So I have this habit of keeping a deck in my backpack, ready for any occasion. But the constant jostling around is damaging the tuck. And I'm too cheap to want to buy a pricy card clip. So I figured I'd make one!
Materials you will need:
1/8" thick acrylic of any color you prefer. I cut two different sizes: 6 3/8" x 3 7/8" if you want a 1/8" lip all around the deck; 6 1/8"x3 5/8" if you want it flush to a standard sized deck.
Your sister's hair straightener
Heat gun (hair dryer could work but it would take much longer)
Pencil
A thick pair of gloves
A bowl with cold water
A deck sized piece of something solid. (2 5/8" wide, 3 5/8" high and 5/8" thick)
Sandpaper
I made a deck sized block using 1/2" acrylic and 3/16" acrylic to give me about the exact width of a standard deck and resin bonded them together. You can also use krazy glue.
Procedure:
- Preheat the straightener on max heat.
- Center the edge of the block on the acrylic and mark the edges of the block.
- Heat up the center of the acrylic with the straightener until it gets floppy. About a minute or two should be enough.
- Quickly place the block on the edge you just marked, hold it firmly as you wrap the acrylic around it, making sure all edges are even.
- While holding it firmly, dunk it in the cold water to make sure it retains its shape.
- Once it has cooled, slide the block out, you'll notice it falls out. Gotta put some tension on that bad boy.
- Heat the bend enough to make it malleable again and gently squeeze it down. A good gap is about 5/8", too tight and you crush the deck. Too loose and it falls out. Depends on the deck you want to put in there.
Pro Tip: if you heat the inside of the clip, it will open up. If you heat the outside of the clip, it'll clamp down. Another thing you can do to fine tune the tension gap is to heat up the inside, slide the block in and dunk it in cold water. It'll tighten up.
You're almost done!
With a fine sandpaper, gently sand the outer and inner edges of the clip. As well as the corners. Round them off a little bit.
Enjoy!
Questions or comments, feel free! I also take requests!
