First attempt at vacuum pulling

[TC77]

Hey all

 

Just did my first set of attempts with the home made vacuum pulling table.  I am using an unfinished shoulder bell as the testing piece, although that is hard to tell.  Anybody who needs a laugh, check it out. 

 

Apart from the webbing, the last one did not turn out too bad, what I thought were air pockets leaving a bubble turned out to be bumps of fiberglass resin that I hadn't sanded away, so the detail is better than I expected

[troopermaster]

What type of plastic is that?

 

I have never seen anything like that happen before

[walt[501st]]

my guess is styrean and you did not use a brace to cook plastic?

[walt[501st]]

 and the mold id not swooped down or you used the bell itself?

[TC77]

Styrene, and my guess is that I still need to find the right balance for heating.  From what I have read in other forums too much heat and it causes the excess webbing.  In other words, the bottom ones were too hot and top ones were too cold.  All I need is either a lost blond girl or a baby bear to help me find just the right setting

[walt[501st]]

What is your hest source

[TC77]

Standard home oven, and a heat gun to clean out the edge.  You can see in the bottom/middle that I didn't heat the bottom edge very well, but bottom right (last one I did, you can see the 5 in the bottom corner of it) I got it balanced out there.  You know, looking at number 5, there was no webbing issue at the bottom where the heat gun was used, in the rest webbing all over the place.  Interesting.  Will have to try out different temperatures and times as I go, find the best mix

[walt[501st]]

Can you cut plastic to fit completely in the oven

[TC77]

I could, but the frame and vacuum table I had made up were 2' X 2' however the homemade oven that was built for those pieces I tried to make fell through, which is why I am just using the main oven instead.  If I can't get it right I may make re-sized pulling table and frames

[walt[501st]]

As tm told me....heat, evan heating is one of the keys,,,,with out it all is lost

[Mynock]

I built my own vacuum forming setup for a couple hundred bucks and I use two 1500W radiant heaters (inside a plywood heating box lined with tin foil) for the source. It works like a charm. The heaters heat the plastic quite evenly I find at the angle I have them set, and the tin foil helps reflect the heat, and bounce it upward. Once the heaters are fully warmed up, .06 gauge white ABS heats up to forming temperature within 3-5 minutes; black ABS is formable after only a minute.  I've done literally dozens of pulls with it with no issues. Check it out on my webpage here:

 

http://mynocksden.com/diy-vacuum-former/

 

My table is 24x24 inches from edge to edge, with a workable area of about 22x22 inches and is big enough to do larger armor pieces without having to ever put anything in the oven. The only issues I have ever had with this setup was when I did my very first few pulls, I didn't align the frame to the table correctly. This created a gap in the rubber seals (between table and frame), causing the system to lose suction by drawing air from the outside. The pulls ended up coming out weak (like the top two in your photo).

 

Since I corrected that error, I have used my former for every single project I've done with no issues and no regrets (other than that it takes up precious space in my already over-crowded garage!  )

Edited August 2, 2013 by Mynock

[DizzyStormtrooper[501st]]

using those old pep files eh? i have a glassed and resined ab plate with crotch, chest plate, and forearms ill sell if you want to do pulls off them. they arent bondo'd and the arms are not closed.