My vacuum former

Before I set out to build my own vacuum former I did alot of research on various DIY sites.  I found alot of helpful tips and designs.  Ultimately I settled on components from several different designs.  My design is by no means perfect, but it gets the job done, and was fairly cheap to build.  It is capable of forming a piece 33" x 22".

Step 1: Basic Box

I started with a basic five sided wood box out of half inch particle board.  This will be the infrared "oven".  24 inches deep, 35 inches long, 24 inches wide.  Thats pretty straight forward.

Comments

[Uberizer]

Very nice job you've done on this.I'm planning to build one as well in the near future. I have a 240v 3000w temperature controller and 2" 1200 degree insulation sitting on a shelf already waiting. I have two questions. 1. How thick of material have you formed with this? 2. Could you have made the dimensions bigger with your current heat supply? I am aiming for 24 x 60 with 1/8" ABS but not sure if 3000w will be enough. What's your opinion?

[Nick70587]

Thank you. I have only formed 3/32 polystyrene so far, but the heat source is capable of 450 degrees given enough time. So in theory, as long as my vacuum could handle it, I think 3/16 ABS would be the max for mine. I think if I had gone bigger I would have needed more lamps. The biggest problem I have is the edges of the plastic not heating up as fast as the middle.

[Beverly5876]

I just wanna know what one does with a vacuum former. What is its purpose?

[Bill WW]

I had the same question - what the heck is a vacuum former, and why should I have one?

Now that I know, I'm looking for a project that needs one.

"It is better to have a tool and not need it, than it is to need a tool and not have it." Yes, I identify with that.

[Nick70587]

The original intent was to make custom cases for the delicate instruments I use for my job. I was going to form them out of ABS plastic. The piece shown in this instructable (the two triangle shapes in the plastic sheet) are forms for casting foam or resin ears for a costume for my son. I may make some custom storm trooper armor for my brother and his 6 year old for halloween.

One of my favorite tinkerer's quotes is "It is better to have a tool and not need it, than it is to need a tool and not have it."

[Beverly5876]

I have that same quote for my crochet hooks, knitting needles, tatting needles and shuttles. Therefore, I don't think I have less than 3 of each size of anything. And, don't get me to talking about my yarn stash. LOL

Thanks for the info on the vacuum former. I always appreciate being educated; especially if done in a kind and humerus way.

[srilyk]

Also, just search YouTube for "Vacuum former" - you'll see all sorts of neat articles!

[srilyk]

s/articles/videos >.<

[sinvex]

A demo would be nice, maybe link to a youtube of you using this to give us a better idea of exactly how it works for those noobs of us who would like to learn to do such things.

[Ronny Ponny]

Well Done! .. Especially the 500 holes ☺

I would have liked to see the articles that the plastic mould (Oz spelling ☺) was formed from.
Also some other things you may have done with these types of units.

I use to work next door to an importer back in 1972, they would import cheap stuff from Taiwan etc, take the labels of the article , place them on their own cardboard approx. 60cm x 60cm printed to make approx. 60 packs .

They placed 60 items on the cardboard evenly spaced, slid it on a table that had sheet of clear Plastic suspended above the Cardboard, above that there was a heater that was 60 x 60cm made up of a wire mesh.

The Heater would turn on get hot , soften the plastic and it would drop down over the 60 x 60 cardboard and seal on to the Cardboard and create Bubble Packs
** Couldn't you use the same type of heating.. IE : Have the Vacuum frame already positioned with the Vacuum cleaner already connected , but not switched on ,

With something similar to your heat source or maybe 1 or 2 Bar heaters mounted on a Frame just above the the Plastic.

As soon as the plastic gets to the heat required,... Turn off the Heat, Turn on the Suction.

That way there is no need for the separate box and no need to carry from one to the other.

I have never seen this type of vacuum moulding before , but it reminded me of 1972.... anyhow that was Just a thought ,

Well done .

[Bosun Rick]

As to the insulation question; I know this would make the unit much heavier, but what about using something like sheetrock, or concrete board (EG: 'Hardy-board') mounted to a wood frame in place of the particle board? Sheetrock carries something like a 4 hour fire rating, and I think the Hardy-board is fireproof, or nearly so. But for no longer than it would be heated up, that shouldn't create a problem (figuring it would only run 3-4 minutes per heating cycle, and with the plastic holding frame in the vacuum former, built up heat would dissipate quickly.
As for wiring; I wonder how 12 gauge stranded wiring would work, as opposed to solid core (stranded will carry more current than solid core, thus lowering the amp load) in place of the 14 gauge you have now. I would think a single 30 amp breaker fed by 12 gauge Romex would carry your load. as stated above, you aren't running this device for any great length of time, (3 minutes) so, I don't see a serious overload situation developing. If you were running a production line, yes, you might have problems with electrical and heating issues; but for hobbyist work, and considering set up, heating, vacuum forming, and cooling, you might make maybe 4 to 5 parts an hour?
It is better to err on the side of safety, than to burn your house down, so, these comments are meant as food for thought, and consideration. My thinking is the wiring and insulation changes might lower your total electrical cost by making the process a little quicker and more energy efficient. (Usual disclaimer: Contact a licensed electrician, and a contractor for more information, yadda, yadda, yadda….)

[Nick70587]

Thank you for the advice. All of the wiring is stranded. My garage breakers are 25 amps each. I tried plugging it all into one outlet and it popped the breaker immediately.

I did consider concrete board, but i had seen another example of someone using infrared lamps as a heat source and they mentioned that a reflective surface inside the heating area would help diffuse the heat better so I went with sheet metal panels two kill two birds with one stone.

Right no this thing gets used once or twice a MONTH for 5 minutes at a time.

[Chucknsc]

I feel a little lost when I think about your setup. What I'm lost about is why didn't.t you leave it all together, I mean once the plastic is heated just kill the lights and turn on the vacuum . I'm probably missing something but I'm old and that's my excuse.

[Nick70587]

I don't quite know what you mean by together? Originally the whole thing was supposed to be collapsable so i could hang it in a space on my garage wall when I wasn't using it. I didn't go for the "stacked" approach that others have, meaning the plastic is heated by an element directly above the vacuum table and then you just slide it down a guide rail to the table. I didn't do it this way because that would have been pretty tall and I have alot of hanging storage around the edges of my garage which would have made it impossible to store out of the way.

The table, vaccuum, and heater all sit right next to each other when in use. I am planning to add a switch box to the side of the heater box though so that I can do just what i think you are suggesting...being able to turn off the heater and turn on the vacuum in one convinient place.

The design was heavily influenced by the money and materials i had laying around.

[goldenskyhook]

So your building instructions are nice and clear, but I am totally in the dark about how you would actually use this thing. Does the heating element stand separately? Is it hanging above the vacuum chamber, or is it below?

Also, what do you make the shapes out of? Don't they need holes drilled in them, too?

[Nick70587]

The cover photo shows exactly how i have it set up when i use it. The hot box is to the right. It sits on a janitor's cart bottom with wheels. The vacuum table sits to the left on a pair of saw horses. I place the frame (bottom left) with the plastic (bottom right) in it on top of the hot box and plug in the lamps. When the plastic reaches the right temperature I quickly turn off the lamps and turn on the vacuum table (because my garage circuits can't handle the lamps and the vacuum at the same time). Then I lift the frame and plastic off the hot box and place it on top of the vacuum table which has my object on it. I have maybe 5 - 10 seconds before the plastic cools too much to give much detail, so i move quickly

The objects i want to form can be made of most any rigid substance. The triangular shapes shown in the picture (which are supposed to be ears, by the way) were carved out of wood.

If you are going to need alot of detail or the surface of your object has concave areas then you would need to drill holes in the object to ensure the plastic sucks down into those areas. In this case I wasn't going for very much detail.

[GLFaria]

Ah! ok, thanks, I probably missed something when I went through the instructable, as it looked to me like you would be placing the full frame+vacuum chamber+former on top of the heating oven...

Very ingenious, and quite simple.

[The Rambler]

This is really awesome. I love the convenience you've built into it by making it something that can be stacked into a single unit. I've been wanting to make one of these for a long time to build a set of stormtrooper armor. I started working on the vaccum table but stalled out because I couldn't figure out how to do the heating unit. I think with this instructable and some other stuff I've found recently I might be able to pick this back up.

[surrogatedark]

What was your total cost?

[Nick70587]

If you were starting without ANY of the material approximately $500. Using four bulbs in the center instead of the patio heater would reduce that by $100. Using foil backed insulation instead of sheetmetal panels would save $30.

When I started I had the particle board, patio heater, janitors cart, and access to free sheetmetal so my total cost was just shy of $200.

[GLFaria]

Nice work.

Just two questions:
- Did you drill the 500 holes? If so, my hat is off to you!

-It looks like the plastic sheet to be formed is heated through the bottom board? What about fire hazards(3 kW on a wooden or particle board!), heat loss on heating the bottom board and the space in-between boards, and frame warpage? Just curious.
Thanks
.

[Nick70587]

Yes I did drill the holes. I thought about peg board, but that would have been another expense, and the holes were too big.

If you look in the bottom left hand corner of the cover picture you can see the frame with no plastic in it. The heat doesn't pass though a board. When the frame and plastic are sitting on top of the hot box the wood frame is the same witdh as the top edge of the metal panels so only the plastic is directly above the heat.

The auto ignition temperature of particle board is between 425 F and 475 F, and I only heat the plastic to about 350 F (400 F at max). Because the frame is sitting on top of the sides of the box, and because it only requires about 2 to 3 minutes to heat the plastic the wood doesn't get that hot. Even after the time it takes to heat the plastic the frame is still cool enough to lift it with my bare hands and put it on the vacuum table.

[haventmadeabombyet]

I've been wanting to make a vacuum former for a while now and I've seen a few tutorials where they just heat the plastic in a kitchen oven. Why did you choose to build your oven?

[Nick70587]

The short answer is that I wanted to be able to make larger peices than my oven can handle. The frame is 35" x 24" which is too big for my oven.

[offtherails2010]

Yo DUDE !!!

This is such a GREAT 'ible i jus had-to leave a comment !!!

Now thats what i call alotta HARD-WORK, especially drilling the 500 HOLES BY HAND for the particle board (MDF in the UK ?!? lol) !!!

An excellent example of why we should ALL make our own stuff to better avoid the EXTORTIONATE prices of the huge 'professional' companies who charge an arm & a leg for one of these handy units !!!

Going to be making this one day this year, concentrating on buying/building a Garden Shed/Workshop this year and will need one of these to fill it with, lol !!!


FULL 5 STARS for a Gargantuan LOAD of work & impressively inspirational ingenuity !!!

Keep up the great work !!!!

;-)

[Nick70587]

Thank you for the kind words.

[desertsniper]

i like it! this is something on my to build list!

[TekoMuto]

awesome!! I'll definately be building this in 4 months!

[mr.frob]

Much cheaper and simpler than others I've seen, I think I'll have to give this a try sometime. Thanks for sharing!

[pfred2]

So you have all the bulbs wired in parallel and running off one extension cord it looks like to me. For a combined total of 1750 watts of power just for the lamps. Say about 14.5 amps of current draw. You don't plug the heater and the lamp cord into the same outlet or even into the same circuit do you?

I'm glad this thing works for you but I'd use it sparingly if it was me. This might be the next thing you should look into:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flame_retardant

Yeah the cord you're running is kind of thin, but I'd worry about that box drying out and going up more I think. Keep your eyes open for an old washing machine so maybe you can gut it for the sheet metal shell and upgrade!

4 stars for bravado.

[Nick70587]

No, I have three seperate circuits. The patio heater is one. There is a circuit with six 125 watt bulbs on the ends, and a circuit with four 250 watt bulbs in the center, around the patio heater. The bulb wiring is all 14 gauge which is tied to two seperate 12 gauge cords. The patio heater has a factory cord. The draw through each individual bulb connection does not exceed 2.2 amps, and the draw through each power cord does not exceed 9 amps.

I use two seperate 20 amp circuits in my garage. One for the patio heater, and one for the lamps.

I do use it sparingly though, as I mentioned, because I trust my wiring abilities more then my home builder's.

I actually opted against a sheetmetal shell to avoid a short. The wiring itself i not likely to give off enough heat to ignite the wood and because it is so dry it is not likely to short through the wood.

I played up my reservations about the wiring in the descriptions but other then not using completely enclosed wiring and junction boxes I took every precaution to not burn my house down.

[bricabracwizard]

Great build, I've been wanting to make one of these for ages! I hope you post pictures of artefacts you've made with this.

It's unusual to have 2 mains circuits running into a garage apart from your lighting, (usually one for lights and one for mains) so I guess that means you have 2 circuit breakers? Very handy!

[rimar2000]

Very useful info, thanks for sharing.