Its Amazing how vac forming works I sometimes have to make many canopies to get a suitable one and other times I nail it on the first go, It is one of those mysteries of the universe
Indeed Geoff, watching the videos afterwards i was plunging the frame too fast in the later forms.... i should know better. Ran out of styrene sheet so had to accept one of the wrinkled ones. No problem 😀
That was really useful Danny thank you. Do you have any idea as to a source for the blue foam? When I tried to get some last year for a project it was seemingly out of stock everywhere.
Hi the original Dow Corning product is no longer produced. I have seen alternative extruded polystyrene, but not bought any so cannot comment. I still have an 8 x 2 foot board left.
Thx Mick, I know where I can get something similar to the blue. But as I say I have some left so not needed to chase it up. Have you got a marketing/catalogue number to help the others out?
Just type in on the search engine is what I did various links came up. One on amazon was sensible size 2ft sq and two inches thick with free delivery. Other links were in full sheets but not as thick.🤦♂️ atb
The one I was going to try when I run out of my blue Dow product is this one www.foam-tech.co.uk/products/copy-of-styrodur-3035-cs. They do three densities I think the 3000 is the one I would try first. STYRODUR 3000 From the web: Difference between Pink and Blue foam. Both are manufactured using the same process and contain similar chemical components. The two products also have the same insulating power. However, blue foam boards are manufactured by Dow Chemical Co. whereas the pink foam boards are manufactured by Owens Corning company. I think the Owens product is called Foamular but don't quote me. You are searching for an Extruded foam XPS Owens Corning® FOAMULAR® NGX® 250 Extruded Polystyrene (XPS)
This might seem like a daft question but why can’t you just pull straight from the blue foam/plywood plug? Is the glass just to protect it from the heat?
No question is daft Ian, Yes the glass is for exactly that, the styrene gets very hot and would deform the plug. The pressure exerted by the vacuum can also crush, or at least deform flimsy parts. They need to be fairly tough. Even more so if the plug is to be used further down the line. The sort of plugs that the likes of Fighteraces make are often solid high temperature tooling resin for longevity.
After having a rummage on the internet I stumbled on this video, some very useful information on vac forming ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Tugr2juVWuk.htmlsi=uzfTAHq5_ZasDPox
