouglas2509]

Excellent video. Thank you.

[@mixme8655]

New subscriber always watching your videos ❤ many learnings😊

[@HarveyA]

Great project. Tried to get the plans from your Etsy store but nothing there 😞

[@Erosgenuino]

Espectacular trabajo, enhorabuena.

[@marcosdasilva1615]

Excelente proyecto!

[@setesuper4611]

Great!

[@Guishan_Lingyou]

Wow! Fantastic build. You probably now have the most attractive acrylic bender in the world. Even if you don't use it enough to justify the cost in time of building it, you can gaze at it with pride. But seriously, it looks great. Did the power supply and wire gauge combination work well? I don't know anything about bending plastic, but I would guess that as long as it gets hot enough without being way too hot, you don't need to adjust the power but instead can just vary the time you hold the plastic over the heat, so there is probably a lot of wiggle room for how much power the wire dissipates, is that right?

[@DesireToInspire1]

Yes that's about right. I made this for a single purpose that i so far have not used it for. It will be used in a later build that I have been planing to do for 3 years now :) If i remeber correctly then it took me about 70 seconds to heat up the plastic so it was possible to bend, I never did get any burn marks. It is important that it go slow, that way the plastic get warm all the way though it and not just the surface.

[@Bart_Depestele]

nice, thank you

[@rezwonsharieff8261]

What is the name of wire

[@autovrum]

Excelente, vou fazer uma, qual as medidas da mesa altura comprimento e largura? qual o comprimento usado do fio de níquel cromo?

[@ragept4682]

Hello, thanks for sharing the video. Just want to ask out of curiosity, would it catch fire as i see commercial ones with water pipes and such.

[@DesireToInspire1]

That is not something i want to test :D But what i can say is that the aluminium U-shape remove the heat very well so i have a hard time seeing how that would be possible.

[@whongthai1301]

post bend my acrylic starts to crack after a week or so - is it because of overtemp or bending it too soon ?

[@DesireToInspire1]

Bending too soon.

[@diomedeslagrimas4154]

What is the size of box?

[@LarsDunemark]

Ser at du också har Bosch pelarborr, skaffade en likande för någon vecka sedan, upplerver du också att där är mycket glappa i chucken? Tycker att mina borr wobblar ganska mycket och känns svårt att få ett hål i centrum av var jag börjar då det gärna vandrar i väg 0.5-1mm i sidled.

[@DesireToInspire1]

Har faktiskt aldrig tänkt på det. Upplever inga problem alls.

[@kazlette]

Great video. I would love to know the specs of the power supply you used please.

[@DesireToInspire1]

Then you should have watched the entire video :) 5:15 is what you are looking for.

[@hendritresnahadi4146]

U used How mm thin of nikelin wire mr? Tx u

[@thecat3419]

Fiffigt! Tumme upp!

[@whongthai1301]

DC low voltage / more burn than shock

[@reddot-zt1fh]

Can you get electrified where the exposed cables are?

[@DesireToInspire1]

No, it's only 12v

[@reddot-zt1fh]

@@DesireToInspire1 ok, all this wires work with 12v?

[@DesireToInspire1]

@@reddot-zt1fh yes, it all depends on the current.

[@reddot-zt1fh]

@@DesireToInspire1 Thanks.

[@keithm2276]

@@reddot-zt1fh hi what about amps is it governed by the power supply or the resitance of element wire

[@user-wb1up5py2l]

please share the details of power supply and nichrome wire

[@DesireToInspire1]

In the video i show all details you ask for, watch it again and you will see :)

[@holidayeasterbrook]

beautiful job! where did you buy the spring/what kind is it? I ran into the same problem with ours,, spring not pulling wire enough...and then spring snapped when I pulled it tight!

[@TPL034]

Hi, what is the length of your Nichrome Wire when cut and attached on the Aluminum U channel?

[@9860899143]

Is this machine available for sell

[@DesireToInspire1]

Sorry no.