Polymorph plastic for modding?

[Tmt97]

So I have an idea running around in my head. Not sure if it's been done before, but I havnt seen it. If your not familiar with polymorph plastic, it's basically plastic pellets that you can buy which melts into a moldable goo in near boiling water. It's very handy for prototyping things, since it's kind of like a 3D printer for those who can't afford a real one. It got me thinking. Why not use it in a case mod? I've personally wanted to put some more drive bays in my case for a while now but I don't really have access to resources that other case modders have, such as wood, metal sheets, tools, or a budget. it just occurred to me that I could simply mold it with polymorph plastic. Has anyone tried this before, or is anyone interested in the idea? I could make a guide for working with the material if there is interest.

[W-L]

So I have an idea running around in my head. Not sure if it's been done before, but I havnt seen it. If your not familiar with polymorph plastic, it's basically plastic pellets that you can buy which melts into a moldable goo in near boiling water. It's very handy for prototyping things, since it's kind of like a 3D printer for those who can't afford a real one. It got me thinking. Why not use it in a case mod? I've personally wanted to put some more drive bays in my case for a while now but I don't really have access to resources that other case modders have, such as wood, metal sheets, tools, or a budget. it just occurred to me that I could simply mold it with polymorph plastic. Has anyone tried this before, or is anyone interested in the idea? I could make a guide for working with the material if there is interest.

 

Looks like an interesting polymer almost like a clay or plasticine of sorts but being able to harden into a plastic once cooled. Would be cool to use what others can do with it. As for using it as a making more drive cages it seems like precision when molding the product would be a problem, not to mention the thicknesses at which it would need to be at, making something out of pre-existing materials like acrylic or metal would give greater precision and strength it seems.

[Tmt97]

Looks like an interesting polymer almost like a clay or plasticine of sorts but being able to harden into a plastic once cooled. Would be cool to use what others can do with it. As for using it as a making more drive cages it seems like precision when molding the product would be a problem, not to mention the thicknesses at which it would need to be at, making something out of pre-existing materials like acrylic or metal would give greater precision and strength it seems.

I used to work with it a lot so I learned a lot of tricks with it to get precision and a smooth edges, ect... Your right that it's not neccesarily as strong as acrylic or metal, but it is stronger thank it looks. Also at the thickness you would have acrylic at for example I think it actually has one advantage over acrylic. I've never used acrylic myself(only watched videos of others using it) so correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I've seen it's fairly rigid. Polymorph sheets at the same thickness are still strong, but also very flexible. I've put some serious strain on it before, and it has never breaks under load, it just bends and snaps right back into position. That might actually be a desirable quality if something happens to your case, the polymorph parts won't immediately just crack. I'm fairly certain that if you had a drive cage made of the stuff screwed into the case on 2 or 3 sides it wouldn't be going anywhere. That's just speculation though. Ile try it and let you guys know how it goes.

[W-L]

I used to work with it a lot so I learned a lot of tricks with it to get precision and a smooth edges, ect... Your right that it's not neccesarily as strong as acrylic or metal, but it is stronger thank it looks. Also at the thickness you would have acrylic at for example I think it actually has one advantage over acrylic. I've never used acrylic myself(only watched videos of others using it) so correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I've seen it's fairly rigid. Polymorph sheets at the same thickness are still strong, but also very flexible. I've put some serious strain on it before, and it has never breaks under load, it just bends and snaps right back into position. That might actually be a desirable quality if something happens to your case, the polymorph parts won't immediately just crack. I'm fairly certain that if you had a drive cage made of the stuff screwed into the case on 2 or 3 sides it wouldn't be going anywhere. That's just speculation though. Ile try it and let you guys know how it goes.

 

Yeah acrylic is a fairly tough material but rigid and brittle which is correct, this polymorph material sounds almost like a flexible PET plastic that can yield and bend. If you go through with making something like this I'd be interested in seeing how it turns out, a very interesting material of choice.

[luke_y2k]

So I have an idea running around in my head. Not sure if it's been done before, but I havnt seen it. If your not familiar with polymorph plastic, it's basically plastic pellets that you can buy which melts into a moldable goo in near boiling water. It's very handy for prototyping things, since it's kind of like a 3D printer for those who can't afford a real one. It got me thinking. Why not use it in a case mod? I've personally wanted to put some more drive bays in my case for a while now but I don't really have access to resources that other case modders have, such as wood, metal sheets, tools, or a budget. it just occurred to me that I could simply mold it with polymorph plastic. Has anyone tried this before, or is anyone interested in the idea? I could make a guide for working with the material if there is interest.

 

 

I have been thinking the same thing about the polymorph and case modding , but no idea where to start.

 

Have you attempted any mods with yet , if so how you get on with it ?

[Tmt97]

I have been thinking the same thing about the polymorph and case modding , but no idea where to start.

 

Have you attempted any mods with yet , if so how you get on with it ?

Well I worked on making a drive bay with it. I ended up giving up on that once I got my new case in, as it got rid of my need for an extra drive cage. I'm still not sure what to think about it, although this might be because I'm not too familiar with molding parts out of any material, let alone polymorph. It does seem like the material has potential though. I can quickly get it to the gooey state in a microwave, and change its shape very easily.

The problem becomes making very specific shapes. When constructing the drive bay I wanted to make supporting pieces for the drives to screw into. Basically long plastic sheets about the width and thickness of s typical ruler. I was able to do this, but it was very lumpy and the accuracy left something to be desired. This was mostly because I was sculpting it with my hands, and the material is very sensitive to the contours of your hands. If you run your hand across the plastic, you can even feel very thin ridges left from my fingerprints.

I'm confident that I could do more if I had a mold as the plastic can very easily fit inside one, but unfortunately I have no idea how to create a mold. Plus there's the added complication that the plastic will very easily stick to a variety of materials. The mold can't be porous like wood, or have a rough surface like clay or rock. It can't be made of any other type of plastic, nor can it have a layer of paint or anything similar. So far the only two materials that I have found that it doesn't stick to at all are glass and metal. And by metal I mean raw metal. It even sticks fo protective layers, powder coating, and whatever the stuff is that they put in non-stick pans. I've even observed it to stick slightly more if the metal is galvanized.

summary: Great material, but I'm a noob and need to learn how to make molds for parts.