vacuum forming help

[grunt95]

Wanted to start vacuum forming some things myself and was just looking for some tips and pointers from people on here. If you have any personal experience help would be nice!

Some questions I have are
1. So for the table portion many small holes or
a few big holes?
2. Say I made a 6x6 box would it be possible to form a 3x3 section by covering the wholes that arnt used?
3. what would be the "best" plastic to use while forming.

Like I said before any inside info and personal experience is welcome!
Thanks
Grunt

[BC Racing]

Originally Posted by grunt95

1. So for the table portion many small holes or
a few big holes?
2. Say I made a 6x6 would I be possible to form a 3x3 section by covering the wholes that arnt used?
3. what would be the "best" plastic to use while forming.

1. Pegboard works great (many small holes)

2. Make a frame, to tape your material too, and your "vacuum box" (pegboard top) 12"x12". do not cover any holes.

3. Styrene is the easiest and cheapest to work with. Lexan has some additional steps involved. Cut into 12"x12" pieces (tape to frame above)...and experiment.

good luck...

[Gula]

Haven't tried this yet, but want to start making my own bodies too. But what I've gathered making your molds out of bondo and plaster of Paris should work well and last a bit longer than just plaster of Paris. Basically smear bondo in inside of whole body, let cure then fill rest with the plaster. /////////////
Using the bondo will have a lot less if any bubbles and plaster is used as support to keep from collapsing the mold! /////////////////
For the frame I've seen people staple the material to the frame with great results. Heating plastic is done in oven.
Pegboard is good for your vacuum box, and using coins to raise the mold helps get more suction
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ooVBJbYac_4

[grunt95]

Ok thank you guys for the info! I dont think I worded the second question very well. My question was would it be possible to form smaller sheets of plastic on a bigger table?

@ BC Racing I have read about many people using peg board but there are also some videos saying you get better suction with holes even smaller then the ones on peg board.

[hotwheels000]

My table is 24 x 24 , peg board top. I have made a few smaller parts by taping of the section I didnt want to use, this allowed my to use a smaller sheet of styrene.

[rockhugger]

Originally Posted by Gula

Haven't tried this yet, but want to start making my own bodies too. But what I've gathered making your molds out of bondo and plaster of Paris should work well and last a bit longer than just plaster of Paris. Basically smear bondo in inside of whole body, let cure then fill rest with the plaster. /////////////
Using the bondo will have a lot less if any bubbles and plaster is used as support to keep from collapsing the mold! /////////////////
For the frame I've seen people staple the material to the frame with great results. Heating plastic is done in oven.
Pegboard is good for your vacuum box, and using coins to raise the mold helps get more suction
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ooVBJbYac_4

good idea on the bondo, plaster mixture. I found plaster is a bit brittle on the edges so maybe bondo will be better for an outer skin.

I think the author of that video meant to put PETG not PTEG for his material. I want a dedicated oven in my garage, that's my biggest hurdle right now, is the heating source.


Edit: Looks like PTEG-PTEG are basically the same when searched with Google.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene_terephthalate

[Gula]

I just got rid of an oven after we upgraded ours in the house, doh! Should have kept it thinking about it now.

[grunt95]

Originally Posted by hotwheels000

My table is 24 x 24 , peg board top. I have made a few smaller parts by taping of the section I didnt want to use, this allowed my to use a smaller sheet of styrene.

I was thinking about vacum forming the smaller from and cutting it out so then I would have the left over witch would cover up everything I dident us. Just an idea though, no idea if it would work or not.