I want to find the best transparant plastic sheeting that I can shape myself with mininal equipment. I have been reading about OPS (oriented polystyrene) and PET/PETE--can any form of one of those be softened with the heat of a hair dryer? Of do you have another recommendation?
Plastic films (OPS or PET?) for molding?
Neither.
Polystyrene is a theromset plastic, you get one shot to heat and mold it. After it has been molded it will soften again, but it will also char and decompose. This why it is not recyclable.
PET has a very high melting point (about 300 C) much, much higher than you could get with a hair drier. In fact if you are going to be doing some craftwork by molding plastic, you閳ユ獟l need a legitimate heat gun. Plus PET has a very narrow working range, it goes from solid to liquid over a very tight range of temperature. Not good for manual shaping, better for things like blow molding.
What you need is Plexiglas, poly(methyl methacrylate). I閳ユ獫e had good luck softening this with heat guns. I閳ユ獫e also used a propane torch but you閳ユ獫e got to be careful not to over heat or set the works on fire. Excessive heating will cause the plastic to craze (little incorporated cracks). Best of luck.
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