Coroplast question

[Otto]

If properly heated in an oven or such, is Coroplast workable for vacuum forming?

In other words, since a belly pan may need to fit over various lumps and bumps, is Coroplast a suitable product for such compound curvature? Or, is it limited to two-dimensional applications?

[Chris D.]

you can use a heat gun to a point.. Then it starts to get ribbed and wants to fold..

Mine were pretty nice, then it sat out in the sun for a few days and now its a bit folded in one section..

[Chris D.]

I can light leaves on fire with this one..

[Chris D.]

Ah ha! Thats where I screwed the pooch!

I did it from the front side..
I wanted it to hug the wheel/tire as close as possible,
I should have pulled the wheel and went that route..

I'm going glass this next round.. I got some slight results with them

[Otto]

This is good info to have.

Suppose you want to make an undertray for your car, but a few objects extend below the horizontal plane of the rocker panels. With a teardrop-shaped plywood template and a heat gun, you could easily make aerodynamic blisters in the Coroplast to fair the airflow past the obstructions. This could speed the fabrication process a lot.

How much "give" or malleability would a Coroplast sheet have, when properly heated? In other words, if you needed to make an aero blister 2 inches deep, 4 inches wide, and 12 inches long, would the Coroplast have that much elasticity when heated?

[Otto]

This is good info to have.

Suppose you want to make an undertray for your car, but a few objects extend below the horizontal plane of the rocker panels. With a teardrop-shaped plywood template and a heat gun, you could easily make aerodynamic blisters in the Coroplast to fair the airflow past the obstruction. This could speed the fabrication process a lot.

How much "give" or malleability would a Coroplast sheet have, when heated? In other words, if you needed to make an aero blister 2 inches deep, 4 inches wide, and 12 inches long, would the Coroplast have that much elasticity when heated?

[Chris D.]

I'd love to see some examples of contoured or blister mocked coroplast..

[Chris D.]

anyone have any pictures of extremely shaped contours with coroplast?

[s2man]

Frank, How tight of a radius do you think could be formed without buckling? Just a simple cylinder or cone, no compound curves.

Tire deflector rev 1 (in cardboard) was pyramid shaped - easy to do with sheet material. But I didn't like pushing air down; wanna push it to the sides. Rev 2 (in my mind) was wedge shaped. Not ideal for the leading edge. Now you've got me wondering how much better I can do...

[Otto]

I've not shaped Coroplast, but rather have questioned and speculated whether that is practicable.

On one hand, its dual-wall structure is designed to be flat and stiff but light, by separating the two facings. The interior void also makes it a thermal insulator.

On the other hand, it is plastic that was made in an an extrusion process, and most plastics can be reshaped when properly heated. Given dual facings and insulative nature of Coroplast, even heating on both sides would be critical.

That said, suppose you are making an undertray and could use flat Coroplast over the entire belly of the car, except for a couple of spots where suspension or exhaust parts extend below the horizontal plane of the rocker panels. Normally, you have to cut a hole in the Coroplast to fit over the low-hanging obstruction. If Coroplast can be blistered, you could make a teardrop-shaped dent in it to clear the obstruction, yet still be streamlined. Using a plywood template with a teardrop cutout, clamped to the Coroplast, and heating locally it from both sides, it could presumably be pushed or sucked/blown into the teardrop blister.

Basically, this stuff is two dimensional and wants to stay that way. Modifying it into three dimensions will take some effort. OTOH, Plexiglass nd Lexan have been converted from two dimensional sheets into three dimensional bubble canopies for fighter planes, for decades.