Awesome Plastic

The buttons on our clothing are one of those things we take for granted. But it’s somebody’s job to make them for us. All of World Process takes us inside of a factory that cranks out buttons by the thousands. They pour liquid plastic into tubes or sheets, slice or cut out button shapes, then drill and tumble them until shiny.

Ank Creative makes miniature cars out of plastic. We’ve seen the DeLorean they made from a cigarette lighter, now here’s another movie-inspired ride. This time we’ve got a recreation of the Batmobile from Tim Burton’s Batman, carved from black plastic scrounged from a speaker cabinet and a few other bits and bobs.

Looking for a fun Halloween decoration that encourages recycling? Off the Grid Makes shows us how you can transform plastic milk bottles into plastic skulls. You’ll need a heat gun and a resin skull to mold the plastic around, but then the only limit is time and how many milk jugs you have lying around.

Since the start of the pandemic, the world has been using huge amounts of personal protective equipment. The Brothers Make teamed up with recycler ReWorked to see what they could do with the plastic found in disposable face masks. They melted and extruded the resulting polypropylene granules into the parts for a park bench.

This limited edition release of Dango’s compact P01 pen is made from ULTEM, a high-strength, heat-resistant plastic used in aerospace. The lightweight pen has an amber-tinted ULTEM body which lets you see through to its ink cartridge inside. It has a tight-fitting cap that doubles as a stand and a lanyard hole at its rear.

These folding and reusable storage boxes are made from durable plastic and have transparent, fold-down sides for easy access to their contents. Use them to store your books, records, CDs, toys, linens, and more. They’re stackable and come in five sizes, from 28-liter to 116-liter capacity, in various colors.

The Flairdrum is an unusual percussive instrument that uses PET water bottles filled with varying amounts of compressed air. The air pressure changes the surface tension of each bottle, resulting in different notes when struck. Daniel Bornmann performed this ear-soothing rendition of his track Am Anfang ist Klang.

Tokyo_Bird shared this 3D-printable design which makes use of plastic soda bottle caps for sealing small containers. They’re ideal for storing items like screws, washers, or pills. The design is available for download from Thingiverse. We’re not sure they fit U.S.-size bottle caps, but they include STL files for printing your own caps.

If you stick a plastic soda bottle under the force of a 150-ton hydraulic press, it will fail rapidly. But what happens if you reinforce the outside of the bottle with things like hose clamps, rubber bands, or zip ties? The Hydraulic Press Channel has the answer in their latest excuse for destruction in the name of physics.

2-liter bottles are pretty good at holding air, so they work well as floatation devices. Maker Chris Notap took this idea to the next level by gluing together 280 of plastic soda bottles with silicone sealer, transforming them into a totally legitimate raft. We wonder if there’s a limit to how large a raft you could make this way.

If you’re stuck out in the woods and need shelter, you can always try to fabricate one from found objects. But if you have a few rolls of plastic wrap, you could make one like Osman Delibash did. By wrapping and layering the plastic around trees, she created a sturdy elevated bed with a roof and sides that keep the rain out.

Do you have lots of hex bits, drill bits, and sockets scattered around your workshop? These 3D-printed holders have hundreds of 1/4″ hexagons for holding onto your bits. Each tray can store up to 400 bits, and their design means you can place multiples snugly against each other. JackofAll3D sells them in nine different colors.

Never smash a finger again when hammering in nails. These safety pliers have unique grooves designed for steadying various nail sizes, so you can get them started without having to hold them between your fingertips. They’re made from sturdy plastic and lay flat against horizontal or vertical surfaces.

To celebrate 90 years of LEGO, the Billund, Denmark toymaker is releasing a unique set that includes 15 mini builds based on iconic models. The 1100-piece set #11021 incorporates classics like the 1932 LEGO Duck, the 1998 Secret of the Sphinx, the 2020 Pineapple Pencil Holder, and the 2013 NINJAGO Golden Dragon. Drops 5.1.2022.

We’ve seen the fascinating way in which factories crank out plastic water bottles by the thousands. Now see the level of effort it takes a model maker to create a single bottle that looks just like a bottle of Crystal Geyser water, only after it’s been put through a shrink ray.

TheCrafsMan SteadyCraftin starts off this video with a lesson on injection molding and the different kinds of plastics which can be recycled. He then proceeds to show us how to melt down some polypropylene pill bottles, then molds them into a bunch of adorable little orange robots.

In this video from Sumitomo (SHI) Demag, they show how their El-Exis SP injection molding machine makes plastic bottle caps. Each time its molds fill with plastic, it stamps out 96 identical bottle caps, repeating the process every 1.9 seconds. We love that top-down view of all the caps falling to the production line below.

Keymacs makes high-end keyboards. In this video, they show how LEGO bricks and polyurethane can be used to create a double-shot keycap. They then use a CNC router to engrave the details and refine the shape of the mold, then make an additional set of molds to produce the contrasting letter embedded in each key.

Filmmakers Paul Bush and Lana Tankosa Nikolic created this inventive short film entirely from everyday plastic items. It’s a colorful statement on just how much plastic we use as a society and was created for Plastic Change, a Danish organization working to reduce our dependence on difficult to recycle plastics.

It’s a sad story we’ve heard before – our oceans are filled with discarded plastic that is destroying fragile ecosystems. To do his small part to help, Burls Art teamed up with 4Ocean who recovers and cleans plastic from the water. He then melted down the plastic chips and formed it into the body of a colorful electric guitar.

We throw out a whole lot of plastic, and very little of it gets recycled. Brothers Make shows us how they used ordinary kitchen appliances to melt milk bottle caps and other plastic bits to create a colorful and functional cutting board. They say the HDPE plastic they used is food-safe.

Researchers from the MIT Media Lab developed a method for 3D printing that creates soft and stretchable textiles. The process takes advantage of a defect that can occur in 3D printing – underextruded thermoplastics. By precisely controlling this behavior, they were able to make thin, flexible fabrics with custom patterns.

We love the look of Geeki Tikis’ ceramic tiki tumblers, but if you’d prefer something more kid-friendly and portable, check out these versions that are made from BPA-free plastic. They feature the same awesome designs, but are far less fragile, and have a screw-on top with a reusable straw. Not dishwasher or microwave safe.