My Vacuum forming table and my easy heating solution

[XRobots]

Cool idea, instead of using wingnuts have you thought about using quick-release toggle clamps? Make the bottom layer of your plastic holder bigger to attach the clamp to and use some guides to line up the frame over the plastic.

Yes, I kind of mention that in the video when I'm dealing with the nuts, I just never got around to working out what to do. Making the top layer smaller is great idea though, I may well do something about that now.

 

[XRobots]

Ive been using 2 electric BBQ grills as heating units for the last 7 years on my vactable
there is also no chance of the plastic melting into the grills as they are upsidedown in a frame and the plastic sheet is under them way safer than heating the plastic over the heating unit

Yes, I considered turning it all upside down and making a proper vacuum forming 'station' like the commercial machines. But this way I can take the box to bits and flat pack it all. There's no limit what you can do though, once you've cracked the heating method.

 

[Idaho Jones]

I had to sketch it out a bit, I'm sure you could make it work. Subscribed to your videos too!

 

[JBD]

You're internet famous!

Thanks for the tutorial!

 

[Roboto]

That is a great demo. Thanks for posting.

 

[MrSinistar]

Dude, that was epic!! Thank you so much for posting

 

[horseman]

one of the best homemade ones ive seen

 

[XRobots]

You're internet famous!

Thanks for the tutorial!

I noticed that, and it's appeared in a couple of other places too. Thanks for all the comments everyone. Everyone should have a vacuum former, it's such a useful thing.

 

[Leigh]

Dyson's are the best imo!
Do you think theres enough suck with a single Dyson to make a vac former that'll form something about a meter long by about 300mm wide??

I'm going to need to build one of these to form the clear cowling for my Alien project, I'm hoping I can get away with just the one Dyson? what do you think??

Excellent job by the way :thumbsup

 

[XRobots]

Dyson's are the best imo!
Do you think theres enough suck with a single Dyson to make a vac former that'll form something about a meter long by about 300mm wide??

I'm going to need to build one of these to form the clear cowling for my Alien project, I'm hoping I can get away with just the one Dyson? what do you think??

Excellent job by the way :thumbsup

So the piece of plastic in mine is 500x500mm and the forming surface is less than that because it's held into the frame at the edges, so the actual surface area is less than 0.25 sq/m. 300x1000mm is 0.3 sq/m, so it seems like it should be ok. You can see that Dyson sucks the air out pretty quick and it pulls in all the details so my feeling is also that you won't have any issues with one Dyson.

 

[Leigh]

So the piece of plastic in mine is 500x500mm and the forming surface is less than that because it's held into the frame at the edges, so the actual surface area is less than 0.25 sq/m. 300x1000mm is 0.3 sq/m, so it seems like it should be ok. You can see that Dyson sucks the air out pretty quick and it pulls in all the details so my feeling is also that you won't have any issues with one Dyson.

Thanks for the quick reply

Heres an image of what I have to do:

TBH I'll probably need it to be a bit bigger :unsure

 

[nick daring]

Now I no longer have an excuse to not build a vacuform table.

Nice and simple wins the day yet again!

Nick

 

[xenomorph]

Dyson's are the best imo!
Do you think theres enough suck with a single Dyson to make a vac former that'll form something about a meter long by about 300mm wide??

I'm going to need to build one of these to form the clear cowling for my Alien project, I'm hoping I can get away with just the one Dyson? what do you think??

Excellent job by the way :thumbsup

I think two of these heaters side by side (long way) might be better for you. You can buy (or hire) industrial vacuum cleaners which are a lot more powerful compared to a Dyson, so might be worth picking on of those up if you intend to do a bit of forming.

Great idea for the heater BTW!

Your videos are inspirational. Many thanks for making them :thumbsup

 

[Lukea]

I too loved this video and the solutions, thanks. Are there any guidelines to the size or power of the quarts lamp or the vacuum? If I go to the Home Depot and get something will it work? Will this one work or do I have to buy a $300 one?quartz heater

 

[lou3433]

I love the heater idea!! The last time I vacuumed formed I had to put the plastic in the oven stacked on a couple of beer cans. Your way is a lot better!

 

[XRobots]

I too loved this video and the solutions, thanks. Are there any guidelines to the size or power of the quarts lamp or the vacuum? If I go to the Home Depot and get something will it work? Will this one work or do I have to buy a $300 one?quartz heater

Mine is a 2KW model, it cost about £ 40 GBP from eBay.

 

[JBD]

Would a sheet of pegboard hold up to the pressure? I wonder if it wouldn't be a nice lazy way to do the bottom part of the table.

 

[Skaught]

I used pegboard inside mine, but put a few support beams inside (not all the way across, of course). Works fine.

Scott

 

[Eaglewood]

Hi all, I built a vacuum forming table some time ago which I've used for various projects. I'd never actually shown any pictures of the table before, so I decided to make a YouTube video all about it.

Of specific interest is probably the way I heat the plastic, which is quite easy to reproduce safely and cheaply.

Here's the video: YouTube - my vacuum forming machine & easy heating solution

Skip to about 3:35 if you just want to know about the heater part - I also demo the table at the end.

.

Dude, this rocks-- awesome-- Im going to have to try this one for sure!!!!!

 

[defstartrooper]

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