There’s more than one way to make a vacuum former. They don’t have to have the heating elements on the bottom. And did you actually watch the video for those machines? The thing looks wobbly, it actually shakes when they’re handling it. I have some concerns about the sturdiness of the machine.
And why would we build one out of wood? Granted, some parts might be wood, but I am pretty sure that most folks understand that wood next to heat coils = bad.
I watched the youtube video of Adam Savage’s vaccuformer, and it is home made, but looks very similar to Centriforms.
I echo the question regarding stock to put through this. How avaliable and costly is properly sized material? I do like that it can take some different thicknesses and types.
At the moment, I’m daydreaming about cool looking snake hides.
Usual material is high impact polystyrene (used in CD jewel cases, blister packs, etc). I’ve only used small dental / lab vacuuforms, but they’re rather un-picky.
So:
Styrene sheet .020" 26"x60" is $5.48 from eplastics.com
.
That seems more reasonable, and it’s not hard to cut 0.020" flat plastic (shears do it easily). Is there a sheet plastics supplier around town?
Fab Lab is a bad idea for placement. Too confined, also carpet, mess, etc.
I had my own forming device I used that had a breathable base with a shop vac / vacuum pump hook up. On the top I had a frame that had an 24" x 24" heavy duty silicone sheet attached with hinges on the back and a quick clamp design in the front. I only used it for kydex and polystyrene for holsters, leatherman tool holders, and plates/shells to protect items… My downside was I did not add the heating element per what the open source design showed and I just used the oven to preheat the sheets on a non stick tray lol and act quick, sometimes having to hit it just a second with the heat gun before locking down. It did very well but for my application I found an ultra high temp foam clamping rig that took up less space and worked better for my use. However the forming machines are awesome!
If you want custom metal frames to add on to one that we buy or even look at our open source options, I will gladly fab up and make things for it.
My vote is a yes, however if we can dig through our options before just jumping that would be awesome. Especially if there i a model we can duplicate add on piece for… or the entire thing lol
It’s trivial to get plastic sheeting in any size you want. There are several vendors in the Cincy area alone that specialize in this. Most of them will cut it size for free or nearly nothing.
Curbell Plastics and Piedmont Plastics are two that come to mind that I’ve used in the past.
For the interest of presenting alternate options, a DIY version of this would be the Proto-Form vacuum forming machine.
They will sell you the plans for $65 which comes with information to build either a 24x24, 24x36, and a 24x48 inch vacuum former. It also comes with supplements on ‘enlarging your machine’ and ‘Two stage vacuum systems’.
I first heard of this Vformer through Voljin Props where he created a wooden one (due to not having a wielder). I heard mention of members interested in getting this plan, but no one has put it into action. Looking on their website, it seems that this is the same one that Adam Savage uses in his shop, albeit with some modifications.
I couldn’t give exact numbers for the cost of the materials since it varies depending on what we want to use, but plasticsmag states that: “Estimated material cost to build these Proto-Form machines are: 2 x 2 ft. machine from $1100-$1350; and a 2 x 4 ft. machine from $1800-$2500, which includes the cost of the plans at $125 complete. The total cost also includes oven kits, which the company also supplies.”
Another quote googling around and I found “quote from my machine shop for Around $1300 for the 24x36 version”.
One quote I found through the rpf forum : “Let me say that the plans are a bit hard to follow in some areas but its clear that these plans were a real labor of love by their designer, Doug Walsh. This guy puts his phone number and e-mail in the plans and on several occasions we called him and he was extremely helpful. I highly recommend that anyone planning on building a vacuum forming table that these plans are an absolute must.”
For perspective, the $400 one is 200mm x 200mm around a 3rd of the size of the first vote.
Regarding Dustin’s link: I rather have a prebuilt one rather than one that is hand made in a year or so for up to the same price. (assuming Hive work time, and how quickly upgrades to the Gigabot happened or the building of the CNC router, both great tools to have). Also the ones listed in the vote are a desk model… Dustin you said there wasn’t room for that… if that is the case where are we gonna fit a floor model?
Honestly I agree with what Chris Anderson has talked about. For a hackerspace, we don’t do much hacking anymore. Yes, while we have the money to buy something new to use, we lose out on the learning experience. When we have something that’s expensive, people are afraid to touch it. When it’s built, people are more likely to experiment and make things better. I feel like the hive has been losing this mentality with all of our nice shiny tool purchases we’ve been making recently.
We have room for a vacuum former, the problem is we don’t have a place to allocated it right now. If we spent a month or so making it, a spot will emerge when things start migrating into the other room. We can also address any space and power problems that might arise while building it rather than after it’s done. While it will take longer (and yes I know instant gratification is lovely and all) but I hope that by having someone manage the project (i.e. me) and setting a deadline (2 months, give or take) will help us keep to that schedule so it won’t take forever.
I’ve been thinking about Kevin’s comments about things moving to quickly lately. In the interest of moving slowly, and carefully considering our options it would be nice if we could table this vote for a week or two while we consider the DIY option.
