Where do I get vacuum forming materials?

[acidydragon]

I'm working on making a vacuum forming machine based on a member of the forums guide.----------

 

I understand everything there, but I can't seem to find where to find ABS plastic to do the forming.

 

Also, a tad out of place for this post, but how large of an object can you vacuum form at once? Would you be able to do an entire trooper helmet? Or do you have to do it as two different molds?

Edited April 11, 2022 by gmrhodes13
link removed no longer working

[pattrooper]

You have to hunt around to find the abs in your area, check with larger hardware strores. As for a bucket I would do it in the way I have seen it done several diffferent pieces. You probably get a sharper and more defined shape. I could be wrong but check out all the tutorials you can get your hands on. You really don't want to make to much of an expensive mistake, especially if you don't have lots of funds to try.

Edited March 21, 2013 by pattrooper

[acidydragon]

Thanks a ton! Are there any materials that I can practice with that are cheaper? Also, do you know an estimate of the pricing of ABS?

 

For the bucket being made out of several pieces, how are they attached normally?

[Sonnenschein]

Screws and rivets for ANH and ESB, glue for ROTJ. Look at the helmet builds around here.

 

And don't want to burst your bubble, but you will be spending THOUSANDS of dollars on mateials and several years of hard work until you maybe get a movie quality suit of armor.

[acidydragon]

Thousands? How so?

[Locitus[Admin]]

You need moulds to form the plastic on top of. These will take many hundred hours to build and sculpt into something decent. Or if you should find legitimate moulds for sale they will cost many many thousands to buy. Vacuum forming tables are not cheap either if you want some decent quality out of them. Plastic often needs to be bought in bulk to get a decent price per sheet, and in those quantities you may need to buy plastic for a couple of hundred dollars at a time.

 

And add to that the material cost of sculpting your moulds, and the trial and error if something goes wrong.

 

If you are only going to make 1 suit of armour, doing all of this is a bigger waste of money than being unemployed and spending your last money buying a Ferrari.

[bjsavage7[TK]]

Hey Kyle. I see you are in our squad's area. Have you talked to any of our Florida folks yet? We have many talented prop makers near you who might have some sort of info or resources to share with you. Check out: http://www.fl501st.c...oards/index.php if you haven't already.

Edited March 21, 2013 by bjsavage7

[acidydragon]

The table us being made with the method linked above. And time isn't really an issue. The sheets may be an issue, I've yet to find them.

I do plan to make multiple suits.

Thanks for the advice.

[acidydragon]

Thanks for the advice of the forum, I'll check it out! Much appreciated

[walt[501st]]

hi......i think i can help you...usplactis..about 150 shipped to your door will get you some to start with.....is your mech done....what kind of vacumme pump did you go with....and chambers or tanks....molds if you done have any plan about 7 months at around 30 to 40 hrs a week,,,but when your done.....

[acidydragon]

Still working on the machine, ran out of some supplies, and haven't had time to go purchase them. For the answers to your questions, I'm following the build that was done at the website listed above in a previous comment,----------His build uses a regular home vacuum cleaner hose to suck out the air. Eventually I would like to create a better one, but I figured this sounded like a good place to start.

Edited April 11, 2022 by gmrhodes13
link removed no longer working

[walt[501st]]

Sorry,,,but a vacuum cleaner cant pull good stuff,,the smaller molds yes but not sharp,,,,trying to help

[acidydragon]

Whats a good starter vacuum pump?

[walt[501st]]

My set up is 2 11 gal tanks with a 9 cfm pump