soshalslayr
Jr Member
Does anyone have any tuts or know how to make a cheap but effective vacuum forming machine for my next build?
Cheap, effective vacuum former?
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Jimmy Da Moose
Active Member
This is the vacuum former I use. It works quite well, provided you have a vacuum and an oven.
soshalslayr
Jr Member
sweet. This was reeeally cheap too. i actually have a plastics outlet right by my house, so ill try this out tomorrow
Here is what I made for small vac-forming projects by Ralis Kahn. I used a 6.5 hp shop vac on 1/16th thick high impact polystyrene (HIPS) and ABS sheets and it works great for what I needed it for. Please be very careful with the wiring! Do not attempt to build if you're not familiar with electrical circuits, failure to do the wiring correctly may short the circuit and could cause a fire or even death!
soshalslayr
Jr Member
it looks awesome, but little too over the top for what im doin right now.
BrownJellyTrail
New Member
Here is what I made for small vac-forming projects by Ralis Kahn. I used a 6.5 hp shop vac on 1/16th thick high impact polystyrene (HIPS) and ABS sheets and it works great for what I needed it for. Please be very careful with the wiring! Do not attempt to build if you're not familiar with electrical circuits, failure to do the wiring correctly may short the circuit and could cause a fire or even death!
Holy my Jesus!! Daddy wants!!
soshalslayr
Jr Member
I think that i should try something like what Jimmy Da Moose's post showed to start with =, because i dont want that huge ass thing just chillin in my garage if i dont like vacuum forming as much as i should.
Zat German
Member
I have a Google Sketchup design I worked out for a 2' x 2' vacuum former that I want to build. The nice thing is that I designed it to break down so I could store it when I am not using it. My only problem with it right now is that I am not sure if the oven is going to draw too much current to actually use it.
soshalslayr
Jr Member
A heat gun is probably too unpredictable, huh? It isn't consistent like an oven. But would it work?
There was a man in New Zealand who heated his plastic with charcoal outside his backyard then use a shop vac to form it. Seemed like a good idea, cheap heat source and it won't run up your electricity bill. I would probably save an old square barbecue grill for the charcoal and make a matching metal frame to hold the plastic sheet over the heat source. For the vacuum platen, follow what these guys at DH2 did for their project.
Zat German
Member
It might work for a very small pull but for anything like armor or visors, heat guns will not work. You need to heat the plastic to a consistent temperature across the whole thing. By the time you finished heating one portion with a heat gun, the previous would be too cold again.
Pack hunter
Jr Member
the problem i've had in the past with using an oven as the heat source is that you can only use plastic sheets small enough for your oven, which is only good for small 1/32nd scale models
Sky Walker
Member
is there some sort of power vaccum that can get detail into the mold. or at least starmtrooper helmet detail?
soshalslayr
Jr Member
Yeah. I intend to use it for clone republic commando armor, so I need it rather detailed for the helmet, but not much else.
Fudz073
Active Member
Another member, Vigilant Sniper, made a cheap vacuum former.
here's the link http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/33721-Vigilnt-snipers-ODST-Build/page2
If you like what you see, pm me and I can send you a detailed list of the materials you need. You can try and contact vigilant sniper but I don't think he uses the site anymore. Hope this helps and can't wait to see what you decide to use. good luck!
here's the link http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/33721-Vigilnt-snipers-ODST-Build/page2
If you like what you see, pm me and I can send you a detailed list of the materials you need. You can try and contact vigilant sniper but I don't think he uses the site anymore. Hope this helps and can't wait to see what you decide to use. good luck!
soshalslayr
Jr Member
yeah. I think thats about what mine is going to look like. Ill have it done by next monday hopefully. It doesnt seem all too hard.
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