WardWorks

Thank you for the compliments.Post pictures when you complete yours. Those are great suggestions. Pallet wood definitely adds a nice weathered touch and simplifies the build. I've gone to Goodwill so many times looking for leather and I can't find it. Belts or jackets are always vinyl. A bag of leather remnants has taken me very far, providing material for a number of projects.

Thanks for the comments.I used this for three consecutive days, 12 hour stretches. It definitely made my neck tired, but my use of this is rare. I like your idea of creating a shoulder harness set up. That would definitely improve long term strain. A back pack could be salvaged to make that work.The tri-pod is a great idea provided space, and I like the use of a toaster tray.

This is an awesome project, but the finishing step made it a work of art.

Thank you!

That Duran Duran cover is almost frightening. What a time!

I thought about making a few copies, but after the project was done I moved on to the next one.

Good question. You are right, the wires to toaster oven elements are spot welded. I had to cut and grind the spot welds.The wires are tension fit to the ends of the heating elements. I was going to look at solder, but through my numerous tests, tension fit seemed to work. I used pliers to clamp the loop of copper wire tight around the heating element ends.

Automating those processes would make it much more convenient. I'm not I'm up to the task to figure it out on my own.

I would guess around 2200-2400 Watts. I re-wired until I wouldn't trip a 20 amp breaker. Assuming household voltage is around 120 volts and considering that typical toaster ovens uses about 1100 watts and I have 2 toaster ovens wired up that seems to check out.I tried to space the heating elements evenly, assuming operating temperatures are close. The elements are fully heated before I bring the plastic up and the droop of the plastic looked even. Results were satisfactory.

I read all the vacuum former tutorials I could find before I started. I liked the design of the Protoform and found Volpin's helpful guide.

Stormtrooper armor is one of the reasons that convinced me I needed a vacuum former. =)

Thanks! It's a fun project