OK, so I've given up on trying to find some black self adhesive stuff to make some stone guards for my tiger from (rear arches compound curve etc).

So, I have in front of me a sample of thin (1.5-2mm) black textured ABS sheet. The data sheet says you can form the stuff at 100-160 degrees.

My thoughts are that I should be able to heat the sheet in the oven then hand press it into place on the rear arch, hold it until it cools enough to hold it's shape, allow it to cool completely and then fix it to the rear arches somehow (glue ? black rivets ?).

Anyone in the plastics industry want to tell me that my wife will soon be not very happy due to the black sticky mess in the oven ?

thanks

Doesn't it bend enough to be able to fix to the wheel arches with rivets without heating it?

I got plastic c/f lookalike stoneguards from Mac#1 and I just riveted them straight on

If it's anything like the stuff they use for headlamp covers, a wallpaper stripper heat gun will do the job....

Thanks, I thought the heat gun would be a little fierce, but perhaps I'll give it a go. The reason I need the heat is because the tiger has a compound curve on the rear arch so it isn't quite as simple as just bending it and riveting it on.

Maybe I don't need the oven after all

thanks

Hot water can work well as softener for thin abs sheet.

Need to be careful with a paint stripper gun as they can bubble the surface if you stay on one spot too long or get too close.

A WARNING..

Don't know if this applies to abs or not, but I helped my son with some Lexan(polycarbonate) forming recently.

Before you do the final heat and forming, put the stuff in an oven at 110-120C for 24 hrs. This allows full cure of the material and the resulting gasses and trapped water vapour to be released slowly.

If you don't do this, and go straight to forming from scratch, you end up with a bubbly mess! Not pretty at all.

I know this applies to perspex as well, but lower temps.

Cheers,
Syd.

Gently warm with a hot air gun and bend as a thermoplastic you can reheat as many times as you like so long as you don't overheat it. As a guide if you get the smell of rubber it is getting too hot. it is a lovely forgiving material to work with.
You sjould be able todo this without resorting to the oven technique.

The microwave works as well, but I suspect that your sheet is a bit too large for that.