Build your Vacuum Forming Machine

loopingfred

Hello again,

I've just created a page to create your own vaccum forming machine in no time !
You can form clear plastic and ABS (electric motor cowling and so on...)
Enjoy !

http://gliderireland.modelisme.com/vaccumforming.htm


Fred

g5hn710m4xpdwy

yeah well i can usea real one :P sry just had too
might make on of these for home use

Whats wrong with my mind...: "all you need to know is to know how to screw" i got a dirty mind :P

loopingfred

Yep, work if you know how to unscrew stuff as well ! :rolleyes:

Fred

g5hn710m4xpdwy

What if you leave the polymer (yes i am geting all technicaly) in the oven too long... thats why you could savge a toaster and make a stainless steel mounting bracket and have the 2 hot pices beside eachother on a thing to hold em just gigh enough oh and with tiny wheels on it so after its heated you just roll it away and form

loopingfred

Flunked wrote:

What if you leave the polymer (yes i am geting all technicaly) in the oven too long... thats why you could savge a toaster and make a stainless steel mounting bracket and have the 2 hot pices beside eachother on a thing to hold em just gigh enough oh and with tiny wheels on it so after its heated you just roll it away and form

... Don't put it on the oven... Simple...:D Or if you cannot use something else, keep an eye on it !

You can use a heat gun, or, like i'm doing, on the top of the flams of the cooker (We use gas at home). Like that, I can control the Rodhoid (technical stuff as well ) but that's easy to see before you go too far, before the melting, the plastic became less transparent. Try at home with a sheet of plastic...

Fred

g5hn710m4xpdwy

I was talking about this and building an intergrafted heater and everything with a mate:
[Boast]
He won the seniur (cant spell) technolgy section and gme 2nd overall in the young scientists
[/Boast]

about it and it seems pretty easy if you have accses to the tools :-)

loopingfred

Ah ok, like that :


I have a friend with an integrated heater on the machine (much bigger..). He did not use toaster stuff, but made his own heater on the same principle (using thin tungsten wires..)
No specifics tools are required to build those machines...

Fred

g5hn710m4xpdwy

well you would want a good bracket to hold it, if it is wood it may burn threw;)
this is the one i use: http://www.multiaxis.com/formec/300x.jpg in school

loopingfred

Nice one.
What size is the workable area ?

Fred

Cmar-Ireland

Just how big do you think this could be made? I would like to do this if it could form over a fiberglass bodyshell. The shell is about 600x300x300mm.
If the fibreglass shell was suitably supported and placed on the vacuum box, would it be possible to form some lexan or polycarb over something that size? How would you heat up a sheet of that size?

loopingfred wrote:

Hello again,

I've just created a page to create your own vaccum forming machine in no time !
You can form clear plastic and ABS (electric motor cowling and so on...)
Enjoy !

http://gliderireland.modelisme.com/vaccumforming.htm


Fred

g5hn710m4xpdwy

yes it will form that, just build the former to size but make sure u have a way of distributing teh heat evenly if so, wood/clay/fiberglass they should all form,
it is reccomended that you lightly (or hevily) cover the surface of the "to bo" formed object as the plastic can get sticky and... wel stick;)

loopingfred

Just how big do you think this could be made? I would like to do this if it could form over a fiberglass bodyshell.

--> Yep, no problem. But you need a more powerfull vacuum machine, or reduce the deep of the box for a home vacuum cleaner.


If the fibreglass shell was suitably supported and placed on the vacuum box, would it be possible to form some lexan or polycarb over something that size?

--> Yes, no pb again here. Just choose the good polycarbonate. Here is a trick.. when you choose the plastic to form. Bend a corner... If that make a white line, that's a good one for thermoforming. No white line, that will be more difficult to form.

How would you heat up a sheet of that size?

--> If nothing else : an oven. That work very well if you keep an eye on it. Just check the caracteristics of the plastic first by doing a heating test.
After that, you have to go custom. But the oven works very well (use to heat big gliders canopies. everything in the oven. If the oven is too small, you can make an extension... I have some pictures somewhere. I'll post that next week.

Fred

g5hn710m4xpdwy

forgot to ansewer you question: It is about the size of an A3 sheet of paper, possibly bigger;)

ruihuamachine

Vacuum Forming Machine,Thermoforming Machine - Made in China

Cmar-Ireland

ruihuamachine wrote:

Vacuum Forming Machine,Thermoforming Machine - Made in China

LOL nice, but a bit too big for any of us!!!

Cmar-Ireland

Ok, I just got my new Monster Truck bodyshell yesterday. It's frigging huge!! 67cm long by 28cm wide!!!

Now, how do I go about building a vac form machine to suit this size???

g5hn710m4xpdwy

hummm how to build one that size....
if theres any places in ireland that have the huge industrial ones see if they will form a few (alot) but you will have to pay, a good bit

Cmar-Ireland

Do you think a diy one will be able to pull 2mm polycarb over something this size?

g5hn710m4xpdwy

if it is very round, and not much corners, posibly but you could tear it very easily, it would be way to skinny