Quote:
Originally Posted by mark
not to go off topic but..
The link suggests annealing to prevent prevent crazing, how is that done with acrylic?
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Easiest way to prevent crazing is to use cast material. Extruded is a crapshoot. Since the boss said no to anealing in the kitchen oven I used to warm up the extruded and bent parts beside my woodstove (not in the house) for a few hours. Here's a cut and paste explanation,
To anneal acrylic sheet, heat it to 180°F (80°C), just below the deflection temperature, and cool slowly. Heat one hour per millimeter of thickness – for thin sheet, at least two hours total.
Cooling times are generally shorter than heating times – see the chart below. For sheet thickness above 8mm, cooling time in hours should equal thickness in millimeters divided by four. Cool slowly to avoid thermal stresses – the thicker the part, the slower the cooling rate.