Vacuum Former

Ben was recently tweeting about a new kickstarter campaign for a vacuum former. When makerkaren replied it should be possible to make it bigger and cheaper, I just had to ask ... : can you please build one on element14's The Ben Heck Show ?

With Ben's experience of building things, simple electronics to activate the heating component and vacuum, and the fact that you could use it to prototype future projects, I think it would make a fun and useful build. Something I and most likely others would be interested in reproducing at home

"Let's get started" ?

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fvan over 9 years ago in reply to dougw +1

The hot plastic sheet is pulled over the shape, and the vacuum is then turned on, cooling the whole thing rapidly. I suppose that should work. At Maker Faire UK, , two years back, there was someone doing…

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dougw over 9 years ago

Great idea Frederick - I wonder if molds can be 3D printed - or how to keep the mold cool enough not to melt.
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dougw over 9 years ago

Great idea Frederick - I wonder if molds can be 3D printed - or how to keep the mold cool enough not to melt.
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fvan over 9 years ago in reply to dougw

The hot plastic sheet is pulled over the shape, and the vacuum is then turned on, cooling the whole thing rapidly. I suppose that should work.

At Maker Faire UK, , two years back, there was someone doing vacuum forming. We were using plastic letters with magnets to spell words. The plastic letters came out unharmed every time
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