Samstag, 23. Oktober 2010

Apolit: Low Temperature Thermoplast (Minke Props)

A couple of days ago a received a sample of Apolit, a low temperature Thermoplast by Minke Props.

First off, I have to say that I love this stuff. Where it not rather expensive, I would buy a ton of it...

It was quite easy to mold, I did not burn myself, nor did it pull out any hair after having hardened on my hand. If you need material for instant prototyping this is very interesting stuff.

Take a look at how my first encounter with Thermoplast went.



If you toss it into boiling water it turns soft and transparent in under a minute. I assume you could also bake it in the oven, though it would definitely need a much higher temperature. I was a bit worried that this material might melt if left in a car or something. However I think that would require very, very high temperatures (not saying these are impossible) as air is not all that good in transporting heat. I think its really the fact that water 'transports heat' so well which makes this work so effortlessly.

If you don't like the way its molded, just throw it back into the water. It will go back to its original (flat) shape and become moldable again.







Cutting it is no big deal, however if you use thicker material that could be a pain. I figured this out later, but obviously if you cut it while its still soft. A knife or scissors would go through it like butter.
I also tried sanding it, which did not work very will. Sanding it feels like rubbing an eraser on paper. Carving it with a sharp knife works better. Sawing it should work fine.


I added some self adhesive Velcro. This works sort of fine, but if you want something really permanent, you may want to additionally secure it with screws or something. 



By the way. I hope to soon receive a ton of sensors by images. This 'wristband' will then be used for mounting the stretch sensors for measuring arm rotation. More on that in a later post thought.

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