Vacuum forming...failures and success!
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2013
- In this video, we share with you our first experiences using our newly constructed vacuum form machine.
We had several failures, until we finally got the hang of it and successfully pulled a visor for our Zer0 helmet!
Many thanks to our friends who helped with advice and support along the way (you know who you are!).
If you are interested in making your own Zer0 helmet but need a visor, you can purchase one here cosplay4usall.com/shop/
For those asking about our heat source, the heater was purchased on Amazon goo.gl/kCH9IK - Навчання та стиль
I like that you showed your progress and not just the end result. Good video!
Thanks!
If you angle the sides of your heater box, so that it is close at the bottom, the heat will radiate better towards the top, and allow you to get a more consistent heat. The gaps along the heater at the bottom, actually cause cold spots in your heating area. Basically build a squared off funnel.
I'm guessing the best part of this was spending a day with your kids having fun and working the project together. Nice work, thanks.
Thanks for sharing. I've been procrastinating building a vacuform machine for years. I'm glad to see others jumping in! Also, awesome results!
Glad to see people putting up their mistakes, surprisingly more helpful than when they succeed. I think this pretty much answered all questions I had left about vacuforming for my cosplay (doing Fallout 4 power armor, going to do the frame in resin and bondo, but the armor as interchangeable parts in vacuformed HIPS) What I saw here pretty well confirmed that it CAN be done. Thank you for uploading!
This video has helped me with a project I’m working on, I’m building retrofit projector headlights and I need to make clear headlight housings for them and the setup you showed is the basic setup I require to to it. Thank you.
THANK you for this video! I'm planning on building my own vacuum forming table and this video probably taught me more about the actual process than most of the vids that show someone doing something flawless step-by-step.
Thanks for watching! Glad we could help. Make sure to check out xrobots.co.uk/ as he was our inspiration.
check this out www.youtu.be.com/watch?v=XysbDvo2OH0
Tom Howbridge Dead link.
Nice job! It came out perfectly (last one). Thanks for showing us.
awesome video - love the trial and error - and you persisted until you got it juuuuust right. nice work!
looks good!! thanks for sharing!!
Excellent video, thanks for taking the time to document, add commentary, and share. I especially liked that you shared the failed attempts, this is where we learn the most. Out of curiosity, why did you end up deciding on the PETG?
Tim Wong we needed clear plastic for a helmet visor. Something thin, easy to heat with our setup, and something we could dye different colors. Plus we have a local manufacturer where we can buy large sheets at affordable prices (we sell the visors in our online store) :)
Good info about the buck vs droop, thank you.
Awesome work. Quick suggestion to help the draw a little bit, try putting a hole in the center of each set. Give a little more air flow.
Wow, that is amazing.
thanks for sharing these tips
Vacuum forming...our failures and our final success!
We do indeed get the same holes in the plastic. However, since that is excess/waste plastic which isn't getting used again (since it was already heated up, etc) for us it doesn't matter. We used small holes figuring you can always add more holes, or make them bigger, but you can't go smaller unless you want to make a new board ;) The size of the shop vac really depends on so many factors. What you're forming,temperature,size of the box, etc.All I can say is try one and see how it goes!
Awesome, its good to see fail and success, i just built my own, and wasted 5 sheets of petg, before i got a good visor pull, thanks for sharing :)
Lol sounds about like what we wasted too!
Excellent! Thanks for posting this, I'm going through the same cosplay process (Zer0 cos) with my lad here in the UK. Vac-former is next on the list. How big are the sheets you used to get the visor size right ?
Awesome video guys. Whenever I use my homemade vac former I'm left with a bunch of dimples in the plastic where the holes from the peg-board are sucking through. I noticed you didn't really get any of that, perhaps because your holes are smaller? I'm worried that if I make the holes smaller that my vacuum won't be able to suck through them as well. Will any ol' shop-vac do?
very cool video. thank you
Nice one, how much psi/cfm/hp or watts you used for the vacuum pump?
My first impression was the heater was too far from the plastic.but by the end, I was surprised that you got the plastic to sag that much with that one small heater. How long did that take to heat up?
First time it takes maybe 5 minutes. Less on subsequent pulls as some heat us retained in the box.
Thank you for the vid. Most of people who try a vacuum forming should have the same problems, I guess. And I'm to begin with it.
Question: What kind of tint did you use to keep the visibility from inside? What you think about that layers used in car glass?
We first used the spray tint that is used to tint car tail lights and that was horrible! Very hard to see through. So for the next one we used iPoly Dye (fabric dye) and they came out awesome! Check out our album on our Facebook page for more details facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.501628783261152.1073741839.263465680410798&type=3
I have been trying to vacuum form and I keep getting the webbing or creases. Do you know why this happens? Do I put the plastic over the object and then put the vacuum on or do I keep the vacuum running and then put it over the object? And what type of plastic do you recommend? I am trying to make molds to make bath fizzies with them so they need to be a bit sturdy. I really want to enjoy my vacuum former, but I'm struggling as this is so new to me. Thank you for your help in advance.
What we were told and have always followed is that the "droop" of the plastic should be about half as much as the height of your buck. For example, the only thing we have really made with our vacuum former is a visor that has a buck that is 8" tall. We heat our plastic until it droops 4" and them place it over the buck. Also in the case of vacuum before or after, we always have ours on before placing the plastic on the buck. Good luck!
Nice job! Where did you get the plastic sheets and what thickness? I can only find abs black, and its super thick
Shawn Rose We buy it from a local (Indianapolis) plastic manufacturer (we buy it in 4'x8' sheets). If you don't have a mfg near you, check with sign shops or online. Something like this might be a good choice www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23337
We use 1/16th inch plastic.
How thick was your PETG piece that you had your success on? Please tell me if you can remember
Very nice
You got this build idea from here on youtube from a gentleman in the UK. Great idea however you need to take a look at how professional machines work and incorporate the techniques of the professional built machines into your build. The heat source on most professional machines is from above not below. The heat source is also held very close to the product, actually within inches. In addition you can go either online or to the manufactures of what ever plastic you are using and get the recommended heat ranges in order to achieve your goal. My husband and I own a sign company and we do a ton of signs using this method for fabrication and we have a couple self built machines we use every day. One thing that I can tell you is that you can grossly overheat the product with no damage to the product. It's the time under certain heats that matter more then the amount of heat in most cases. In addition if you make a mistake the nice thing is you simply reheat your mistake to get it back into flat sheet form. On your device that may not work since the heat source is to far away from the product. Also have your project at the same level as your heating plastic that way you are moving from side to side not up to down in order to That 2-3 seconds dropping the plastic down to the floor may not sound like a lot, however that's 2-3 seconds that plastic has to begin to set up especially when the material is being dropped down through much lower air temps then the plastic is.
You will notice you had less of a issue when you did your final pull which may be for 2 reasons. 1) You had your project right next to your heated plastic IE less travel time as I mentioned earlier. 2) the shape of your final pull is far different then the previous pulls IE easier to cover.
To sum it up, get your heat source closer to the plastic
Heat from top is better then from the bottom
keep the plastic and project at the same level and close to each other
Drill the holes larger even if every other hole is drilled larger your getting more suction. Right now your restricting it.
Get your temps and times form the plastic manufacture.
We understand that professional machines work better, they also cost much more than what we spent on ours. Our machine works just fine for the infrequent times we need to use it and had the added benefits of being cheap, and assembled in a day. We did indeed get our ideas from the guy from the UK and have been very happy with our results.
Cosplay4UsAll Michelle Sullivan wasn't saying you needed to buy a professional machine, she even notes that despite using one in their business they were still self-built.
Her advice is incredibly helpful and practical. All she's saying is to look at what the commercial grade, purpose built machines do (heat from top, minimal travel of the material, heat source closer to the material) and copy that. Not that you need to buy anything expensive. When building equipment from scratch it's always best to see what makes the machines you're trying to imitate do and try to build as close to that as possible.
I saw another group of cosplayers that do a lot of Star Wars stuff (storm trooper armor, etc.) that had theirs on hinges so it flipped over onto the items being molded.
Kbo I caught that one also on the hinges. That one also will form correct at times and at most times not correct, depending on the form. Reason being is again the system they are using drops the product down at a angle. as well as to swiftly allowing cool air to rush across the product surface.
I try to help people when they build their own machines since I know it's expensive and time consuming so I look at it like if your going to do it do it right or don't do it at all. I guess some just like to re invent the wheel and wonder why it ends up square lol.
Michelle Sullivan It would indeed be nice to be able to have something more "professional". However, we built what we (a) had the time to build (all the materials were within a 5 minute drive to get and we were under a deadline) and (b) was within our budget. This machine cost us less than $100 to build. We have some local friends who built a monster of a machine but it cost them probably 8 times what we spent. For what we needed it for, it is absolutely perfect.
We were not trying to "reinvent the wheel", we were using a design another prop maker had used with success. We have since gone on to vacuum form a ton of stuff with about 90% success rate.
Could it have been built better? Sure! Could it have been built using a different design? Absolutely. Hell, I know people who use toaster ovens to vacuum form stuff! See, really, there is no right or wrong way here. You go with what YOU want to build, within your budget and needs.
You are a sign company, of course you're going to have an amazing machine! We are a couple of pt prop makers looking for a quick, easy solution for making a visor for my daughters cosplay helmet. Really, we are worlds apart.
I appreciate the advice (from both you and Kbo) but really, there is more than one way to skin a cat. We are not telling everyone, "Hey look! This is how you HAVE to build a vacuum form machine!!", we are simply sharing our experience, pros and cons, with those who care to watch.
:)
Cosplay4UsAll Sorry sir, My previous comment was regarding to the "Other video" both Kbo and myself happened to catch here on UA-cam.
How long did the last and successful run take?
We've been thinking about building our own, but we have a good question, since so many people seem to use different things. What kind of heater are you using? The gentleman from the UK seems to use an infrared heating device which is quite expensive. How strong is the heater that you are using? This is new to us so it'll be great to get some help with it. Thank you for posting your video, it helps a lot already!
+Dezzy Cat www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002R686FQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Strong enough to do PETG, some other materials (with different temp tolerances) or thicknesses, may require a hotter heat source.
Thank you very much!!! This makes me very excited! Good luck with your future works!!
hello can you please send me a link for the heater that u used in the vid the source for the heater that u put up it came up blank
I'm trying to do this same process today and I've been waiting for maybe 20 mins for the plastic to droop but it's still not ready. How long did you guys have to wait?
The first pull takes maybe 10-15 minutes, since the whole box has to warm up. Subsequent pulls go a bit faster, as the box is already warm. Ambient temperature in the room/garage may have some impact on heat times as well. If you are using the same setup that we have, make sure you have a "heat shield" over the top of the box while the plastic is warming (see our video at 3:10 mark). This was the only way we could get the plastic hot enough to vac form.
Good luck!
so I'm vacuum forming a face shield for a helmet and was wondering if you have tips for making the model [the piece that your actually vacuum forming]. I was thinking of making it completely out of apoxie sculpt since I have a new case of done but I need advice and tips~
Anything that is solid enough to withstand high pressure from the vacuum, and heat resistant enough to withstand the heat from the heated up plastic, can be used for a buck (the piece used to vacuum form over). You will want to make the edges of the form (buck) supporting the piece you want to mold slightly larger, and tapered out, compared to the actual item you want. If you look at this picture here, you might get what I mean... goo.gl/ZMdW1k The piece we want to keep is the visor shape on top, but the buck itself is larger and wider. If you are pulling something on a vac form and the edges are too sharp or straight, you have a higher chance of getting webbing (areas of the plastic that wrinkle and stick to itself). By elevating the thing you want to form and making the edge more gradual, you will get a better pull and it will be much, much easier to release the item from the buck. The item is basically getting sucked in to the plastic, so sometimes removing it from the plastic can be a task in itself!
how did u make your heater for the PTEG sheet and your vaccum sealer trying to do the same method but am running into a roadblock any ideas
+Sonicbat Sorry, your comment was sitting in the spam folder :/ The heater was purchased on Amazon goo.gl/kCH9IK
Hey thanks a lot for the vid it really helped! but where did you get the tint from, im sure i could get from like home depot but is there anywhere specific you got it? Thanks! :)
+sao is life We got the spray tint at Walmart, in the automotive section. Just to let you know though, we wound up being very unhappy with the spray tint, though due to a time crunch that was all we could do for that visor. It looks great on the outside but is super blurry and pretty much impossible to see through from the inside (just blurry shapes). Our preferred method is to actually dye the visor, using iDye Poly fabric dye, available at most craft and fabric stores (also on Amazon). Check out our tutorial on that here ua-cam.com/video/lGUf1VpvICI/v-deo.html This is how it looks through the spray tint visor goo.gl/TmN5yw and this is the dyed visor goo.gl/MLKzOl
Thank you so much you just saved me from a big mistake. Thanks for replying :)
Have you used clear acrylic, specifically 6mm? I am wanting to make a half hour glass shape that starts at 3.5" diameter and goes to 6 or 8" diameter and is 4-5" tall? What mold material would you use to keep it clear and smooth on both the inside and outside. Aluminum, wood?
Our machine isn't strong/hot enough to reliably do pulls with material that thick. As for the mold material, smoothness is key to the clarity of the pull. As long as it is heat resistant, it will work. If using wood, you need to make sure it is perfectly smooth (so a type of wood with little to no grain) or you can bondo over it and sand, sand, sand it smooth, including wet sanding with super fine paper.
Good idea on the bondo. I am trying to make a transition like this one for a DIY protein skimmer for a reef tank. I do work with acrylic and have a CNC Laser, but have never done any acrylic forming.
www.marineandreef.com/Coralife_Cone_Skimmer_300_Protein_Skimmer_p/RES05999.htm?gclid=Cj0KEQiAkO7CBRDeqJ_ahuiPrtEBEiQAbYupJRAqG5zvJlK4_3p1g8GKEpIearutySxFgFVF_z8rovkaAhnK8P8HAQ
One question. Why the visor at 5:23 is not crystal clear? How can I make it 100% clear and transparent? and It's PETG right? Thanks
AbeOnline It's not perfectly clear because it still has its protective plastic on it. The PETG sheet comes with a grayish (cloudy) plastic covering on the inside and outside of the plastic, to protect it from scratches. Once we vac form it (prior to dying/tinting it) the covering is easily peeled off, revealing the clear (see through) PETG underneath :)
heheehe, nothing wrong with failures!! I saw another vid where the guy used a heating gun to heat the plastic and when it was on the form he used the gun again to help soften some spots that didn't heat as much as others. But I think through your trial and errors you've got it down! Good work. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for this, and well done. You've just answered at least 3 of my nagging questions :)
I got it. Thanks
24" x 24" and 1/16th PETG
Correct!
I think you should drill the vacuum holes bigger and possibly add more holes
Can I ask what the clamps on the top are called? I need some but cant find the name of them. Thanks in advance
I'm sorry, we can't recall what they are called, but I can tell you we bought them at our local Menard's!
I wonder how you did the gloss finishing. Did you do Sanding, then primer, then paint and finally clear coating, and polishing too?
AbeOnline Gloss finish on what?
Cosplay4UsAll I was referring to the one at 5:26 . It seems you painted it black. Did you do it just using a black paint spray can? Or were there more works involved in it?
AbeOnline Ah. I see what you're talking about now. The visor (I am assuming)! It is actually dyed, so you can see through it, like a pair of sunglasses. If it was paint, you couldn't. Here is the link to how we dyed it ua-cam.com/video/lGUf1VpvICI/v-deo.html Then it is cleaned up and polished with Meguiar's PlastX. The helmet itself has been sanded, primed, wet sanded, painted, cel shaded and sealed with matte clear coat.
Cosplay4UsAll Thank you so much. Very useful reply.
This a great video, Can i ask how long it takes on the heater to get the droop you need now that you're using the shield? My buck looks similar in size to yours.I'm getting exactly the problems you showed in the early part of your video, and i've never had anywhere near 4'' of droop in my Petg. So i'm guessing not enough heat is my issue. .......and i'm away to build a shield. Thanks for the help
The heat shield was the thing that made it possible for us to vacuum form. Otherwise it just wasn't getting anywhere near enough droop. Even with the shield, with the setup we have (heat wise) it is probably about 8 minutes maybe, before we get enough droop. Another prop maker told us you need half the amount of droop compared to your buck's height. So if your buck is 8" at its peak, you need a 4" droop. Good luck!
The shield worked perfectly. I'm now getting successful pulls, thanks again for the vid and help. very much appreciated
Pedro Aloha Awesome! So glad it worked! What are you vacuum forming btw? What's the project?
I make replica Daft Punk helmets. I have a buddy entering Dragon Con this year with one of my helmets and i was seriously panicking that i wouldn't get his visor ready in time but thanks to your video he now has his new helmet for DC.
Pedro Aloha Nice!!! We will have to look for him at D*C this year! My daughter is also doing a Grammy version of the Thomas helmet :)
where did you buy your petg and how thick are the visors
Jim Farley we buy our PETG in 4x8' sheets from a local plastic manufacturer. We use sheets that are 1/16th thick.
How much temperatur for melting acrylic?
what kind of heater do you have and does it have a Safety anti tilt switch on it can't find one with out it
Don't have the exact model number handy but hopefully this pic will help (from our Facebook page - vac form album). We have not had it shut off on us so I am guessing it doesn't have the antil tilt switch.
facebook.com/cosplay4usall/photos/a.504566456300718.1073741840.263465680410798/484191898338174/?type=3&theater
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002R686FQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
where did you guys get the PETG sheets from?
We have a plastic manufacturer local to us (Indianapolis) and we buy sheets from them.
how many watts is the heater
more holes in the table for air to be sucked through will Help with accuracy
Can you help me please! do u know if Is the same result using polystyrene sheets than polyethylene sheets ?
We've only tried PETG and PVC foamboard, but with the right temperature and suction, you could do polystyrene.
Can i do it with pvc?
Hi, what is the name of the clamp that you used? Thanks
I don't recall the name of it, but I can tell you we found them at Menards (home improvement store).
I love this video! You show how to vacuum form with home appliances! I'm sorry Michelle Sullivan, but there is more than one way to mold thermoplastics. Professional machines not only bulk up in ability, but they also inflate their price as well. I am all too familiar with six figure machines that don't hold a candle to this one. To heat from above would do more in heat soaking the machine than the target plastic. The demonstrated device takes advantage of both radiant and convection heating. There is no need for electron beam, because sufficient uniform heating of the substrate is already in place.
Rather than drill larger holes, why not drill more small holes?!
CincyPlasmaTech To repeat another comment, Michelle Sullivan never said anyone needed to buy one of those machines. Her entire post, where she mentions building her own for their business, was how to improve their design and explaining why they were having problems.
My first thought seeing their heating element was that it was way to far from the plastic as well. And like anything, there's multiple ways of doing it. She gave some suggestions but otherwise general principles. Heating source closer to the material, minimal travel between heating element and vacuum pad, more suction.
Of course, there's a lot of ways to do everything. There's also much better ways of doing things and professional grade, six figure machines are probably much better at it. While that's not worth it financially for most of us, even businesses, why wouldn't you start with imitating that process as much as possible?
CincyPlasmaTech My husband and I own a sign shop. We bend more plex and lexan in a day then people here throw away in a year from all their failures from building their units incorrectly. This guy is having these kinds of issues forming 1/16" thick paper thin material? He stated somewhere here that the first pull takes 15 minutes to heat up. 15 minutes? On paper thin material? Holy Smokes. We form material anywhere from 1/4" -3" thick in less then two minutes. We built our own machines and to date have not had one failure despite what material, combination of materials, color of materials or how thick the materials are. Why? because we did our research on everything before we started building. There is a science to everything if people do not want to learn that and do not strive for perfection in everything that they do then that falls on them. Would it be better spending a little more money on the front end and not only actually learning how to build a unit correctly but also actually knowing why the unit works correctly which is as important as having the unit function correctly every single time and have it be the work horse it is suppose to be every single time? Or cheap out and have no clue how to build it correctly yet pay the price on the back end by paying for plastic you end up throwing away? If you look at the comments in this thread there are many people here having issues with the units they built and are actually asking this guy for advice. There are a couple issues with that. First off if you want to learn to knock someone out with one punch with either hand why would you consult with Michael Jackson for that advice over Mike Tyson? Doesn't make sense.
This guy is giving advice to people yet he has zero clue how their unit is built. Talk about the blind leading the blind into a dark cave. Regardless and in short everything is a science EVERYTHING. As simple as this unit looks everything comes into play. What the unit it made from, hole size, hole spacing, vacuum CFM, heat, controlling the heat, air temp, what material is being used, how far away the heat source is, I could go on and on but all that's to scientific since most just want to see something form right away and the junk they build gives them junk results half the time and they think it look's fantastic.
Take a little time, model what the heavy hitters are doing and get advice from those who are already getting the results you want to achieve then do your build. And yes you could build a unit that works every single time the way it is suppose to as you described from "Home Appliances" However this unit here is not the one to model from. Think about it, if you leave out 1 key ingredient baking home made cookies, or the temps not correct or the timing is off you just ruined the cookies. Catch my drift? Everything is a science. My husband and I are going to build a little one for our 14 year old nephew over the summer, For that one we are going to make a video for people to see and explain the process from A-Z and why things have to be a certain way to properly educate people who want to do this as a hobby.
Michelle Sullivan
"We form material anywhere from 1/4" -3" thick in less then two minutes"
[video?]
"We built our own machines"
[video?]
"Or cheap out and have no clue how to build it correctly yet pay the price on the back end by paying for plastic you end up throwing away?"
35 pieces with 98% yield seems OK for hobby work.
" If you look at the comments in this thread there are many people here having issues with the units they built and are actually asking this guy for advice."
I didn't find the comment that read, "I did everything you said and it still doesn't work." An iterative process towards success seems OK for hobby work.
"This guy is giving advice to people yet he has zero clue how their unit is built"
It's functional, therefore demonstrating he has a clue.
"I could go on and on but all that's to scientific since most just want to see something form right away and the junk they build gives them junk results half the time and they think it look's fantastic."
Agreed. It's best to hand out the science when it is needed most, or just allow them to find it on their own. It sounds like you have had customers that would gladly take your rejects.
Going back to the science, how much can the home hobbiest actually afford to characterize their machine designs? For example, to get a decent thermal profile, you will either spend a lot of time with a temperature probe collecting single point data, or a lot of money on a good FLIR camera ($100,000).
"Think about it, if you leave out 1 key ingredient baking home made cookies, or the temps not correct or the timing is off you just ruined the cookies. Catch my drift?"
I think so. While there are numerous variables, not all of them have the same weight. I plan to use the Taguchi method of orthogonal arrays to bake the best chocolate chip cookies in the world!
"My husband and I are going to build a little one for our 14 year old nephew over the summer, For that one we are going to make a video for people to see and explain the process from A-Z and why things have to be a certain way to properly educate people who want to do this as a hobby."
I look forward to seeing the videos! I have found that as soon as profit motives get involved, the use of free information disappears.Just today I convinced my advisor that the external ventricular drain I'm working on is worth a patent application.
CincyPlasmaTech Before I respond I have just one question for you. Have you built your own machine by chance?
CincyPlasmaTech You're response continues to baffle me. Why are you so incredibly defensive about suggestions to make an improved unit when the OP even acknowledges the purpose is to share experiences and learn? Especially when someone with more experience is willing to add to it?
Obviously the OPs unit works, but I personally would like to know how to NOT waste a bunch of material and time in doing so. I want to make a unit that has a 100% success rate. Michelle Sullivan's advice was incredibly helpful and it wasn't until finding this video that I had the motivation to pull the trigger and her suggestions that really helped.
I'm unsure if you read her post closely in spite of your quotes or whether you're just bent on refuting any suggestions for improvement...of someone elses design? If what you say about a ventricular drain is accurate, then I would assume someone like you would appreciate that science and engineering work by building on previous designs and discoveries and improving them. Although, certainly gets in the way unfortunately.
A lot of what you said was already answered in the original post, "you can grossly overheat the product with no damage to the product. It's the time under certain heats that matter more then the amount of heat in most cases. In addition if you make a mistake the nice thing is you simply reheat your mistake to get it back into flat sheet form. On your device that may not work since the heat source is to far away from the product."
You're right that 1 degree difference with cookies doesn't hurt things, that's exactly what she's saying. Just like in cooking, when the recipe I got online produces burnt hockey pucks the first two times, I go back to find out what I need to do different. I'd prefer not to waste material I have to order online, I want 100% success not 90% and if I can do that for the same price of building a unit as one that is less successful, I want to hear how.
Also, as an aside. You could get a REALLY good FLIR for 60k, if you needed a very powerful or ruggedized one. Unless you happen to be a Navy SEAL and need the fast refresh rate and resilience they sell home ones in the 2k-3k range. I have a friend that uses one as a night-time scope and another in HVAC installation/repair that uses one.
Obviously, that's totally unnecessary. My $15 IR thermometer I bought at home depot to check insulation gaps and other home uses would work perfectly for checking the temperature of plastic under heat. It's probably not the most accurate but remember, she already said it's about duration not degree, so that's not an issue.
None of her suggestions added any extra cost. I'm gathering materials now and taking into account her advice, there's no difference in price. Only the design and way I'd build it. If one does for you, then skip it. I never got an "all or nothing" vibe from the advice. Just generous tips on getting much more consistent results easier which you seem to have a problem with?
hi can u tell me what vaccum did u use or how much watts/power is it??
We used a shop vac, 14 gallon, 6 horsepower model.
@@wendymurphy542 thank u so much! I just built the box about 24x24 inch and i have 3mm thick PETG now gotta look for the right vacuum cleaner with at least 6hp thanks again! :)
How thick was your PETG piece? Please tell me if you can remember
+sam stance 1/16th inch thick.
I used 0.040 and that was pretty thick I need something thin
+sam stance Ours is 0.060 so that is twice as thin as what you were using. It is quite floppy when we get the sheets from the plastic mfg we use, but once it is vac formed it is nice and solid.
thx bro
were you buy the plastic pice I need to know thx
+Cesar Castro From a local plastic manufacturer, although it is also available online at plastic suppliers, at least in the US.
what model heater did you use?
Jessica Andrews we provide a link to the heater in the additional details/description for the video. Please see above ^
To prevent creases the sag of the plastic can’t be too low, correct
Correct.
1- why not put the heating element closer to the plastic sheets?
2- why not put the vacuum table on the same level as the heater and simply flip it from one to the other? (less time to cool going from heat to vacuum.)
Good video, your experience shows how it works and how to get it to work right.
If the heating element is too close then the heat will be uneven/centered. As far as the height, a few inches are not going really make a difference in the few seconds moving it over.
Cosplay4UsAll Wrong on both accounts. Not to insult you,,,,just trying to help you. Read my previous instructions to you. The heater itself your using sends un even heat.
Michelle Sullivan Could it be made differently? Of course. There are tons of ways to make vac forming machines. We are not telling anyone we have the definitive, magical answer on the right or wrong way to make a machine. We are simply sharing our experience to whomever cares to watch, for whatever reason they choose. We built it from someone else's idea (as you have mentioned) and it works just fine for our needs.
Cosplay4UsAll As I mentioned I am not trying to offend you I am trying to help you. I gave you a few simple tips to modify what you have to make your rig work more efficient not to rebuild it spending more money. Even though for yourself it's a hobby you should still want professional results every single time. If not then why bother doing it at all. If you chose not to take advice from professionals that do this kind of work all day long that's fine. Again just trying to help you.
Michelle Sullivan I understand and appreciate your comments. No offense taken. Someday we may build another one and will most likely incorporate ideas similar to what you mentioned. We needed this machine for one purpose (to make visors for a helmet) and it has worked magnificently for that purpose. We also were under time constraints and had about 3 days to make it, make the visor, dye the visor, and finish the helmet, so we went quick, cheap and easy.
To date we have probably pulled around 35 visors, with about a 98% success rate. Those are results we can live with, lol. And hey, it's way better than sticking a sheet of PETG into an oven! Lol
what did you use as the mold for the visor?
ItsCaos Our helmet was molded and cast with the helmet and visor as one solid piece. We then carefully cut the visor portion off of the helmet piece, trimmed, sanded and made it in to a buck (mounted it on wood, filled the underneath with expanding foam).
+Cosplay4UsAll how, may I ask, did you make the buck though? water clay, epoxy putty, cut from an actual cast...? I have a very large project that I am nearly done drafting, and it is beginning to look like each part for the buck is going to be made of 2x4s and bondo.
The visor portion was 3D printed. Then bondo'd and sanded until it was super smooth. We then back filled it with expanding foam, trimmed it down and mounted the whole thing to a thick piece of plywood.
You can certainly make your buck out of 2x4s and bondo. Nothing wrong with that, if it works! As long as it isn't a flimsy material or something that can't tolerate heat, you should be fine!
Holes too small, and too few? also i just watched a clip where some mesh was placed under the object for better flow
Can u see out of the plastic?
Drill some more holes in you vacuum board to get better results
I think 24"x24" and 1/16th :)
One question, It seems the visor at 4:42 is filled in with some material. What is that material? Thanks.
expansion foam
Until I see higher detail with less work from all the vacuum-forming vids, I ain't doing it!!