check this out diy vacu-forming

[TeenRocketNerd]

I just came across this, and wondered if anyone else has found this, or more importantly, has anyone ever tried this?

https://members.aol.com/GCGassaway/vacuform.htm

That looks kind of fun to me...

 

[benjarvis]

I hadn't seen this link before, but I built a home-made vac-former last week, that was quite similar to this...

I just cut a 5" X 6" square from a 2ft sq of 1/2" thick MDF... then glued a sheet of 1/16th cotton/phenolic sheet on either side... the top side with LOTS of 1mm holes drilled in it, the bottom one with a 1.5" hole in it for the hoze from a vaccuum cleaner to fit in... then I made another one of the 2ft X 2ft MDF sheets with a hole in to fit on top as the 'frame' for the styrene... which I cut into sheets and tacked on the top with double sided tape and then masking tape too. I just heated the styrene (2mm thick!) with a hot-air gun, until it sagged, layed the master in the middle of the perforated sheet, laid the frame over the top so the styrene drapes over the master.. and turned the vaccuum on... worked a treat.

Made 6 identical 'intake ducts' in less than an hour.

Will keep the jig for future use... should be fine for parts up to 2.5" deep and about 3" square.... should work on larger items too with a bigger version of the same set-up.


Ben

 

[cliveroonie]

Basically, anything published by George Gassaway needs to be looked at seriously. He is one of the "spiritual leaders" of the rocketry community. He's an amazing builder with all kinds of experience in competition, scale modeling, and RC.

Clive

 

[benjarvis]

Originally posted by cliveroonie
Basically, anything published by George Gassaway needs to be looked at seriously. He is one of the "spiritual leaders" of the rocketry community. He's an amazing builder with all kinds of experience in competition, scale modeling, and RC.

Clive

Amen to that.

Had the chance to meet him briefly (and Vern Estes, and G.Harry Stine) when I came out for the WSMC in Florida in '92, he had a Little Joe entered in scale... it was trully incredible.



Ben

 

[GuyNoir]

Originally posted by cliveroonie
Basically, anything published by George Gassaway needs to be looked at seriously. He is one of the "spiritual leaders" of the rocketry community. He's an amazing builder with all kinds of experience in competition, scale modeling, and RC.

Also served 9 years on the NAR Board of Trustees. Still maintains our HQ software.

 

[Goddard]

If I may... I'd like to PROUDLY point out that Mr. Gassaway
is currently a member of our local club...
He does bring a wealth of knowledge and experience
to our group... and a great guy as well...!!!


Birmingham Rocket Boys

George...please remit the check thru the private message board...

 

[jduffy]

Thought you guys might find this interesting. I built a vacuformer based on George's article several years ago, and have used it with great success. Here's a link that shows it in action:

https://www.rocket.aero/vacuform1.mov (requires QuickTime)

Vacuformed parts are also being used extensively on my current Little Joe project:

https://www.rocket.aero/littlejoemodel.html

It's really a pretty easy process to master, although one should expect a few bumps on the learning curve...

James
______________________
James Duffy
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www.rocket.aero