Jun 222014
It’s in Russian, but the guy here built a small tool that can be used to peel a plastic bottle like peeling the skin off an apple. The resulting ribbon of polyethylene can then be used to tie things; application of heat causes the plastic to tighten up and melt together. Note: Spectra fiber is basically just processed polyethylene. If you’ve ever torn a plastic bag, you know that it’s pretty flimsy… unless you pull it out into long “strands.” Then it gets surprisingly tough because the random molecular chains line up. There ya go… the start of Spectra*. You’re on your way to weaving a bulletproof vest out of WalMart shopping bags!
[youtube hQeeJEpBYsg]
*Well… sorta. A little bit, maybe.