Super-Cheap And Easy Vac Former

[dung0beetle]

I was wondering about what design to make my vac forming rig, and this idea came to mind. It is quick, cheap and easy.



You need a small pizza pan with the holes in it, a home depot bucket (or similar), caulk (or other adhesive), and a hole saw.

I haven't installed photoshop on my new computer yet, so paint is it.

I'm thinking of adding some sort of guide to it, to keep the sheet plastic from tearing or wrinkling, but that will be designed after the clearance around the pan/bucket is determined.



What do you think?

 

[Drgnfyre4]

Should work just fine. Used to do a LOT of vac forming on a home made vac bed and your plans are pretty sound.Only limitation I see is that you will be limited in size of parts you can make. Ideal for pulling PETG plastic visors on a bed of that size though.

 

[bboyfresco]

this is a cool concept, maybe you can apply it to a bigger scale like a rubbermaid tub for bigger parts?

 

[sidewayz]

nice was wondering about how to make one. I think suermanx has good idea with a bigger top

 

[MikyVengeance]

just a little question,

does the vacuum have to be a shop vac? or could it be a simple house hold vac.

I've seen some mini shop vac's at my local hardware store for only $30- $40.

 

[Boba Fett]

Thanks for the idea! I think I'll make this... Now I have to figure out how to heat the plastic without an oven...

 

[Sniperbaas]

Hmmm... That looks like it would work out very well. As MikyVengeance said, is a shop vac needed, or can a household vac be used? Or must one use a vacuum pump? If you get this to work out, I'd love to see some detailed pics and whatnot. I'll be watching this.





Cheers!

 

[Spartan 051]

the only thing that i would be worried about if the bucket can hold the pressure those home depot bucket are week

 

[twistedxknights]

Thanks for the idea! I think I'll make this... Now I have to figure out how to heat the plastic without an oven...

could try using a electric bbq ..such as this one from walmart

 

[dung0beetle]

As long as there are no air leaks, there should be no problems. It doesn't take much to get soft plastic to conform to the shape of a buck, so the container doesn't have to be super strong. I've done some model airplane canopies with ziplock storage containers, and they are only 4 inches square or so. You also don't need an oven for small parts, a heat gun or sometimes a good hair dryer will have sufficient heat to soften the plastic.

 

[Boba Fett]

but for a visor? Example, A mk. VI visor. That might not conform well enough with a hair dryer... Well, might as well try it...

 

[TheFifthSparrow]

I'd like to see this taken from concept to final design. Looks like it'd be pretty useful.

 

[Boba Fett]

I'm working on getting a bucket, so I'll post a pic once I'm done. I'm the ultimate cheapskate... lol!

 

[Walter Spase]

////////Warning////////



Plastic sags when its heated in this manner... the larger the sheet, the more it sags. If you place a flat frame in your oven onto your wire rack, chances are your going to have plastic sag onto the wire rack. Then you've ruined your plastic and you will need to remove any plastic stuck on the rack before you ever use the oven to cook again.



If you use your oven, make sure you block the frame to raise it a sufficient distance from your rack so we don't start hearing angry parents stories.



If its your Parent's oven, always ask for help.



////////Warning////////

 

[GremlinLord]

Keep in mind some plastics out gas and it "can" be explosive (my eyebrow took forever to grow back...). Another thing that is extremely important to a vacuum table is the volume in the platen. The more air in your platen the more air you need to pull to draw a vacuum, which means more time which, means colder plastic, which means less detail. If your only using a shop vac you should really try to keep the volume under a gallon of air anything more and it will take some time to build up the vacuum not to mention if you have leaks (you will have leaks but a shop vac will out pace them). If you ever decide to get a high vac pump extremely low platen volume is an absolute must and no leaks.



My personal favorite ultra cheap, ultra efficient, needs to be built in 1 hour at my buddies house with Walmart supplies vac table is two cookie sheets stacked with a sheet of 1/4" steel mesh to prevent them from sealing. Before you press the two together add a solid ring of 100% silicon caulk around the edge this forms a perfect seal. Make sure your only drill the little holes in the top sheet and and a 1.5" hole in the center of the bottom then epoxy on a 2 inch flange to the bottom sheet. Add a 2" section of 2" black iron pipe and you have a super cheap, super easy to make vac table that can be upgraded (with a 2" check valve from a sump pump, and a vacuum pump) to be at least comparable to a $5000 vac table. Total parts should cost less than $20 (not including oven, you're own for this one). If you get a vacuum pump (I used a food saver for a while) check out the tk560 forums. They have a plan to modified sump pump valves to add a high vac system to a shop vac table allowing you to get professional grade pulls.

 

[mozsey]

the only thing that i would be worried about if the bucket can hold the pressure those home depot bucket are week

Well, we are costumers. Fiberglass and bondo the inside of the bucket. XD

 

[Kirrou]

My personal favorite ultra cheap, ultra efficient, needs to be built in 1 hour at my buddies house with Walmart supplies vac table is two cookie sheets stacked with a sheet of 1/4" steel mesh to prevent them from sealing. Before you press the two together add a solid ring of 100% silicon caulk around the edge this forms a perfect seal. Make sure your only drill the little holes in the top sheet and and a 1.5" hole in the center of the bottom then epoxy on a 2 inch flange to the bottom sheet. Add a 2" section of 2" black iron pipe and you have a super cheap, super easy to make vac table that can be upgraded (with a 2" check valve from a sump pump, and a vacuum pump) to be at least comparable to a $5000 vac table. Total parts should cost less than $20 (not including oven, you're own for this one). If you get a vacuum pump (I used a food saver for a while) check out the tk560 forums. They have a plan to modified sump pump valves to add a high vac system to a shop vac table allowing you to get professional grade pulls.

Your concept sounds really cool. Any possibility of putting together a diagram or something explaining a bit more of the process?

 

[Burke]

What level of detail will you get? I mean if your buck is highly detailed does the vac provide a decent enough level of suction to make a good piece? I just think of the CCC weapons when I think of vac forming.

 

[this is haji]

Instead of the bucket. Build your own box





This only costed me 15 bucks to make, but i do need to make a proper frame. Ive had to staple the plastic to the frame.



Use silicone caulk to make seals where ever you can

Unfortunately i have not gotten my hands on any PETG plastic for a visor. I did use some clear sheets laying around the vac did its job except the plastic easily ripped

 

[GremlinLord]

Your concept sounds really cool. Any possibility of putting together a diagram or something explaining a bit more of the process?

I think I might have all the stuff for a quick build log... However I mainly copied from other people's tables and combined ideas. Dr. Crash on the tk560 forums has a few great how to's for building a vacuum table and how to convert a hand pump to a 20+ inches of mercury hand vacuum pump (used on for a while, trust me you'll eventually want a pump but that's $$$). I used the plans from the link below for my second table (first one was so full of fail I refuse to acknowledge it's existence :eek ). The only thing I changed was I used a platen sealing design. Basically this means instead of using a foam/rubber seal I used a deep pan so the plastic sealed to the rounded edges of the pan. Basically take a 2 identical pans and put some hardware cloth/chicken wire in between them with a silicone bead around the perimeter of the top to prevent leaks. Epoxy on the bottom flange and your set (I used liquid steel, just grind away any Teflon coating). For the sake of full disclosure I did eventually buy a set of plans that I'm almost done building which uses a very similar construction but it has a oven built into the table (flip style) from http://www.build-stuff.com/1001plans_hobby_vac.htm. I haven't finished it yet but it is coming together nicely.



I got most of my ideas for my second table from the tk560 forums and the link below. It's a good table that can be upgraded later to suit many needs (higher vacuum). There is also a quick oven using a electric buffet range and a few tin pans that works amazingly well and gets you out the the kitchen. If you use the rubber seals by some extra because you will be replacing them every 10-15 pulls but they are pretty cheap.

http://www.vacuumformerplans.blogspot.com/