[Smertrios]

I bought a 500 gram container of shapelock its a nylon like plastic that melts at 60 degees celcius. Thing is at around $1.40 an ounce its really pricey to buy several pounds of it. Anyone know where to buy a 50 pound bag? The "shape lock" plastic is likely the same thing as "polymorph plastic".

The chemical properties of polymorph plasic are similar to polycaprolactone according to this website...

http://reprap.org/bin/view/Main/Polymorph

What I want is a material that can be reused easily by reheating in a crockpot and pouring into mold "blanks" for use on my mini mill much like I do with parafin wax. This material would be stronger and have much less thermal expansion if it can be used that way. I am sure it would never get to water like consistency tho =<

I have it in my head that a 50 pound bag or 2 would be relatively cheap compared to the $1000+ it would cost me buying 500g containers of shapelock.

...I am still looking for the right material but so far this is the best.

[InstaMorphGuy]

We just launched a new brand of Polycaprolactone (ShapeLock material); we're called InstaMorph.

One of the things we've worked really hard to do is to provide an easy and economical bulk ordering solution. We can send 8 - 18 lbs with free shipping anywhere in the US. Check out our website at http://www.InstaMorph.com for more information and ordering details.

[DMF_TomB]

try
http://www.sculpt.com/

they have many moldable waxes and plastics and epoxies and rubbers.

i have ordered a rubber like wax before. melts and pours like a wax for making molds but when cools the mold will flex to allow removing what is poured into mold. I ordered it for copying gears and making gears from hard polyurethane. the rubber like wax is remeltable for reuse.

also try
http://www.contenti.com/products/casting/171-521.html
wax assortments from hard to flexible. the harder wax for filing and carving seems like it could be used on a mill too.

[cncagain]

Hi. I looked up shapelock when I bought some last time, and supposedly, the product called "Friendly Plastic" is the same animal. Seemed cheaper to buy (at least it was a few years ago).
Ken

[ZachKaplan]

Hey Ken-

The chemical name for this material is polycaprolactone. Some people abbreviate it as PCL. You can read about it on Wikipedia:
Polycaprolactone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We currently sell it in 1/2 pound bags:
Hand Moldable Plastic

We also just published a video showing how we used it to make a part and how to color it, you can watch them here:
YouTube - inventables&#39;s Channel

You have to be careful when machining with it because the heat from the bit will melt the plastic. I have been able to successfully mold with it by "pouring" the plastic into the mold.

[Rahere]

In the UK, it's most easily obtainable from Maplins, Polymorph