bending acrylic
- StephenDownie
- Posts: 228
- Joined: Thu Nov 23, 2006 8:00 pm
- Location: Canada
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I usually bend my stems once I'm happy with the thickenss of the bit and it has a good airflow. Opening up the airway after you've bent it can be a big headache. Like the others have said bending the stem can do strange things to your lines so I like to leave a bit of room to play with before I move on to finishing.
Stephen Downie
www.downiepipes.com
www.downiepipes.com
I get the button near final dimensions, get the airway the way I like it and sand and polish the airway, then bend it and do a fair amount of shaping.
By the way, I bent one tonight. I used a tapered fluffy pipe cleaner doubled over and inserted it into the stem (from the button ) then I heated and bent the stem. It was a good experiment as this is a translucent acrylic rod and you can see the airway through the stem. I noticed no alteration of the airway by having this much pipe cleaner in the airway while bending.
That being said, I do a fair amount of shaping after bending (tried shaping then bending, and let's just say that I am better off doing it the way I am doing it now). If you do the vast majority of your shaping prior to bending, then I could see how you might have issues as was discussed earlier, although I do believe that having something in the airway helps keep it from getting smaller. Maybe not as much as I put in there, but something.
BTW, this has been an interesting discussion.
By the way, I bent one tonight. I used a tapered fluffy pipe cleaner doubled over and inserted it into the stem (from the button ) then I heated and bent the stem. It was a good experiment as this is a translucent acrylic rod and you can see the airway through the stem. I noticed no alteration of the airway by having this much pipe cleaner in the airway while bending.
That being said, I do a fair amount of shaping after bending (tried shaping then bending, and let's just say that I am better off doing it the way I am doing it now). If you do the vast majority of your shaping prior to bending, then I could see how you might have issues as was discussed earlier, although I do believe that having something in the airway helps keep it from getting smaller. Maybe not as much as I put in there, but something.
BTW, this has been an interesting discussion.