Anyone set up with their own vacuform machine? Need help or advice with BSG pieces

[jvasilatos]

I'm restoring a Battlestar Galactica Viper pilot helmet, and when I was trying to remove the light bars, they were very brittle and cracked. They were made of a very thin frosted vacuformed plastic. I found a source on another set of light bars through the RPF, but when I received them, I discovered they were solid and clear, they were not they were not vacuformed shells. The LEDs from the helmet will not work with them... they need a vacuformed shell like the original damaged light bars to fit inside of when I put the helmet back together after repainting..

I was able to find a frosted very thin plastic sheet at a local plastic supplier, and figured if I could find someone with a vacuform machine, I could see if they could use my frosted plastic sheet and the solid light bars to create new light bar shells. Does that make sense?

Here are pictures:

Can anyone here help?

 

[Reactor drone]

Re: Anyone set up with their own vacuform machine? Need help or advice with BSG piec

Have you considered doing it yourself?The parts are fairly small so you could use your oven as a heater with a simple wooden frame for the styrene and a small vacuum box made from MDF/craftwood attached to your vacuum cleaner.

I've done lots of vacforming with this type of very simple set up.

 

[Darth Lars]

Re: Anyone set up with their own vacuform machine? Need help or advice with BSG piec

Have you considered drilling holes in the solid light bar? Maybe first a pilot hole, and then use the tiny ball-shaped dremel attachment. Using a low speed is essential when drilling plastics. One hole for each LED.

 

[Trooper_trent]

Re: Anyone set up with their own vacuform machine? Need help or advice with BSG piec

Have you considered drilling holes in the solid light bar? Maybe first a pilot hole, and then use the tiny ball-shaped dremel attachment. Using a low speed is essential when drilling plastics. One hole for each LED.

It looks to me like you wouldn't need to vacuum form that at all.
Is the whole thing just a long strip folded in half to form a "U"?
Have you tried heating up a strip and folding it over (with something in between to hold its place until it cools, then bend it into the correct shape by heating it again in different spots?

 

[Darth Lars]

Re: Anyone set up with their own vacuform machine? Need help or advice with BSG piec

Have you tried heating up a strip and folding it over (with something in between to hold its place until it cools, then bend it into the correct shape by heating it again in different spots?

I think the part is too complex to do that. It is very hard to get the exact shape just right. You also have to avoid warping when you bend a corner.

Maybe you could cast a plaster negative from an original (padded with oil-based clay) or the solid replica. Also include a few rods in the mold, so there will be holes straight through the mold.
Now you would have a block of plaster with a channel and a few holes. Bolt a piece of styrene to the block. Heat the styrene over the channel with a heat gun and press it down into the channel using some kind of wooden utensil. Maybe that would work.
However, the plastic will shrink slightly when it cools, and has a tendency to revert to its original shape when it is not hot enough - so you will get some slight warping.
So, I still vote for using the solid piece if you can not get hold of someone to vac-form it for you.