I have a piece of Azek ( 3/4″ X 1″ X 60″) that I need to bend into a circle/elipse shape. I have seen videos where they use heat blankets to soften the Azek. I don’t have heat blankets and was going to use an old hair dryer to heat the Azek and bend it around a wood form and clamp it until it cools and maintains its shape. Even without heating it’s bendable but I fgure the heat will make it easier. Any tips on applying the heat?
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You are going to need a lot of heat. Don't think the hair dryer will be up to the task.
http://versatex.com/heat-bending-pvc-trim
Heat gun
Small board like that should be no problem for a heat gun....info I saw before I tried it was temps above 200 degrees to work well. Don't think you'll make it with the hair dryer....but you could try it out. We had to be very patient and carefully get the entire piece and area up to temps - concentrating too much heat in one area can burn the stuff..
Bending Azek
The azek is fairly flexible so I was going to clamp an end, play the heat and continue to bend and clamp as it hopefully softens. I don't need it to flex like a noodle...just enough so that it doesn't crack or snap.....just relax it. I'll be careful not to concentrate the heat.
You should try to set it up so that you only need to heat the back side, as likely the heat will affect the finish.
You'll need a whole lot more heat than a heat gun can produce. You'll burn the Azek before you get it hot enough to move. You've got to get the whole piece up to a uniform temperture to get a smooth bend and that takes quite a while even witha big heat source.