Is This Possible or Am I Just Dreaming?

[drewlly]

Hi Everyone,
I recently got a new leather sofa that has large, flat-topped arms, about 12" wide. I've seen similar sofas with u-shaped glass things that sit over the arm, allowing you to use it to put drinks on. I fancy getting something similar for my sofa. However, because my sofa is a custom job, the ones I've seen in showrooms won't fit.
Anyway, I've been told that to make something like this in glass would be very expensive, and that I should consider acrylic. But I've also been told that acrylic wouldn't do the job either, as it couldn't be bent to the 1 inch radius bends that would be required so the u-shape followed the curve of the sofa arm.

Is this correct?
If acrylic can be softened at 200 degrees, then why couldn't it be bent?
How would I go about making this?
I guess 5mm acrylic would be about the right thickness?
Would acrylic deform if I rested a hot cup of tea on it?
Is anything like this possible?

[ultimatehandyman]

It is possible and not that difficult if you have the right equipment, but without the right equipment it is difficult.

When Acrylic is heated to the right temperature you can mould it into virtually any shape you want, but after it has been shaped it will probably need annealing to prevent it from cracking at a later date.

5mm is relatively thin and so you may be able to get enough heat into it with an electric heat gun to be able to bend it. If you go to the homepage-

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

and then click on the acrylic link and then look for the link for the perspex workshop manual it will tell you more in there.

I'm not on my own pc and this one crashes when I open up another window and so I can't post the link from here

A hot cup of tea will not deform the acrylic