Another Vac Form Table Underway

[VacTrooper]

Hey, Thanks Lucas.

 

 

 

Thats exacty what I'm planning on doing. Great minds think alike.

 

 

 

True. Good thing I took sculpture in art school.

 

Anyway, it should be fun.

 

-John

 

cool. really cool! cant wait to see more!!

[TK8776 jgarrettg]

Good ol Labor Day weekend. In honor of it I put in some hard labor. 1st up I fixed the messed up oven side of the frame by grinding off 10 welds. What fun. It took every grinding tool I owned and a few I didn't know I was going to own. On the positive side, everything I know I learned from a screw up.

Now that Friday is gone and the Frame is closer to being usable It was time to dive into the oven. Not literally, that would hurt. Here are my progress pics for Monday.

 

 

 

I beveled all the edges of the hardibacker for a nice tight fit and lined the inside with sheet metal. The sheet metal should make the oven more efficient by reflecting some heat back into the center. Corners are secured with aluminum angle stock and riveted together with 3/16" rivets. Next on my list is finishing up the material frame and getting the main hinge trued up with the oven and the table. I'm planing on adding an aluminum lip around the top of the oven to provide an adjustable seal to the frame. That ought to be fun.

Edited February 1, 2021 by Sly11
Edited to restore images Sly11 2021

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Looking good there John

[VacTrooper]

QUESTION: how deep is that oven? what will you be forming that requires THAT much depth? ABS?? i heard ABS needs around 6"-8" for forming...

 

looks VERY NICE!

[TK8776 jgarrettg]

Thanks Paul.

 

Alex, it's about 6 inches. Thanks.

 

It's sure has been a fun project.

[Tanasoo]

Those latches look perfect. I've been looking for something like that, but I have been unable to find a place locally that sells them. Where did you get them?

 

Be careful when you wire your oven. It looks like you are following James' design more or less and he wires it through the bolts used to support the ceramic spacers. be sure you don't short the hot bolts to the aluminum sheet or you won't be going anywhere. You might want to use a small diameter holesaw to remove the sheeting around where the posts will go.

[VacTrooper]

yeah, you may want some ceramic posts...

[TK8776 jgarrettg]

Those latches look perfect. I've been looking for something like that, but I have been unable to find a place locally that sells them. Where did you get them?

 

Be careful when you wire your oven. It looks like you are following James' design more or less and he wires it through the bolts used to support the ceramic spacers. be sure you don't short the hot bolts to the aluminum sheet or you won't be going anywhere. You might want to use a small diameter holesaw to remove the sheeting around where the posts will go.

 

 

Here's the place I ordered them from: Rockler Woodworking

 

They got here so fast it surprised me.

 

The hole saw is a good idea. I was considering a different type of ceramic post like Alex suggested. I sure don't need any direct shorts.

 

Thanks for the input guys.

[Tanasoo]

Thanks for the link!

 

I actually used the one piece ceramic spacers sold on infaredheaters.com. I think they were listed on the page with the nichrome wire ( they have a concave track running around the circumference) I got them to save a little money although I did have to buy more hardware. If I recall correctly, from the bottom of the oven up it was bolt, washer, cement board, washer, nut(that was all to hold it to the cement board, I don't think the washers were needed), nut(as spacer/ to hold insulator), washer, insulator, washer, nut. That was for the standard posts, they had no contact with the nichrome wire. For the hot posts that were shorted to the wire, I'm pretty sure I used bolt, washer, wire(10 or 8 ga?...), washer, nut (tight to keep wire in place), washer (again, this one and the next are not needed), cement board, washer, nut, nut, washer, insulator, washer, nichrome wire, washer, wing nut. Make sure the nichrome wire is tight between the washers or you won't have good enough contact. I don't think the ceramic insulators are needed on the hot posts, I just used them for spacing to keep them all the same height (and because I had leftovers) If you don't want to use them, just remove the washer under the ceramic insulator, and move the nut up to the correct height. I hope this is making sense, a picture would really come in handy...

 

To attach the nichrome wire to the insulators, just stretch a piece until it is almost straight, and then cut it into lengths about the width of your hand when you are holding it (about 4 ", hand makes it faster to measure ) Just wrap them the heater coil and post and give a few twists with some needle nose pliers (or special twisting safety wire pliers if you have them laying around ) Then cut off the excess and fold in the meat hooks.

[TK8776 jgarrettg]

Hey Matt, thanks for the info on your setup. Hopefully, I'll get into that this weekend. Have you got your table up and running yet?

[Tanasoo]

Unfortunately, no... I've been busy as heck =\. Hopefully when those latches arrive I'll be able to get some time to finish it.

 

Then comes the molds Making them on the CNC is going to be something else... The problem is mainly on the software end. It is surprisingly hard to get the program I used to make the models to talk with the program that converts models into machine code for the CNC... Sure I COULD just buy a $2k application that will work fine, but I might have to water the money tree a little more for that. <_<

 

I do have an Idea for an entirely new machine that would sort of be like a stereo litho machine, only not $100k to buy and still grossly expensive to operate. But again the problem is working up enough time to make it Who knows maybe sometime soon I'll make it and turn the prop industry on it's head and make millions and millions of dollars

 

For now, on planet earth, good luck on YOUR machine. If you need any help, don't hesitate to ask!

[TK8776 jgarrettg]

Have you been to this website? CNCZONE A lot of these guys are building their own CNCs. They may be able to point you to some freeware to get your models to the correct format. Most of the stuff we do at work we convert to STL files from an OBJ. Usually, stuff has to be reworked in ProEngineer. That's mostly for stuff going to final tooling. Our fab shop can take OBJs for the foam cutter and the stereo Lithograph printer. They still have to convert it with some proprietary software. I have a program for converting the STLs but for some reason I can't remember the name. It will come to me as soon as I close the laptop I'm sure.

 

-John

[TomG[501st]]

As programmer, 3D Artist and propmaker I found this link very interesting.

Have you been to this website? CNCZONE A lot of these guys are building their own CNCs. They may be able to point you to some freeware to get your models to the correct format. Most of the stuff we do at work we convert to STL files from an OBJ. Usually, stuff has to be reworked in ProEngineer. That's mostly for stuff going to final tooling. Our fab shop can take OBJs for the foam cutter and the stereo Lithograph printer. They still have to convert it with some proprietary software. I have a program for converting the STLs but for some reason I can't remember the name. It will come to me as soon as I close the laptop I'm sure.

 

-John

[TK8776 jgarrettg]

Glad you found it useful. They have a weekly newsletter too.

 

-John

[TomG[501st]]

Thanks for it. But just now, I don't have time and money to start work on own CNC. May be later in future. Just now I'm working on 3D mesh of new TK helmet based on dimensions of AP helmet to make molds and replace our FX buckets. It should be more symetrical and detailed, but with correct size and proportion.

 

Glad you found it useful. They have a weekly newsletter too.

 

-John

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Thanks for it. But just now, I don't have time and money to start work on own CNC. May be later in future. Just now I'm working on 3D mesh of new TK helmet based on dimensions of AP helmet to make molds and replace our FX buckets. It should be more symetrical and detailed, but with correct size and proportion.

 

That will be something worth waiting for by many!

[TomG[501st]]

But it will be a bit long waiting. I thinking about two sizes. Movie size and a bit bigger for guys with bigger melon. When I will have something to show, I will make new topic about it

 

That will be something worth waiting for by many!

[TK8776 jgarrettg]

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Things have been coming apart at the seems around my place. My monster house is trying to eat me. I finally got it under control for a few minutes and was able to get back to the Vac form table today. Here's this weeks progress.

 

I hinged the frame to the table and the two halfs of the frame together.

 

 

 

 

 

Next up I'll be welding on the latches for holding frame and working on the platen.

 

-John

Edited February 1, 2021 by Sly11
Edited to restore images Sly11 2021

[TK8776 jgarrettg]

Another busy weekend and only minor progress on the fun stuff. I welded on the top brackets for the frame clamps. Hopefully tomorrow I can finish them up. They look like they are going to work perfect.

 

 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Sly11
Edited to restore images Sly11 2021

[TK8776 jgarrettg]

Resurrecting my old nearly dead topic. I can't believe it's been over a year since I last posted in this thread?!!! What a hell of a year. I feel like I just climbed out of a washing machine after the spin cycle.

 

Anyway, the vac form table is finally complete. A little bit of fine tuning to the hold frame and some solvent through the oil less vac pump and I'll be forming.

 

 

 

Fully armed and operational 220 volt oven

 

 

Edited February 1, 2021 by Sly11
Edited to restore images Sly11 2021

[ThayNerd[TK]]

How the hell did I miss this thread! Looking good John, Darren was telling me you were working on a vactable setup, very impressive!

[RogueTrooper[TK]]

The Thurston is looking Good John!!!!