Comments on: Prototyping Custom Gear: Friendly Plastic a.k.a. Shapelock

By: jaymis.com » Blog Archive » Plastic you can mold in your home for DIY projects

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 05:10:50 +0000

[...] A solution has been found, and it’s at [...]

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 09:49:10 +0000

HEllo,
I am looking for this stuff as well cuz i have a few DIY projects i love to do, I found this ebay seller which sells the same stuff,

http://search.ebay.com.au/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZdiyQ5fplastic

hope this will help you guys :)

By: phlavor

phlavor — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 18:54:15 +0000

I’ve never personally worked with the stuff (or any of this sort for that matter) but at the Make Magazine Maker’s Fair I saw a demo of Alumilite that was very impressive. I checked and they do appear to have an Australian distributor. I hope this helps.

Alumilite
http://www.alumilite.com/

International Distributor Page
http://www.alumilite.com/index.php?page=dealers_Int

Australian Distributor
http://www.cardstone.com/

By: Rozling

Rozling — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 13:30:23 +0000

This eBay store ships worldwide:
http://stores.ebay.com/Consilium-Designs-Ltd

- and I didn’t really look around much so there’s probably others. Happy hunting!

By: Rozling

Rozling — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 13:24:02 +0000

These guys in the UK sell Polymorph and ship to Australia, but it’ll cost you…

Product Page:
http://www.mutr.co.uk/prodDetail.aspx?prodID=576

By: keith

keith — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 03:04:22 +0000

well, at the risk of creating my own soloquay, Dow has got back to me in Oz and said they don’t stock it here. any other ideas people??

By: keith

keith — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 01:48:28 +0000

Well, a little update,

I called my local Dow office, and the (really nice) people there said they usually sell stuff in 200kg drums! but maybe a ’sample’ could be arranged - if they have it in stock in australia.

By: keith

keith — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 17:52:30 +0000

Well, I did a bit more research on the web. This is all just google info so far, and I’ll talk to my local bunch when they wake up, but essentially it seems that shapelock is reselling a plastic called polycaprolactone - of which there are different types - heat vs rigidity etc. (I’m no chemist!).

As far as I can tell, there are two companies which make this stuff, one is solvay, a UK company, http://www.solvaycaprolactones.com/docroot/capro/static_files/attachments/CAPA_6800_DATASHEET.pdf

They sell the stuff in 20kg bags, and it goes for USD $9 a kilo, which is a lot cheaper if you can find some friends who need some too. They also advertise a 1kg free sample if you get ‘your courier company’ to pick it up.

The other is the reasonably well known DOW corp, who are all over the world. Apparently Dow’s ‘TONE P-767′ is the stuff which shapelock resell.

So I’m yet to get my hands on this stuff, but I’ll let people know when i do.

This stuff looks pretty damn good. It’s re-usable, biodegradable, FDA approved and strong enough to drill.