Straightening/bending resin parts

yxalitis

yxalitis

New member
What do you guys do to PERMANENTLY straighten resin parts that are curved, out of alignment, or just skewed offline?

Almost every mini I have with a longish weapon, staff, etc arrives with a significant curve or bend somewhere along the length.

All i've ever read is some variation of:
"Oh you just heat the resin, bend into shape, and allow to cool"

How can I reply to this...let me start with:
BOLLOCKS!

I immerse in hot water until soft, straighten perfectly, and immerse into cold water...wait until the resin cools...but this never lasts!!
Within a few days, the part has ever so slowly returned to it's bent shape!
Check the staff out on this magnificent mini:
Phoenix+Lord+F-7.JPG

That shaft is about 8 inches long!!
Mine is all manner of wrong, twisted and bent along the entire length.

Nothing I do gets it to stay in shape.

Any ideas guys...?
 
ten ball

ten ball

Active member
Ive used the method you mention but nothing like for this quality or scale. It worked for me.
How about trying the heating method again but attach the resin staff to a metal rod (like a splint for a broken arm) and leave for a week or so?
 
Bailey03

Bailey03

Well-known member
I've also had limited success with hot water, especially on thicker parts. You could try hitting it with hot air from a blow dryer. My friends had some sort of hot air blower from a craft kit, I wish I remember what it was called or originally designed for, but damn did that work fast. I had a pretty thick part to bend to make the kit fit together and in about 10 seconds it was soft and easy to work with. So I guess the suggestion is just try more heat. And using a splint like 10 said is also a great idea.
 
Bloodhowl

Bloodhowl

Active member
Bailey03 said:
My friends had some sort of hot air blower from a craft kit, I wish I remember what it was called or originally designed for, but damn did that work fast. I had a pretty thick part to bend to make the kit fit together and in about 10 seconds it was soft and easy to work with. So I guess the suggestion is just try more heat. And using a splint like 10 said is also a great idea.
Click to expand...

Probably a heat gun. It's used for tightening up monokote covering for R/C Aircraft and also other things that use heat shrink materials (Automotive, Electrical, etc...).
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXHZ16&P=ML
 
Master of fact

Master of fact

Member
For massive bits like that heating it is fine but its the "allowing to cool" which is the problem. Its cooling slowly i find doing it fast (oooooeerrrrr). Boiling water to bend it then i have a bowl of water and ice and plunge it into that. Keep doing that until perfect.
 
F

finn17

New member
Well....in the case of that particular staff I'd probably try and replace the central length with brass rod :)
 
Webmonkey

Webmonkey

New member
A hair dryer is your friend. (steal your wife's) It allows for localized heat to the area you want, It makes the resin malleable enough to shape/form,.. but doesn't get hot enough to "melt" it. Then you just have to hold the piece long enough for it too cool,.. and if you simply blow cold air on it, it'll stiffen back up in only a minute or so. I use this method all the time. It works best on thin pieces such as the rod that you described.
 
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