Hello all,

I am building a heat strip machine to bend acrylic

The plastic is 2mm thick

I just need help with what sort of power supply I need in terms of what volts and wattage I need.

I would also like it to connect to a temperature controller, or atleast just to view what the temperature is.

There will be two channels of heat wire on a board to bend both sides together.

I would like it to heat up quickly, so I think I need a psu with more watts?

If I've left any information out that is needed to work out what I need please let me know.

Thanks for any feedback

 

I just need help with what sort of power supply I need in terms of what volts and wattage I need.

Use "Electronic transformer".
See this thread.
ADDED:
12V 24V Power Supply 60W 120W 200W 300W 400W LED Power Transformer AC to DC LED Driver Converter for LED Home Lighting
https://aliexpress.ru/item/10050074...t.0.0.484815c7JOo3Bn&sku_id=12000040974070624
Price: about $5-$6
Main Features:
1. Super thin and small size design.
2. Silent, no any noise.
3. With high conductivity aluminum case, very high efficiency of heat-dissipation.
4. High quality, warranty 3 years.

 

Would these two work okay?

 

Would these two work okay?

PS seems good.
Check thermocontroller model value.
If it is C100FK02-V*AN, then it works up to 400 °C only.
Select model in attached PDF.

 

Temperature control is going to be hard- the thermal time constant of the metal wire is very short, it would need a specialized controller, or at least careful loop tuning.
How would you attach a sensor that would give any meaningful reading? The sensor would suck heat away locally, distorting the reading.

 

Temperature control is going to be hard- the thermal time constant of the metal wire is very short, it would need a specialized controller, or at least careful loop tuning.
How would you attach a sensor that would give any meaningful reading? The sensor would suck heat away locally, distorting the reading.

I just want it to remain at a constant temperature of between 100°C - 130°C. What is the best way to go about this, thank you

 

I just want it to remain at a constant temperature of between 100°C - 130°C. What is the best way to go about this, thank you

How does the heat transfer to the acrylic? I assume it's not actually in contact with the material?
It's gotta be much hotter to emit enough IR radiation to soften the plastic.
The heat benders I have seen employ a red hot wire?

You need to scale the PSU voltage to the length and diameter of the wire carefully, you can get away with just using a simple power supply, but the problem is that the adjustment range of the typical switcher PSU is rather limited, so you need to nail the right wire diameter exactly for the length you need to bend.

 

There is a basic challenge with heating and bending plastic, including acrylic plastics. The problem is that the plastics conduct heat rather poorly. that means that it takes time to get it hot enough to bend all the way thru. Using a hotter temperature to make it faster can lead to overheating and even bubbles forming in the plastic. At least that has been my experience.