Just reading in a post about making custon lenses and guys were talking about va*** forms. Anybody here made one ? have pics and details so I can try. It would be sweet and useful to make stuff I can't get (vintage bicycle head light lenses) custom taillights ect...
I found this tech piece online, hopefully it'll be of some help to ya... http://www.studiocreations.com/howto/vacuumforming/index.html We vacuum formed plastic back in High School Shop cl*** about a hundred years ago and it wasn't very difficult. I've been wanting to put together a setup at home, but haven't gotten around to it. Good luck!
I had a little side line making vacuform parts. It was fun. I was using styrene. I made a frame to attach the sheets. It fit over a wooden platform that held the form. I heated the sheet in the oven then placed it on the form and used a shop vac and a old freon bottle to **** it down. The form can be anything. I used some wood and plastic. Bondo would work as well.
I just typed vacuum form NY into BING and got; http://avfco.com/ and http://www.warmplastic.com/avf.html right there in Kingston.
I posted in the other thread as well... we made one in college (sorry no pics but i can sketch everything out if you want) so yes you can, how much you want to invest in it will effect how accurate it is. That being said forming plexi is a lot different than styrene. Different plastics have different working temperature ranges just like metals. Thicker materials will allow you to do deeper draws but there is a limit to it. For a one off part for personal use going to a company is probably not ideal, most only do production runs, they'll work with you on tooling but orders are in order haha... and for most that is cost prohibitive, even if you make your own tooling which needs to be engineered to their specs or they might not do it. At home you will be more limited on shape and need to add bosses for mounting (if no flange), ribs, etc which will require jigs for acuracy. When drilling use an appropriate plastic bit or you'll ****** the piece, a dull bit metal bit works well in some cases. And appropriate plastic adhesive. A home built table is really easy, basically -your tooling (mold of the female side, the outside should come out as a direct thickness variated representation) -a board (mdf) with holes drilled in it, i recommend a circle pattern of 3/16" holes -a frame for your plastic with matching dimensions of the board. In 2 separate pieces to sandwich the plastic. -rubber weatherstripping to seal the frame when it hits the table -a vacuum source, a shop vac might do it. -a foot switch or a helper to activate the vacuum (you'll need 2 hands to hold the frame) -a heat source for the plastic if using an oven use a dedicated oven! -a good set of gloves (**** gets hot!) -and last a lot of extra material There's a learning curve, it takes getting used to how the plastic reacts, when it's ready, what it will do over a specific mold, how long you have to work it, etc. It has it's limits, too deep a draw it will be too thin up top and the color will change (for tail lights). The wrong shape/tolerances on a specific part you will get folds in the plastic. Best way to learn is by doing though.
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