I was so excited to make this project and here is why. This tooth brush holder is made by bending a single piece of acrylic using heat. Isn’t that interesting! The design is very simple, minimalistic and a great space saver. Initially, I was going to make this holder using wood with bevel cuts. But that seemed too easy and quiet boring. So, I chose to make it with acrylic. Bending acrylic sounded to be way more exciting than gluing the acrylic to make this holder. Now, let me get into the details of this DIY.
First, buy 3mm transparent Acrylic 12×12 sheet. To cut and drill on acrylic you can use the same tools & drill bits that are used for wood. For the bending process you need a constant heat source. For this you can use a blowtorch or heat gun. I used heat gun for this project.
Materials used:
Tools used:
- Circular saw
- 3/4″ spade drill bit
- Power drill
- Trim Router
- 1/2″ flush trim bit
- clamps
- scrap wood
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DIY Acrylic Tooth brush holder
Step : 1 – Cutting
For this project we will use only a part of the 12×12 sheet. i.e 4-1/2″ x 12″ to be exact. The acrylic sheet comes with a protective sheet on both sides. Keep it on and draw the hole locations for tooth brush and paste on one end of the acrylic. Before applying it on the acrylic, I made a test cut on 1/4″ MDF to decide the size of holes to fit a tooth brush. 3/4 inch dia opening with spade bit seemed to be the right size for it.
For holding the toothpaste, I made two 1″ circles at 2-1/4 inch distance and connected them with straight lines to make the desired oblong shape. To cut this shape on MDF, use 1″ spade bit for the circles and then cut the connecting lines with jigsaw. With little sanding, you will get smooth edges. Check the fit once with your brush and toothpaste before cutting on acrylic.
The trial cut on MDF made it easy for me to do the final cut on Acrylic. Draw the shapes on Acrylic and then secure it on top of the MDF template in proper alignment using a double sided tape. Like me, if you did not have one on hand then use a rolled packaging tape. To make the oblong shape, first make two holes with 3/4″ spade (Refer the first image below) to clear some material inside. Then use a 1/2″ flush trim bit and router to carve that shape out. Next, do the 3/4″ holes for the tooth brush using spade bit.
Finally, cut the 4-1/2″ width acrylic using circular saw.
Fix template 
Set blade depth 
Now its time to remove the protective sheet on both sides and reveal the clean material.
Step -2 – Bending
Here comes the real fun part. First, I covered my table top edge with aluminum foil (just to be safe). On the acrylic piece, mark a folding line measuring from the opposite side of the cut holes at 4-1/2 inch distance. This will be the base of our holder. Cantilever the marked side of the acrylic on the table edge and secure it with a scrap wood piece and clamps. Do not clamp too tight. Just make sure that its secured enough so that it does not move.
Now, turn on the heat gun and apply heat directing at the marked line. Make sure to move the heat gun applying even heat on the line. After few minutes, the acrylic will start to sag by itself. For a 3mm Acrylic sheet it took me approximately 2-1/2 minutes. Time will vary depending upon the heat source, distance and material. Maintain at least 3″ distance between the heat gun and acrylic. Otherwise you will end up with bubbles on acrylic. Once it starts to sag, take a clean scrap wood and bend the acrylic to the desired angle. I wanted the bend to be little more than 90 deg. Hold the wood pressing on the acrylic until it cools down. Upon cooling, the acrylic will retain the bent shape.
Next make another 4-1/4 inch line from the curve and repeat the same process for the next bending. This 4-1/4inch will become the height of the holder.
If you did not get the desired angle at the first try, apply heat again and try to fix it in desired angle
This bending process was so satisfy to make and the end result was really good. The holder just stands by itself on the counter holding tooth brushes and toothpaste. I was wondering if it would topple when we add or remove weight. But it did not do so. The bigger base and the slight tilt made it perfectly stable.
