Jodo's Definitive Sintra Thread!!!

[Jodo Kast 2749]

I'll add things as I have time.

- Go to the dollar or thrift store and buy the biggest, cheapest boiling pot you can find.

!! Don't use the family spaghetti pot as boiling sintra leaves chemical and hard water deposits in thge pot after several uses !!

1) Assuming you are using 3mm sintra,bring the water to a full boil then turn the burner down to about 9 to 9.5/10 power until the boil reduces to just a slow roll on the surface

2) Gentle curves or slight tweaking - 10 seconds fully immersed in the water

3) Normal curves such as knees or chest pieces - 15 seconds

4) Tight curves like Jango shins or extra thick areas like the bottom of the cod piece - 20 seconds

5) !! Sintra has a slight difference between inside and outside !! What this means is that if you put a piece of sintra in boiling water it will tend to curl in on itself on one side. The concern is to cut your armor pieces with left and right sides. Don't just cut both chest pieces the same and try to mold the one backwards. (I hope that made sense)

That's all I have time for right now. Feel free to ask any sintra questions in this thread and I'll do my best to update with answers.

 

[Arn Ma Brlou]

Hi JK!

I've got a couple of questions for 'ya.

1. Have you ever used a heat gun on sintra?

and

2. What kind of glues do you use when you need to sandwich sintra?

Thanks!
m@

 

[Jodo Kast 2749]

A1) Yes, you just need to be careful as a heatgun tends to take sintra from hard to gooey in a few seconds. It also changes the surface texture so be sure to heat the back side.

!! A heat gun is much inferior to hot water for basic molding!!

A2) Cyanoacrylate Glue (aka super glue) is really the only choice. Just be careful since the edges of sintra are porrous (sp??) and the thin superglue can transfer between edges in the pores. Keep some acetone (nail polish remover will do in a pinch) in case you glue yourself to... yourself.

 

[BelaLugosi]

Jodo,

I posted this a few days ago, I think you'll find it relevant to the topic: http://tdh.prop-planet.com/viewtopic.php?topic=12151&forum=4

Any other suggestions for this problem?

Thanks much.

 

[Jodo Kast 2749]

Actually, your post inspired this one. Hope it helps. Heating sintra in an oven is overkill and the sinra will go loopy on you before you can get it molded.

 

[BelaLugosi]

alright. so molding pieces that are large, such as the back and butt plates can be done in sections as Boba Freekk suggested? I had my sintra to the point of floppiness and it still got lumpy. Should it be just pliable enough to bend (without 'forcing' it) and then cooled?

 

[Jodo Kast 2749]

Yeah, bendable but not floppy.

Here's my best tip for large sintra parts - STEAM THEM!!

That's right. Bring your biggest pot to a boil and steam the sintra right on top. (usually 30-40 seconds of steaming)

You can get the entire middle of your backplate moldable through steam! Hopw that helps.

 

[BelaLugosi]

Outstanding, Jodo. I'll give this a shot this weekend.

Thanks.

 

[Geo]

Jodo, have your tried weld-on glue? Or any other PVC/polystyrene glue? Sintra is a form of polyvinyl so the glue "melts" the pieces and "molds" or "bonds" them together as one piece. Versus cyanoacrylite which just glues them together. Yes cyano is strong, but nothing beats "blending" the parts.

 

[soilman]

I just used the PVC pipe cement on my cod piece tonight. It seemed to hold fast. I will see if it holds up to the heat and bending and let you know.

 

[Icedevil]

do you use tongs or something to get it out of the boiling water, or do you just stick your bare hands into it?

 

[BelaLugosi]

I'm no expert... but i know this: sticking your hand into boiling water is a very bad idea. But when Darwin calls...

 

[Jodo Kast 2749]

I use a cheap plastic spatula to get the pcs out. (also works great to help push the pcs down so they are fully submerged.

I tried a crap load of other glues. Here's the thing - the sintra itself will tear and pull apart before the CA glues give up. Now that's tough!