I started learning vacuum forming because I desired to build a metal detector coil housing (the cover of a metal detector search coil). Basically, vacuum forming is the process of forming a plastic sheet into a usable part through vacuum between the plastic sheet and a form. Many house items we use are made by this technique.
I used the following items:
- pieces of wood to build a frame to hold the plastic sheet
- screws
- 2mm polystyrene plastic sheet
- homemade form of the piece to be replicated, made of plywood
- vacuum table (a homemade wooden box with many holes on top and a vacuum output tube)
- vacuum cleaner (mine has 1400w)
- oven (electric is better but mine was a gas oven)
Below you can see some pictures of the parts used:
Some important tips:
- the wood form should be covered with epoxy or something that prevents the plastic from sticking to it.
- Keep the plastic inside the oven until the center of it it reaches more or lesse 150 degrees celsius or it falls (melted) about 7cm down.
- be as fast as possible between taking the plastic from the oven and putting it over the form and apply the vaccum.
This is the video of the procedure:
View a video explaining the process (in Portuguese but it has subtitles in English):
If you have doubts, wire in the comments.
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