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I have tried many different kinds of materials I can lay my hands on easily to make my models (including paper, cardboard, paint stirring sticks, used cds, pop cans). So I'm curious to hear what other people have tried using.

I mostly just use 120gsm paper. Thin enough for accurate results, but still pretty sturdy once a model is completed.

I have heaps of dead CDs around, but haven't really tried making anything with them. Ideally I'd like to be able to cut them up, but not sure how to do that without the coating flaking.

I cut the cds with a dremel.


Here's what the final model looks like. I painted the cds a blue-green. The silver pentagons are cut from aluminum cans. And the outer edges are pieces of metal that I glued on.


Here's a cube made of (12) $1 bills.


Initially, I made a cardboard model, and then to it I glued "kites" from pop cans. The black is just paint detailing.


Often, I build a cardboard model first to get a solid base. Then I might add other materials or I may just paint the cardboard.


The model I was building in the previous picture looks like this when it was finally painted.

I just use card of various types. I did have a go using CDs after reading how easy it is to cut them with scissors...ha! I also bough a sheet of acrylic and a special saw for plastics, but the result was a mess.

I've never used a dremmel; how do you use it to cut CDs ? What is the accuracy like ?

Pete K

I've never used a dremmel; how do you use it to cut CDs ? What is the accuracy like ?

There are multiple kinds of "disks" you can easily buy. With a marker I draw a line on the CD to indicate the shape I want. You can be very accurate with the Dremel since you hold both it and the CD still and the spinning disk does the cutting. You can either put a bevel on the CD with the Dremel as you cut or you can cut out the shape and then grind it down to the exact bevel angle you want.



The heat of the spinning disk melts a little of the plastic but it doesn't effect the cut especially as you get a feel for how the cutting works. I definitely suggest trying this method if you ever want to use any material like CDs. It is SOOOOOO easy!
Good luck

Jon,

Thanks for the info. I really think I should have one of those. Pehaps a quick peek on Amazon...

Cheers,

Pete K

Ideally, I would like to "fuse" the faces I cut out of CDs. Since they're basically plastic I can imagine I might melt them together if I could control the temperature. I'm sure there's some kinds of glue that bonds plastics really well. What I've tried in the past have eventually turned brittle and cracked. Any suggestions for adhesives?

JonFS wrote:Ideally, I would like to "fuse" the faces I cut out of CDs. Since they're basically plastic I can imagine I might melt them together if I could control the temperature. I'm sure there's some kinds of glue that bonds plastics really well. What I've tried in the past have eventually turned brittle and cracked. Any suggestions for adhesives?

If you take a look at my post "Delicate Flower or Triffid ?" (Not sure if this link will work: http://www.software3d.com/Forums/viewtopic.php?t=210),
you will find some comments on the adhesive that I used for that model: “SLO-ZAP” superglue (the yellow variant). I just tried an experiment with two CDs and it worked pretty well (so much for my wife's Howard Keel collection ). In my experiment, I put three spots of adhesive about 1 inch apart and put another CD on top. I weighted them down with a Kenwood Chefette for about an hour, but I imagine any hand mixer would work just as well ! Obviously, this was not as difficult as sticking edge to edge, but this was an easy first test. Let us know if you find anything better.

Pete K