CNC Router Shop Made

**jjr2001** · Feb 28, 2018, 06:18 AM

I still need to try melting some Folgers coffee cans and see if I can make some RED.
Really neat way to recycle.

Cheers, JR

**pfredX1** · Feb 28, 2018, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by jjr2001

I still need to try melting some Folgers coffee cans and see if I can make some RED.
Really neat way to recycle.

Cheers, JR

Colored HDPE is different than uncolored HDPE is. The binder that holds the color to the material is what makes it different. Colored HDPE is a little softer and not quite as slippery. For some reason colored HDPE runs a bit more freely molten too. So it is favored by a lot of melters. I will say this, melting plastic that has stored an aromatic material tends to have a bit of an imparted smell to it (don't melt scented liquid detergent bottles or you will regret it). By itself HDPE is a bit sickly sweet in odor which goes up to acrid if you overheat it. You have to tune the temperature you melt at by doing small test melts. Generally you ramp up the heat until you burn the plastic, then back off a bit from there. Burnt HDPE "tans". Then eventually it looks like burnt sugar when you really cook the life out of it. In an oven convection allows you to run hotter. HDPE never gets really runny. But the hotter you can get it without tanning the surface the more relative flow you can get. Which helps with consolidation. You get less air pockets. Dialing in the process is a balancing act. Melting HDPE is border line mad scientist's stuff, so have fun.

**jjr2001** · Feb 28, 2018, 12:03 PM

Thanks pfred, great info on melting hdpe. I did not know any of that. Now I know what to watch for.

Cheers, JR

**pfredX1** · Feb 28, 2018, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by jjr2001

Thanks pfred, great info on melting hdpe. I did not know any of that. Now I know what to watch for.

Cheers, JR

You'd know soon enough. Well maybe not about convection oven magic. I started out with a plain toaster oven myself. I burnt plenty of plastic buns in that oven too. Melting HDPE is a trial and error process until you get your method figured out. Everyone seems to have their own style. There's a lot in the process that you can vary. Everything from what you melt in, to what you melt. The next time I melt I should take a series of photos and post an article up on Instructables.

Here's a couple pictures I do have

The box that I melt in: http://i.imgur.com/RpqLjJq.jpg

Some blocks I made: http://i.imgur.com/MogRQ2i.jpg

Some uncolored HDPE (translucent milk and water jugs - that's all I melt now) blocks: http://i.imgur.com/boPwUiN.jpg

Same blocks milled square: http://i.imgur.com/K4lNH7B.jpg

The mess that milling them square makes: http://i.imgur.com/Mqsy43E.jpg

Using a piece of HDPE in a project - it is a nice board holder: https://i.imgur.com/BWiLc5Z.jpg

That is in this box now: https://i.imgur.com/Q9GTcWh.jpg

A router clamp made out of HDPE - not 100% done with it yet: https://i.imgur.com/Y6WSMdL.jpg