Scales Experiment

I watched a few videos on plastic recycling recently and thought I would give it a try.
This is the results of my first attempt making scales from self-recycled HDPE (2) plastic.

Bottle caps, a detergent bottle, coffee container, milk jug and a mustard bottle (all HDPE, High Density PolyEthylene) were cut up into chips and strips and melted in a toaster oven at about 350 degrees F. Then it was sandwiched and clamped between two boards and left to cool.
The resulting sheet was then cut and shaped into scales. Not bad for a first try but can definitely be improved.

My next attempt will be a lot less chaotic in the pattern and colors and at some point I'll likely try melting directly into a scale mold.

 

Love the creativity and design! Great work.
Tom

 

very cool..

 

I've played a while ago with HPDE.
This channel has lot of info.
Some, very important.

 

What a great idea

The results look pretty damn good too

 

Great job and an ingenious method to produce one-of-a-kind scales.

 

That really looks good. Congrats on a fine job

 

Very nice. It makes for a nice looking razor.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

Looks great. Definitely applaud the creative way to reduce carbon footprint. I wonder if you can add dye and get more or less one color that would have gradients to it due to the different colors to start with.

 

A few more blanks, new scales this weekend.
Yellow, white black and milk jug:

Milk jug and green otc supplement bottle:

Translucence of milk jug, it is clear when melted and gets milky when cool:

 

Very cool! What do you use to cut and shape the scales?

 

Scroll saw to cut then rough shape with a Dremel sanding drum. The rest is hand sanding.