Kydex experiences?

[rmwarren]

Packard and Richard, check out this video above. It shows one approach to both of your questions — using a t-shirt press to heat up the material and then cutting off (and sanding/polishing) the edges of the scrap material after it’s formed.

I've made a couple sheath-like items and that does work fine. The nuance in making something like the glass cases where the 2 sides are not mirror images and need to be cut/trimmed separately. I find this easier to do before forming.

The second glass case I'm working on, which has a strip of Kydex that'll be bent over for a molle clip, would be even more complicated to cut after molding.

Also, hand molding over a form is different than vacuum forming or using a Kydex press. I can come back after the initial forming and heat up just the bend area of the clip and form it separately. A feature/drawback to Kydex is it becomes very floppy (limp noodle) when heated. The clip will be easier to form if only the bend area is heated.

RMW