vacume forming

[jimmy]

hi all i was looking for info on vacume forming thanks jimmy

 

[wswatzell]

Vacuum forming as far as making a plug & sucking softened plastic over it using vacuum pressure? :-

What specifically is the application you want to use the vacuum formed part for? Size??

 

[jimmy]

i need to get or build a vacume table to build radio boxes for the boats that i am building i have the mold allready. a friend of mine told me to try a post here that a person named mike p visits this web site and could help but i will take all that i can get

 

[Grimracer]

Jimmy

Mike Ps is a master vac bagger.. i have no idea if he has lots of time in vac forming.

However i think that i can help.

Go to http://www.build-stuff.com/1001plans.htm...this will help.

Grim

 

[MikeP]

I haven't done any vacume forming....yet.

-MikeP

 

[topfuel443]

Jimmy, clarify what it is you are trying to do. Are you using Fiberglass or are you using plastic? Do you mean Vaccum "forming" Or Vaccum "Bagging."

Sorry for the confusion if its plastic, Mike P. has only done different fibers...i.e. Glass, Carbon, Kevlar.

~ james

 

[wswatzell]

Vacuum forming plastics isn't that hard if you have the right equipment. The company that I work for builds all sorts of vac-tools for the auto industry, & I design the tooling. As far as doing it at home, it really depends on how much time & money you want to invest, & how experienced you are with building things. A simple vac-table can be made out of 1/4" plywood, 2 x 2's & peg board, & a fitting to fit your vacuum cleaner (preferably a large vac). You will need a clamp frame to hold your plastic while you heat it, which can be done with a heat gun, or your oven (which give more consistent results, but might stink up your house a little)

Since you already have the pattern, you have the hard part done. Just make sure that you don't have any sharp corners (less that 1/8" radius) because the plastic might wrinkle instead of conforming to the pattern. If you want really constant results, & have a drill press that you can set the depth of the stroke, you can drill some 1/4" holes from the back to within a 1/4" of the surface & connect them from the front with really small drills like .040"

Hope this helps, if you have anymore questions, let me know.

 

[jimmy]

hi all i am making radio boxes for the boats that i make i allready have the mold and it was allready being used to make the boxes. they are made out of lexan i was wanting to make them myself to try to lower the price a little thanks

 

[wswatzell]

Lexen is a little harder to oull, so I would recomend using a large shop vac like a 16hp one. You can defently same money doing it yourself. ;D

Do you have an idea of how big you want to make you vacuum tabble? do you, or do you need plans?