New to vending machine: Polycaprolactone plastic for makers

General lounge
1

I’m bringing in ten 100g bags for the vending machine tonight.

Polycaprolactone is a plastic that softens and turns clear at 60c. Dip it in hot water and then mold it like putty. Reusable and biodegradable.

First time I used the stuff I rolled into long strips and then bent the strips around motors to hold them together on my crab robot. It can be tapped, nailed, cut, sculpted…

What’s the catch?
“DOES NOT bond with: aluminum, anodized aluminum, brass, copper, silver/tin (lead-free) solder, stainless steel, zinc-plated steel, Delrin (acetal), FR-4 glass epoxy (PCB), nylon, polypropylene, silicone, or Teflon (PTFE)…
DOES bond with: ABS (Lego bricks), acrylic, polycarbonate, polyester (likely), PVC (polyvinyl chloride), and vinyl (likely)” – Plastic Prototypes With Polycaprolactone (PCL), Part 3 of 3 - Robot Room

Anyways, check this LED setup:

How sweet is that?

I’m gonna play with it tonight to try and come up with some nice examples for my website. You are cordially invited to play with it, too.

5 Likes
2

Otherwise known as Shapelock. Awesome!

I’ve been wanting to play with this stuff for awhile, because it fits in with my prototyping style really well. If I need a steel shaft held riiiiight here, then I can just, well, sculpt it and move it place, and it’ll lock right down. No measure-design-3D-print workflow for something that I only need to do once.

3

Cool, Looks like fun!

4

AKA Polymorph, Shapelock, ReMoldables, Plastdude or TechTack. I needed a
name that wasn’t a mouthfull and wasn’t trademark to talk about it.
HotShape googles body building websites.

5

Good thing you did not try “HotCurves”…