Hey Guys,

Something I built a little while back... A Vacuum-Forming Machine

The box measures 20cm (Length) x 12cm (Width) x 10cm (Height). There are 32 holes on the top to draw the air through into the box. It takes anything from a 48th wing down to a canopy



Cougar

interesting

sorry but im not too sure, what does it do?

Hey Cougar, what do you use for a vacuum and at what amps. Also what is the thickest piece of plastic it could handle.

What does it do?

You can use it to make thinner cpies of kit parts such as canopies,boxes notek lights to name a few just use your imagination

Cougar,
Any chance you can tell us how you made it?

Hey Mother,

I just use an ordinary vacuuming machine. I'm not sure about the amps, I'll have to get back to you on that one. I haven't tried it with thick plastic card, but I know it can handle 0.5mm. I built it because I have a Fairey Fulmar by Merlin Models that has a canopy that's probably 3 to 4 mm thick. The idea was to fabricate a more realistic part by using the original as a template. I tried using boiling water to stretch-form over the canopy, but I didn't like the end result.




Hey Hwa-Rang,

It basically allows you to fabricate your own parts and such. For instance, let's say you had a Mirage III wing that you wanted to modify but you were to scared to use the original. You would fabricate a new wing out of the original wing by using this machine and heated plastic card. The plastic card would be placed over the wing (Which would be placed on the top of the box above the holes) and drawn down while a vacuuming machine sucked the air out of the box.




Hey Mikeli,

The box is made out of Pine and Masonite woods. The sides and bottom were cut to shape using a handheld saw. I drew a circle using a pair of Calipers on the one side of the box where I wanted the hole to be. The hole has the same diameter as the tube on the vacuum cleaning machine. Once this was done, the sides and bottom were glued and clamped together using Wood Glue. Once the glue had dried, the inside corners of the box were sealed off with Silicone Household Sealant (Dries Clear) and left ot set. The top section was measured and cut, with 32 holes being drilled on the top to provide a gap for the air to pass through. I applied a liberal amount of Wood Glue on both sides as I would not be able to apply Silicone sealent to the inside corners where the top section met the sides once I put the two section together. The Wood Glue was smoothed over on the outside edges where the top section met the side section to act as a seal. This was then clamped and left to set for a day. Once the glue had dried fully the box was lightly sanded to remove any scratches and excess glue on the outside. I applied Grey Primer to the exterior of the box (Except the top and bottom sections). The top section was left unpainted because the heated plastic may pull off the paint when vacuum forming. The rectangle that carries the plastic was made out of Masonite and cut slightly bigger than the box so that the plastic would be able to hug the box without any problems. The plastic is secured in place by 12 screws between the two pieces of Masonite. The rectangle is placed above a Stove top, or in an Oven and heated until the plastic starts to sag a little. When it's ready, it's quickly placed over the box on top of the part and then drawn down over the part.

I plan on making a heating element to go with the box at some stage to eliminte the need to run to the Stove or Oven, but for the moment, this will have to do

Cougar