I'm going to start building this today! I've been looking at other setups, and this is just so simple, it's brilliant! One day I want to make a machine that pushes up the mold into the plastic with a pre stretch to the plastic, but I don't think I need that for what I'm doing. Yet. Thanks for the vid!
Hi James, watched this video about a year ago, been searching for it again ever since, I will now I have seen it again be building my own vacuum former to form my boat hulls and tops, using 3mmABS so need to leave it on a little longer, thanks for the great vid and brilliant information, cheers Ian
I've been looking for some good videos on how to do this 'cause some projects I'm going to be doing will require vacuforming & this was the best by far thank you very much, keep up the good work.
I actually forgot I posted this question, lol. I actually found that out about a week ago. I've also heard hydrocal works wonders as well. Non the less, thanks for the answer!
All of your tutorials and videos are very well made. This video is great and I'll base my first project on it. Thanks from your fan based in the the state of Oregon (NW Pacific Coast of USA). Sub & Thumb up.
hey!, could I use a 1 kilowatt heater instead of a 2 kilowatt heater? would it be as effective as a 2 kw heater? please answer as I am currently making it p.s - this video was really helpful
Nice video - I like it and now feel more comfortable building my own setup. When making a buck do you find it necessary to have it slightly smaller than if casting to compensate for plastic thickness?
Nice movie mate, I have a qwestion. Wy do you need a plate whit so manny holes of the top layer what you show at 1.40min ? Intresting stuff. And where can I get those plate's ? Kind regards Dennis.
Hey, so with this machine, the second later is just a frame like what you use to put the HIPS in? And if I tried to use the vacuum form process with something besides molds it would melt the material right? For example other hard plastic items
I actually did just that yesterday. My only problem is that I live in the states and can't seem to find an American supplier for Maplex. Can you think of any other alternatives to this?
Where can you buy a sheet of this plastic? I've looked on amazon and ebay, but I haven't found anything as thin or as large as the one he is using. Could anyone give me a website or store or something? Thanks in advance
Fantastic .... look very interesting... I got you 2 question.. Why do you make the heatbox so high ? wodent it go faster if it was half high ? I have a figure, its 70 cm high ... its a sitting dog.. can I make a vacuum form like this off so big figure, or will the plastic be to thin ? Hope you understand :) Best regards.. Lars, Danmark
Do you have a sketch up blue print of the measurements and materials you used in your build? I'm currently in the process of building one and i really want it to turn out functioning properly like yours
Hi I have to say I love this idea and am going to build myself one before my next con/fest. I was wondering about the plastic, do you have a special site you get it from? a link perhaps? I could not find any at Lowes lol.
You rock guy. Really an ingenious system with readily available simple equipment. The patio heater was stroke of genius with the foil lined box. Appreciate your sharing it.
NICE! I wish I saw this video first before I attempted and epically failed my first build using electric frypans. I were going to try heat lamps next but your method is even simpler and now I can not wait to try again :-D
Just a small tip.If you use a vacuum that is reversible (you can use it to blow air),you can vacuum form the plastic,let it cool and then hit the reverse switch for just a second to blow just enough air into the plastic to pop it loose from the mold.It will be easier than trying to cut the plastic loose sometimes. :)
This is exactly how I would be while waiting for the plastic to heat up - completely unable to quit touching it. Thanks for the video! I'm watching this while on break from building the box portion, and I'm still trying to decide what I'll use for the frame and heater.
You make it look so easy. I tried it with .060 clear pteg (which is about as thick as a penny) and it would not get pliable enough to work.It did get very hot to touch.I used a 1500 watt halogen light garage heater. I even tried putting the pteg 12 inches from the heater but, no luck.
one suggestion: (I know this video is 6 years old lol) but: If you made your box the same height as your table, you could hinge your heating frame then simply flip it over onto the vacuum table and you'd have perfect alignment every time (that's what many "pro" vac tables do) ANother suggestion: You can buy "pegboard" which already has the holes drilled in.....it is easier to block off the holes you don't want than drill all those holes you do.....now it IS thin, only 1/4" and you might have to brace it, but it is still easier than drilling all them holes.....
hello james its great job,I am always wacthing your tube,i like to make one but pls share if the model L 900mm X H 250mmX w 400 mm how size the frame and plastic size we need ...pls share info
One thing that puzzles me the most is the mold. How do you make the mold? It's out of wood right? See thats the thing that is frustrating me the most right now. All those creveces, edges, and bends, how do you make them on the wooden mold? But more importantly,.how do you make one.side look exactly like.the other? I know there's a sculpting method but I see that method as virtually impossible to end up with identical sides. Thanks a lot for your help :-)
One thing that puzzles me the most is the mold. How do you make the mold? It's out of wood right? See thats the thing that is frustrating me the most right now. All those creveces, edges, and bends, how do you make them on the wooden mold? But more importantly,.how do you make one.side look exactly like.the other? I know there's a sculpting method but I see that method as virtually impossible to end up with identical sides. Thanks a lot for your help :-)
Can you recommend a sheet material retailer based in the UK ( for vac forming, and thicknesses not over 3mm materials). I don't want to have to purchase in bulk, nor be stung with unreasonable postage costs. Thank you.
You are probably tired of answering questions about this build but I looked here and on your website and couldn't find the answer. If it's somewhere and I missed I apologize in advance, but what does the outside of your frame measure and what does the formable area measure. Thanks!
@@jamesbruton yes, but i would say the sound quality of your set up is where the improvement is more noticeable. Better microphones make a big difference I guess
Awesome. Pretty stoked I found a guy who doesnt use an oven as a method of heating plastic, and uses a regular vac, not a 'shop-vac.' Cheers buddy, cant wait to get started myself
Everything is in the quality of the construction for the vacuum box. Watched another video that looked like the guy threw his stuff together in about 10 min and he had flaws in the plastic film. This look like its a measure twice cut once deal.
If i would put a sheet of acrylic plastic in a vacuum forming machine. after the mold is complete, will the sheets thickness remain the same? or will it be thinner than it was beforehand?
I never thought to use a shop vac. Somehow I thought I'd need a vacuum pump and reserve tank so that's the approach I took. Seeing the success of this, I think I may re-group.
I tried acrylic plastic in my own vacuum forming rig, and it didn't work out. The acrylic developed air bubbles inside and didn't look good at all. I ended up using PETG plastic, which is like PETE (pop bottles) but modified with glycol. Plastics suppliers can tell you more about PETG.
Amazing work! I was looking around your website and WOW!... My name is Charlie I live in Northern California and I build Quad copters and would like to start vacuum molding. What type of plastic do I use. I like the black stuff you use.
Hi Mike, 1000 apologies for late reply but I didn't get'any notification. I solved the "heating clear plastic problem" by making a backing plate from mdf and foil. In winter outside it took 15mins to heat and the pulls went v.well. Chris.
@jamesbruton Amazing I didn't think a vacuum cleaner has enough power to suck like that. What type of plastics did you use on this video and what others you suggest?. I would like to use polycarbonate but it has a fusion temperature of 240ºC.
Second part. If you can't use the plastic pieces from a kit then what do you use? As an example....say you want to scratch build plus kit bashing and you need alot of armor for a sci fi space ship. I don't carve and I'm not any good at creating this time of armor using clay or whatever so what does someone use to create that armor to be vacuum formed? Thanks again and don't forget to read my first questions below.
James or anyone. Can't get all the questions in using this so here's the first one. Can you use a plastic piece from a kit and vacuum form it? Crazy question but, you'll never know unless you ask. Can you use the piece you made to vacuum form more pieces? Do you use baby powder to keep the piece/s you vacuum form from sticking? Never clear on the kind of powder. Kitbashing for a single piece could get very expensive if you only needed one piece ie: 20 kits for 20 single pieces. Thanks ya'll
I was actually thinking of making an oven with the stove. It won't be a direct flame, as I'll put metal sheet over & hopefully diffuse the heat of the air inside the box evenly. I need to ask you also, how thick the depth of the mold can be? I imagine the 2-3 mm plastic will stretch over the height of the mold and thinned out? Any specific guideline about the size proportion of the plastic over the size of the mold?
This is the most helpful video i have found on this i am just wondering what is the exact type of plastic you use and what thickness? I really want to make Jason Todd's Red Hood helmet from Batman and the videos i have found doing helmets this way they were doing it in 2 half pieces and im wondering if its just possible to do a whole helmet with one sheet of plastic. im pretty sure i can i just want o make sure. and what kind of paints do you use?? thanks
I'm looking to make myself one of these, but was curious as to mold making. I plan to do this to make a helmet visor, and will need to make a negative mold of the visor as to make a positive from that. I was thinking of using plaster of paris for this, but I have the inkling that would just gum things up. Happen to have any nifty tricks? Thanks in advance!
i tend to skip videos that are any longer than 5 minutes; since I cannot tolerate unedited, lengthy, rubbish laden garbage that isn't straight the the point... BUT! I thoroughly enjoyed your video and appreciated the proper editing and to the point presentation. Thanks! Going to go check out your website now.
thx for these tips but I still have some questions , if u dont mind answering them does the mold shape affect the needed vacuum power to fully suck the plastic? does the vacuum pump limit me , i mean if i have weak vacuum , will I have to use thinner plastic , low mold (height) , size of mold or number of molds (if small molds used simultaneously )
i found the supplier and material, but they dont specify dimentions of the HIPS squares. are those completely custom or are there standard sizes like what you used? if so, what size is that? im making a vacu-form and i want to know what dimensions to use.
Did you try putting something that will heat up behind the clear plastic, like a lid that fit over the plastic frame? I'm not sure if this would entirely solve the problem, but I've seen it used to better distribute heat on other vacuum form systems, like the Phlatboyz Phlatformer.
Hi James. Thanks for the creative solution. I am thrilled to see your supplier is actually withing a driving distance from area (I am from Bandung). What heater do you use inside the box? Can I have your spec for that heater? Cheers. Lyd
Great idea - I will try it out! . & I noticed the pop when the seal was broken, Most likely at c3po's the crotch. I found If I am doing a piece that might burst a seal like this that If I have a wad of cellophane (saran wrap) handy I can shove it in where the seal breaks, and get it to continue to pull it down further.
James just wanted to say "Thank You" for great videos. I'm thinking about dropping some cash on new equipment and you saved me a bundle. I'm glad you're doing well with your projects and keep the videos coming. I'm sure we all want to see more. I will refer others to your videos. It's always good to learn something new. Thanks again mate.
for safer work, would it be easier just to place the box with the heater over the plastic sheet holder, so that way you could prevent melt down on the heater, depending of sort of plastic and thickness you use.
I've been having a hard time finding a heater like the one you've shown or any really... Like all the ones Ive looked at have a safety feature that turn off the heater if it is tilted let alone on it's back 3: what do I do?
Will this work with clear/transparent plastic as well? Or do you have to cover it in some kind of film so the infrared light doesn't just pass through the plastic sheet without heating it?
It would work and would only make it quicker adding the background gor the clear plastic... it shoild heat up regardless transparancy as its still a physocal object
Like the way you made the heater. Here in America heaters have a tilt switch on them. If they fall over they turn off. I noticed you have your laying down. Does it also have a safety switch?
Hi, just wondering if you have tried thicker plastics or if you always use 2 mm ? Great video ! I just bought a small commercial vacuum forming machine but now I think I'll be re-selling it... (d'oh !)
Exelent! can you do a shock resistant body armor? i mean why dont you design a riot concealed civilian protective bodyarmor like riot police armor you would make money ...
