Dumb question (maybe)

Here's a dumbish question to finish off 2006.

How do you guts streach sprue?!?

I've treid several times and NEVER get anything longer than 1-1,5 cm. It's really frustrating me :banghead:

I've tried at several heights above a candle, tried heating it more and less but just can't get it to work for me. Is there a special secret to this?

TIA

You have to pull slowly on the ends and not overheat the sprue. If it starts discoloring you've heated it too much.
If you pull slowly and carefully, you should be able to get really long pieces.

Maybe you need to pull harder?

The trick is heating the sprue properly. You don't want to overheat it (which will cause bubbles when the plastic boils), but you do need it in essentially a molten state. Takes a bit if practice, but if yu can only stretch it a cm or so, I'd say you probably need to get the plastic hotter. You'll know when you get there.

My tip to get longer stretched sprue:

Try not to heat only a short length but heat the sprue 2 or 3 times the flame's width... the most heated length you'll have the longest you'll be able to stretched.

Once i stretched even 1 meter long with 1,5 cm of sprue ! :naughty:

EDIT: I meant 1,5 cm of heated sprue

Phil

Why would you need to stretch sprue?:icon16: Just kidding!
Like Phil says, heat an area wider the the flame's width, moving the sprue back and forth and rotating too. I hold the sprue about 2-3 inches above the flame and gradually soften the plastic, you will be able to tell when its soft enuff to stretch when you cant (or barely) feel the resistance between your fingers. It's like browning a marshmellow over a campfire, just take your time and let the heat work into the interior of the sprue without melting the exterior. If the sprue is thick enough, a meter is easy and makes great cat toys.

I agree with all comments, especially rallyman,

But from my own experience I find the tamiya clear sprue the best to stretch.

Oli

Another obvious (but tricky) suggestion is to only hold the sprue over the flame until it starts to melt. As soon as it's soft, get it away from the flame and pull smoothly and quickly. Works best with Tamiya's plastic, as it seems to be a bit stretchier than some other brands.
:)

Why don't you try with chewingum? :D

(that our grandfather called gomma-americana) ;)

Forgot scangi sprue: is done in PL :D LOL

And the next gag is about the size :D only 1.5 cm??? :D
almost each woman in the world know it:
italians du it beta

My big friend, in february we'll do a workshop about sprue warmstretching, I'm sure your room service would be happy and give discount then :D LOL

Use the heat produced by a 60W light bulb instead of a candle.Warm it up longer than with the candle obviously.But the more controlled heat makes for a better stretch in the end.You also have to use the right sprue.Some stretch better than others.The bulb method takes practice but I find it works better for me.Just don't stare at the bulb for ages or you get dots in front of your eyes.

And the next gag is about the size :D only 1.5 cm??? :D

tsss tsss tsss 1,5 cm to make 1 meter !!! :naughty:
do Italians do the same ? :evillol:

almost each woman in the world know it: italians du it beta

pizza & pasta ? oh yes for sure Italians do it better, that's right ! :evillol: :evillol:

And don't try your chance speaking about sport, I'm not a football fan ! :grinno:

Ciao :wink:

Phil

If it breaks, the plastic isn't hot/soft enough. I'm sure more practice will eventually get you do it successfully, but here's my advice.
Try different manufacturer of plastic, because not all styrene are the same, and you might not get along with the one you're using.
Another thing is when the plastic gets soft, push from both ends, so the molten part gets thicker. At that point you know that that part is soft enough, so gently pull two ends apart at, say, 5 cm per second or so.

Thanks guys.

I think I will have to try some different manufacturer's sprue. I'm pretty sure all of my attempts have been with Fujimi plastic (I have only saved the sprue from my Dino and Daytona builds IIRC). Maybe this will help.

Generally speaking I don't have 10 thumbs, but this sprue stretching was just stretching my patience - and it sounded soooo easy at first! :lol:

Does anyone make aftermarket stretched sprue? ;)

Thanks guys.
Does anyone make aftermarket stretched sprue? ;)



I can sell you some, I ll make a special price for you; 25€ / meter !

Oli

Why would you want to stretch sprue? What do you do with stretched sprue? :S

Why would you want to stretch sprue? What do you do with stretched sprue? :S

Making aeriels/antennas is one use.I suppose you could use it for wires etc as well.

From my experiences, it doesn't matter how much you heat it, it's all about the pull. One way that I like to do it is to actually catch some plastic on fire, blow it out then take that and mash it to another piece and stretch. For some reason this seems to work ok for me. But using the traditional way (no fire) I find it works ok if you hold your stick of sprue over the flame until it stars to flop over on its own, then slowly pull.

Why would you want to stretch sprue? What do you do with stretched sprue? :S Well, there's a whole load of things you can use it for really.

Take a look at just about any WIP by quadzero (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/search.php?searchid=1773738) - he's know as the "Sprue King" ;)

Also check out these seats by auw12 (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=4449638&postcount=33) - what he has done here with sprue is just astonishing.

Hope that gives you some ideas. Merry Christmas.