Melting your HDPE 

What would you like to see me do with recycled HDPE, that is reasonable of course. And be sure to hit the subscribe button if you want to see more project videos

I love melting plastic...especially HDPE...I use a waffle iron...and make plastic waffles...complete waste of time and money...but it brings me joy which is something you cant buy

I just melted my first HDPE down in my oven yesterday. I built a rectangular box to press it into to form a mallet head. I was a little concerned about compressing it enough after taking it out of the oven. I had to keep turning up the heat to melt it, but I came out fine. I pealed it out of the pan and pushed it into the box and just as you did I made a lid and used my clamps to apply pressure to it. I let it set overnight before removing the clamps. Turn out a lot better than I though it would.

That's really neat .... got some awesome colors in it too. Can't wait to see next step. Thanks for sharing this process with us.

Unless you are wanting the 'kaleidoscope' look, what works best is to make a grinder to chip up the HDPE first...think 'lawnmower chopper' or 'old blender'...you want it the size of rice-grains to melt the best. If you'll prepare your HDPE like a 'TV dinner' (cook the HDPE at 385 for 30-minutes, take it out, stir it well, put it back in for about 10-more minutes, stir again when you take it out), you'll get an EXCELLENT PRODUCT with minimal air pockets (AS LONG AS YOU STIR THE LIQUID HDPE SLOWLY!!! Fast, and you will add in more air!). And as for working it like wood...you are exactly right...I bought a used 14" wood lathe and lathe tools...and I can cut PERFECT PLATES and bowls with the HDPE! If you pour it into finish-molds while liquid, you can also cast-it, like Paster-of-Paris...just MAKE SURE to use a 'releasing agent' in the mold (corn starch rubbed in works, as does powdered graphite...I'm sure other stuff does too). I make custom molds out of hardwood (2, 3 piece or more)...then get the HDPE REALLY HOT (400-420F) and pour it into the molds that I've already got rubbed down with releasing agent...let it 'room cool', then take them out...simple.

I saw a video where the guy melting his plastic used glass pans. The plastic didn't stick and had a very smooth finish.

very interesting cant wait for the next video be safe & take care

I'm definitely thinking about it. keep the stuff coming pretty good stuff. G-d bless u n your entire family

3:04 All I can think of is... Bill Engvall, "Hear's your sign!" hahahahahaha

Looking good Spicy! Tell Momma to donate an oven mitten so you don't be burning them fingers. I will be watching for the next step.

Great video. Thanks for the info. I love your T-Shirt, my wife says I look like Chuck Norris.

Cool video.... I make slings too, mostly from natural tree forks. I have been wanting to do some from HDPE and have been saving all kinds of containers to do it, and getting the exact same argument from my wife too LOL Nice job though, subbed

Great video Spicey.

Great way to recycle you could make some cool stuff out of that plastic!!

good to hear you are on KETO - strength to your willpower

Great video I just found your channel I'm glad I did i liked and subscribed keep it up👍

That was pretty funny when u touched that hot pan

Thanks for the great video. I enjoy your video keep it up.

Well done. Thanks for this.

Great video, I look forward to the others where you work with the HDPE. Im curious as to what you are going to make with it.

That's a real cool idea spicy

Enjoyed watching your video… I dabble in all kinds of odd crafting stuff as well. Two questions come to mind… 1. Would it be possible, when this stuff is melted to a liquid state, do use a stir stick or tongue depressor of some kind to swirl the colors around to get a “tie-dyed“ effect? Much in the same fashion as one does when Hydro dipping. 2. Another thought I had instead of pouring it into a pan would be to melt it to a pourable liquid state and pour it out on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper or the paper you used. Let it start to cool, then cover with another sheet of paper and begin to roll it out with a rolling pin? This could give you a wide flat sheet, and you could even do a different color scheme is to get different layers when you cut through it. Perhaps you could even roll it up like a piece of pumpkin roll! Going to try several of these ideas… Any thoughts? Again, thanks for the video.

man u could build a house with that jazz. you can use them instead of cobble stones skies limit. good job brother!

I’m from NZ and I’ve definitely got some backwoods in me lol 👍

Not bad, but you can do that in less than half that time if you use a bigger oven at 400 degrees F (freedom), no it won't burn, and wait till you're ready to melt it before you cut it up.

Does that block of plastic float in water? Would it make a durable boat oar? Can it be melted so it can be poured into a mold? Probably so gummy it needs injection under pressure.

1. Purchase 4 pack of 12x16 black metal pegboard 2. Stack 2 on each other, x 2. 3. Push 6 inch nails through each double stack. 4. Lift top up a little and hammer bottom to 14x20 piece of wood. 5. Stack all kinds of plastic on bed of nails. 6. Place second bed of nails on plastic and jump up and down on the beds, puncturing all the plastic. 7. When compressed enough, lift off inner beds, squeezing/pinching the plastic between each. 8. Place flat black metal boards in the path of a series of Fresnel lenses to melt into a form you wish, with the lenses heating the black metal in 4-5 spots. Suggestion: Form into pickets for a picket fence. Imperfections=character of wood. Paint white.

I wanna use this material instead of boards to make my floor boards on top the joists do you think It'll work?

Greetzz from belgium

I ended in this video with only 2 words in mind: Climbing holds 😁👍

Have you thought about using a paper shredder. The milk jugs should be able to go through and it may cut down on melting time

I wouldn’t have thought that you could take those items and melt them down especially at such a low temperature and so easily.

I wonder how bullet resistant that is. Maybe layer in some fiberglass or Kevlar, and top it off with a ceramic tile.

What did you make out of it!?

Looks like a good way to recycle plastic. Now what are you gonna make out of it?

Well that looks cool brotha' mow what

now that time lapse was awesome! Pretty neat stuff! Love you and do ya think that was hot or what? LOL Crazy boy! LOL

Is this a domestic oven?

Are you not concerned about HDPE breaking down with exposure to UV rays?

Okay brother let me offer you some stuff, cut the peaces to about the size of 1" x 1" that is great size you can leave some longer peaces to act as binder to give it extra strength. Also when it comes time to cool down your pieces clamp them were you can move it around and when you get it clamped up just drop it in a bucket of cold water and it will cool just as good but very fast. If you will cook the pan full ounce and then flip it over and drop it back in and cook it again you will get a smoother look on each side with little work.

I went through 4 blenders. they strip out the blades.

Man i love your accent

Spicy, when you take something out of an oven it tends to be hot brother...lol I saw you getting ready to do it and could not stop you in time!

I found the toaster oven took way too long. there is a guy on youtube that made his own and uses a propane torch to melt the plastic, he uses the strong arm apprach to inject his plastic into molds. I took a different approach using his idea and used a 12v linear actuator ( I'm, 65) the actuator can be purchased from ebay for about $30. Next instead of using strips, go to goodwill and buy a cheap electric blender or walmart for $30 - $40. you do not need to make any fancy injection molds, just melt your plastic in your pans and press as usual. You will find this will save you a great amount of time. Enjoy your plastic making

A cross cut paper shredder is the best for making flake sized HDPE.

Do you have a market for the melted plastic?

Not trying to be "negative" but I'd like to point out that using an IR thermometer with a metal target is not going to be at all accurate. The reflectivities of metals at the two selected IR wavelengths are not the same as a "black body". A black body curve is compared to measures at two wavelengths to calculate the temperature.

Not to get off the subject but I'm from the south just like you and we have similar accents. I can understand every word you say but I turn the sound down and the captions on so I don't bother other people around me and RU-vid always distorts the captions when dealing with Southern accents. RU-vid's voice recognition needs some work. I mean "hard as a rock", RU-vid interprets as "whores".... On the subject of what your doing, I'm looking into using waste plastic (like those gray Wal-Mart bags) as an alternative to fiberglass resin and polyester. I have used cotton and even cardboard brushed with Bondo fiberglass resin instead of polyester to make things. I've made speaker boxes for cars out of cardboard coated with fiberglass resin then glued that felt material over top of it. It's been holding up fine for a few years.

How those finger tips doing buddy..Lol , you crack me up!

How freaking rare does he like it ? YOU CAN BE DOING STUFF LIKE THAT TO US

Dude.... I have that same shirt and people are always trying to read it.

What about fumes? Are they toxic?

Is that hdpe bulletproof?

3:04 😂

make a wall clock with it

dont melt at 400c or use cheap thin eax paper. i ruined my last hdp build. now i need to collect more plastic :(

So why are you doing this again?

dioxin risk is still a huge problem, so this is fine for hobby shit, but forget the plastic recycling in your garage idea

@3:05 the reason why everyone subscribes.

I've tried the blender. Don't waste you time like I did mine.

If you don't have nothing positive to say there's thousands of channels to watch move on. Don't be a Negative Nancy I like spicy he's alright.

Please add Celsius conversions for your international viewers