Guerilla Vacuum Formers

[OB10]

I dunno if you guys have seen these, but....

The current issue of Make magazine has a neat little tutorial on building your own vac former. Here's an exerpt from it. You can get the whole article in the current magazine, available at Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc.
http://downloads.oreilly.com/make/11/vacuum_former.pdf

And many more groovy tutorials here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/ELL304YY30EZ7BEV6C/?ALLSTEPS

http://www.instructables.com/id/E8RW98YF3C4XLCQ/?relatedLink

Instructables has some pretty effing cool tutorials.....

Obi-Bob

 

[propsculptor]

Those are not bad, but I still prefer the Tutorial I used to build my Vacuum-Formers:

http://www.halloweenfear.com/vacuumformintro.html

 

[OB10]

Hey, cool! I saw your site again last night, and almost added it. I was kinda in Make magazine and Instructables mode, and was pretty sure yours was posted before. Besides, yours is more of a real one, not so hack and slash! :lol It looks like part of your site is currently down. Will that be up sometime soon?

The Instructables site also has some tutorials on making your own vacuum pump. I'm sure not as powerful as a comercially made version, nor as convenient as a vacuum. But it looked interesting. Plus the DIY CNC machines..... The vacuum pumps might be handy for degassing silicone. Maybe....

Obi-Bob

 

[Skaught]

How well does that electric grill work? I always heard it didn't heat evenly or hot enough.

Scott

 

[Jimbo890]

There was a 20 plus page thread on this very board a couple of years ago. Great info. I don't think it got archived.

I've tried to document my vac-forming machine:

http://www.tk560.com/vactable4.html

And here is my discussion board thread on the subject:

http://www.tk560.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=1&sid=53e78d1c3a90c1484da19d0fab85bc0c

 

[OB10]

I remembered your site, too. Very cool, I love your site! No offense meant, I was just pointing out some new sites. Although, http://www.tk560.com/vactable4.html seems to be working, but the link you have doesn't work for me just now.

I really like your tutorials, especially the Pulse Rifle and the wood Tricorder, Phaser and Communicator. Gotta get off my butt and build some of those.


Obi-Bob

 

[Jimbo890]

Thanks!

I got the link working right now.

Jim

 

[drcrash]

Vacuum Former Plans (Re: Guerilla Vacuum Formers)

For a kitchen oven setup, I think this design is better than the one in Make, in several ways:

http://www.instructables.com/id/E8RW98YF3C4XLCQ/

(If I do say so myself. :confused)

Here's a little movie of it in operation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGBRiYhxRTM

Anybody interested in vacuum forming should get Doug Walsh's book, Do It Yourself Vacuum Forming for the Hobbyist. It's good and it's cheap.

There are a lot of lame pegboard-covered-box vacuum former designs out there, but Doug showed how to do it better years and years ago. (A better vacuum former doesn't have to be harder to make, either.)

tk560 is the place to go if you're interested in making bigger vacuum formers cheaply.

 

[ZOMBIEREPELLENT]

I used metal screen on my set up. works pretty good but I rarely ever use it

 

[drcrash]

Those are not bad, but I still prefer the Tutorial I used to build my Vacuum-Formers:
[...]
http://www.halloweenfear.com/vacuumformintro.html

How well does that electric grill work? I always heard it didn't heat evenly or hot enough.

Scott

It's hot enough, if you disable the thermostat, but doesn't heat evenly because it's not really big enough. (There's a big hot spot in the middle.) You can fix it easily, though, with a disposable aluminum grill topper. (About $1) Add an aluminum flashing skirt (about $6) and it's very nice.

(My platen's not quite as big as Ralis Kahn's, though... it's 12" x 18".)

Here's a thread on that:

http://www.tk560.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=390

Given those fixes, it's a good choice for making smallish stuff like masks. The over-and under arrangement is nice and compact.

I wouldn't make a platen like Ralis Kahn does, though... I'd at least put more spacers under it to support the cookie sheet. If you don't, and you ever add a higher-vacuum source than a vacuum cleaner, you may crush the platen or break molds.

The other problem people have had is finding the little electric grills with rectangular heating elements. (You can't get the Sunbeams anymore, apparently.) That thread also says where to find them. (Wal-Mart.) It may be a seasonal item, though, so if you want one you should probably grab it soon.