I'm not sure if anyone will be interested in this, but I saw this idea on Youtube as I was browsing for ideas on making a slingshot and thought it would be fun to try. You can cut up and melt down HDPE plastic bottles and create blocks or sheet material and then work it with woodworking tools to make stuff. I thought i'd make something small just to test it out, so am making a small carvers mallet.
I searched around the house for empty bottles and found a selection of bleach, milk and shower gel bottles that were all HDPE plastic (It should say HDPE on the bottle, or alternatively a number 2 in the recycle logo). You need to remove all traces of labels and wash them out thoroughly. Then its a tedious task of cutting them up into little pieces. You can cut them into larger pieces than i have but I wanted them small to create a better pattern.
This is 2 x 4pint milk bottles + bluetop lids, 2 x bleach bottles, 2 x lynx shower gel bottles and a white ciff bottle. Even with all this I didn't have enough and ended up having to make it smaller than intended.
Apparently 175c is enough to melt the plastic but not create any toxic fumes. Probably best to use a toasteroven and do it outside if you have one. My oven must not be accurate as I had to set it to 200c as the plastic wasn't melting. With something this big you need to keep adding layers instead of filling the whole tin in one go.
I didn't take a pic, but I made a plywood disc and clamped it down onto the melted plastic as it will shrink as it dries and can deform. Plus clamping it will have helped make sure it was all stuck together properly.
This is what it looked like once removed from the tin.
Then roughly sanded to remove the bean tin ribs.
20mm hole drilled through the centre for the handle. The video I saw on Youtube he pushed the handle into the melted plastic, which would have been a better way to do it. But doing it this way means i can replace the handle if I need to in future.
Hole drilled and a piece of mahogany cut ready for turning the handle on my super ghetto lathe.
Just need to oil the handle and glue the wedge in and its done. Turned out pretty good. The plastic is surprisingly dense, so has a good weight for light carving work. I'll start saving bottles to make a large square carpenters mallet now.
I searched around the house for empty bottles and found a selection of bleach, milk and shower gel bottles that were all HDPE plastic (It should say HDPE on the bottle, or alternatively a number 2 in the recycle logo). You need to remove all traces of labels and wash them out thoroughly. Then its a tedious task of cutting them up into little pieces. You can cut them into larger pieces than i have but I wanted them small to create a better pattern.
This is 2 x 4pint milk bottles + bluetop lids, 2 x bleach bottles, 2 x lynx shower gel bottles and a white ciff bottle. Even with all this I didn't have enough and ended up having to make it smaller than intended.
Apparently 175c is enough to melt the plastic but not create any toxic fumes. Probably best to use a toasteroven and do it outside if you have one. My oven must not be accurate as I had to set it to 200c as the plastic wasn't melting. With something this big you need to keep adding layers instead of filling the whole tin in one go.
I didn't take a pic, but I made a plywood disc and clamped it down onto the melted plastic as it will shrink as it dries and can deform. Plus clamping it will have helped make sure it was all stuck together properly.
This is what it looked like once removed from the tin.
Then roughly sanded to remove the bean tin ribs.
20mm hole drilled through the centre for the handle. The video I saw on Youtube he pushed the handle into the melted plastic, which would have been a better way to do it. But doing it this way means i can replace the handle if I need to in future.
Hole drilled and a piece of mahogany cut ready for turning the handle on my super ghetto lathe.
Just need to oil the handle and glue the wedge in and its done. Turned out pretty good. The plastic is surprisingly dense, so has a good weight for light carving work. I'll start saving bottles to make a large square carpenters mallet now.
Nice one!!
