DIY vacuum former costing £2 to build 3D printed mold cheap hack 

I don’t think the box needs to be in the oven, I just did it to eliminate any cool down of the plastic before I press it over the mould. Note; I didn’t use the oven mode to heat it up, I just used the grill which heats only the top element, this is the same method as an industrial vac former and I didn’t want to cook the wooden box

Making this vac former was so easy and got great results, so I would say any similar design based on the same principle will work without too much difficulty as well. If I were to make this again I would try with a plastic lunch box purely because it would be quicker to build than a wooden box, but I certainly would avoid plastic boxes with a raised edge as this will prevent the plastic from sitting uniformly on the bed. Hope that makes sense

@@00lewisd1 that doesn't really answer my question but thanks. I was wondering if the recess vacuumed the object better than the lid that just sit on top of the box

@@clintlucas7604 ah apologies, I think I misunderstood what you meant by recess, if you’re referring to the cavity in the middle of my white mould then I would say that cavity is only there for my application and the finished part should turn out well without it as long as you have enough holes in the bed around the mould. There should be plenty of examples of vacuum formed parts without central cavities out there

So I guess I'm asking does it matter if the cut out part that holds you plastic need to be flat or oversized to go over the box. Does one or the other make a difference?

@@clintlucas7604 oh I see. That shouldn’t make a difference as long as the softened plastic covers the entire mould and some vacuum holes around the perimeter of the mould