Machining Small vacuum forming machines

[John McClane]

Hello, I've noticed few vendors like vaquform and mayku who are making this small machines. Does anyone here have some experience with them? They could be useful for many formed parts for various kits.

 

[Michael L]

I hadn't heard of them before now. I looked at the Vaquform offering and if "draw height" is what I think it is, 200mm would be useful

 

[John McClane]

Both machines have less usable surface since you need to leave out about 40mm on each side, so available area is somewhat smaller.

 

[tsmith1315]

Very neat, I'm interested to hear if anyone has used them.

Only have a little experience with this one:

 

[alexzogh]

I backed a Kickstarter a few years ago for the formbox -

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mayku/formbox-a-desktop-vacuum-former-that-makes-beautif
I received it, tried a few things (ice cube trays, chocolate treats, etc...). Was kind of cool to 3d print an inverse mold, then vacuform the final product. Like most have already said, the footprint was way too small to make anything useful unless you are a modeler. There was a hearty contingent of R/C enthusiasts using it. Would probably be good for low power rocketry as well.

I sold it within a year of purchase on eBay for more than I 'backed' it on Kickstarter. I still get emails from the company, and they recently announced a much bigger model called the multiplier which looks interesting

https://multiplier.mayku.me/

 

[OzHybrid]

With the speed of 3d printing these days, difficult to see the use of one unless you need to make a lot of moulds from a positive.
You can easily make a quick diy version with a couple of wooden frames or metal if you need it to last and a sealed box with some holes connected to a vacuum cleaner. Just screw the plastic between the wooden frames. Wear heavy leather gloves, heat the plastic with a heat gun( paint stripper) avoiding burning yourself. When the plastic gets floppy heat from a bit further away and keep it moving till plastic is evenly heated. Place the frame onto the box with the positive on it and swithch the vacuum on. Wait to cool enough and turn vacuum off.
Job done. Total build cost about $10. I can draw you a quick sketch if you'd like. Save yourself $700 until you know you need one. At that price though you'd probably pick up a proper one at an auction if you had plenty of time.
Norm

 

[tjkopena]

With the speed of 3d printing these days, difficult to see the use of one unless you need to make a lot of moulds from a positive.

Weight or transparency?

Haven't done so myself, but I'd think you could vacuform a thinner, lighter piece than would be pleasant or feasible to 3D print on typical hardware.

Also seems easier to achieve a truly clear piece for canopy windows or such.

 

[dhbarr]

Weight or transparency?

Haven't done so myself, but I'd think you could vacuform a thinner, lighter piece than would be pleasant or feasible to 3D print on typical hardware.

Also seems easier to achieve a truly clear piece for canopy windows or such.

Can confirm vacuform nosecones are ultralight.

 

[jsdemar]

Very neat, I'm interested to hear if anyone has used them.

Only have a little experience with this one:

View attachment 503376

I have one of those Mattel Vac-U-Form units. I haven't used in years. If anyone wants it, it's $25 with shipping included. I'd like to see someone get some use out of it. Makes very light parts for contest rockets.

 

[mntanabob]

I use a dental vacuum former for ultralight nosecones and transitions. Stuff that is much thinner than single walled 3D prints.

they can be had for about $100.
They are great if you are doing low profile parts like a canopy. or scale detail parts from a master.
Keep in mind that they are not good for deep pulled parts, i.e. ht to diameter is more than about 2:1. I have done some NCs and transitions that are maybe 6:1 but with low yield.
At a former job, we used to make slot car bodies with one for a lunchtime league that we had where everyone had to run the same car with the same body. Slot car tracks are harder to find than flying fields these days.

 

[alexzogh]

The best deal may be a nice sized DIY kit from eBay for $25, assuming you can't make it yourself.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/203821957742?hash=item2f74bc426e:g:-VwAAOSwMjNhNBrc

 

[Sandy H.]

I use a dental vacuum former for ultralight nosecones and transitions. Stuff that is much thinner than single walled 3D prints.
View attachment 503507
they can be had for about $100.
They are great if you are doing low profile parts like a canopy. or scale detail parts from a master.
Keep in mind that they are not good for deep pulled parts, i.e. ht to diameter is more than about 2:1. I have done some NCs and transitions that are maybe 6:1 but with low yield.
At a former job, we used to make slot car bodies with one for a lunchtime league that we had where everyone had to run the same car with the same body. Slot car tracks are harder to find than flying fields these days.

Neat machine.

I've seen many videos of home-made vacuforming machines, so I think I'd try that route myself. I do think there can be value for people in modelling (rocketry, train, other) but for my flying/building habits, I wouldn't need one. I like the idea of the one pictured above if I were to buy one, as it is small, seems likely to be well built and easy to store when not in use. Most of the home-built ones I've seen will take up a lot of floor space, but they also have big platens.

Hope the OP gets something he likes and post some neat builds!

[OT]
I'm lucky enough to have a recently opened slotcar track with 5 total tracks. 1 drag strip, 2 ovals (one banked, one flat), a flat roadcourse and a blue king (painted green, but pretty sure it is a blue. Nice place run by a family that has run a track north of town for over 10 years straight. They have 4 or 5 more tracks from that place that they are moving to a new store, as rent skyrocketed at their old place.
[/OT]

Sandy.

 

[K'Tesh]

 

[OzHybrid]

The best deal may be a nice sized DIY kit from eBay for $25, assuming you can't make it yourself.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/203821957742?hash=item2f74bc426e:g:-VwAAOSwMjNhNBrc

Perfect.

 

[MidOH]

I built a vacuum forming table for molding RC car bodies. That was the easy part. By FAR. Make a 2x4 square. Side it with MDX on one side, peg board on the other. Knock a hole in it and epoxy in a hose for your shop vac.

Staple a sheet of plastic to a thin plywood frame. Masking tape over the parts of the pegboard that the plastic frame doesn't cover. Heat it, and set it over a plaster and bondo mold.

Safely heating a large sheet of Lexan or PETG was a major pita. You also had to hang it in a closet sized box and dry it with a 100watt light bulb (stolen from Arby's), for a day or two before molding.

Infrared heaters were best. But the speed at which my electric meters dial spun, made the whole thing less practical due to cost. I never tried opaque type plastics. Maybe those are easier.

 

[OzHybrid]

I built a vacuum forming table for molding RC car bodies. That was the easy part. By FAR. Make a 2x4 square. Side it with MDX on one side, peg board on the other. Knock a hole in it and epoxy in a hose for your shop vac.

Staple a sheet of plastic to a thin plywood frame. Masking tape over the parts of the pegboard that the plastic frame doesn't cover. Heat it, and set it over a plaster and bondo mold.

Safely heating a large sheet of Lexan or PETG was a major pita. You also had to hang it in a closet sized box and dry it with a 100watt light bulb (stolen from Arby's), for a day or two before molding.

Infrared heaters were best. But the speed at which my electric meters dial spun, made the whole thing less practical due to cost. I never tried opaque type plastics. Maybe those are easier.

Indeed!! Polycarbonate absorbs a lot of water that will put unsightly expensive bubbles in it if you just heat up straight away for vac forming. Same with acrylic to a lesser extent. It's all manageable though, if you're aware of it. Obviously at larger sizes it needs a larger amount of management. At the 2'x4' size you were doing , you can no longer use a domestic oven. If you keep it down to sizes that will fit in a standard oven, you've already got that piece of equipment. If you want a see through dome, you'd blow mould it. Not vacuum form it. That's how real cockpit canopies are done. But that's a whole different scale factor of difficulty again.

Same with 3d printing. You really need to dry your filament for best results.
Norm

 

[John McClane]

Thanks all for the valuable information, I was thinking maybe to make some mid-sized table unit since the ones already available are quite small. I already checked youtube DIY videos on how to create such a machine, just will need to find some free time to make it. Would be nice to have it to be able to reproduce some out-of-production kits parts.

 

[caveduck]

I have an old vacform machine that came from the R/C world with about an 8" square bed, a heater grid at the top, and a frame that slides on the corner rails to move the plastic sheet from the heating position right down onto the mold. It worked great and would make very light parts. I pretty much always used styrene and could pull up to a 4:1 parabolic competition nose cone from 0.020 or .030 stock, andup to a 2:1 dual eggloft capsule from 0.060 sheet. It would make parts so fast that the molds would heat up and I had to make sure I used something that would sink the heat without distorting.

One thing I learned from Alan15578 a long time ago is that for a long draw it helps to drill very fine holes through the mold into a central drilled-out bore to pass vacuum directly to the part surface.

It never really pulled enough vacuum and now hardly does anything b/c the seals have deteriorated, but now I have a real vac pump and a chamber, so I'm planning to hack the machine for external vacuum and get it back in operation b/c it will do things that a 3D printer can't touch.

 

[Sandy H.]

I have an old vacform machine that came from the R/C world with about an 8" square bed, a heater grid at the top, and a frame that slides on the corner rails to move the plastic sheet from the heating position right down onto the mold. It worked great and would make very light parts. I pretty much always used styrene and could pull up to a 4:1 parabolic competition nose cone from 0.020 or .030 stock, andup to a 2:1 dual eggloft capsule from 0.060 sheet. It would make parts so fast that the molds would heat up and I had to make sure I used something that would sink the heat without distorting.

One thing I learned from Alan15578 a long time ago is that for a long draw it helps to drill very fine holes through the mold into a central drilled-out bore to pass vacuum directly to the part surface.

It never really pulled enough vacuum and now hardly does anything b/c the seals have deteriorated, but now I have a real vac pump and a chamber, so I'm planning to hack the machine for external vacuum and get it back in operation b/c it will do things that a 3D printer can't touch.

Awesome! Please post a 're-build' thread. I'm sure there are some here who would like to see how it goes!

Sandy.