DIY Vacuum forming- anybody tried it before?

[Lemosteam]

Wondering if anyone's tried a home brew vacuum forming using a shop vac, a mold and some warmed up material?

Questions/Brainstorm

• What is a good low temp, thin sheet material to use that I can wave a blowtorch (ha ha) heating element over to soften
• Will a shop vac work, with a drilled hole faceplate

I want to do this over a heavyweight roof to make a removable "shell" or "cap" for further detailing purposes.

Thoughts, ideas?

[delamaize]

I have never did it i my own home for for myself, but I did work at a bathtub plant when I was first out of high school. This was the process used to make acrylic tubs. you would heat a sheet of acrylic to a very specific temperature, then lower it down onto a mold, and allow it to settle for a moment, them pull a vacuum for about 30 seconds, then allow it to cool, finally remove the finished tub from the mold, and send it off to have the fiberglass and wood reinforcements sprayed on the backside. one thing I remember was you NEVER did this process in "manual" mode, because the temp needed was very precise, too much and it would sag, and cause wrinkles or low spots, too little and it wouldn't sit down over the mold, or it would tear/crack.

I dunno how realistic it would be to do home vacuforming without having the proper equipment. But I would be interested in seeing if it was possible, thats for sure.

[peteski]

I own both, an old Mattel Vacc-u-form machine (toy) and a dental vaccu-forming machine (similar to the Micromark unit).  But I have not got to using either of them yet.

There are many ways for making a home-brewed units.  I have read about couple of different designs in the Finescale Modeler magazine.  Some modelers use a light bulb for a heat source while others place the frame with a plastic sheet in the oven.

I'm sure that a quick Google (or Youtube) search will yield plenty of ideas on how to make/use a home-brewed unit.

[Spades]

These YouTube links, showing how to make and use a vacuum forming machine.   There are gobs of them on YouTube.

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[Lemosteam]

Well, gent's I found no need for vacuum forming.  I experimented with shrink wrap tubing, and guess what?  it held its shape really well, regardless of the fact that it did not draw down into sharp corners.  after all I am simply trying to simulate snow on a heavyweight roof.  the proof of concept will work although my heat gun got the roof casting a little too warm, but to no ill effect on the car windows.  I'm going to try hot water instead next time.  I used black for the test, but there is white shrink wrap available which will make a nice base for a textured snow to glue onto.  A thin strip of sheetmetal will be glued on the underside with a rare earth magnet inside the roof to hold it down when employed.

peteski, yes this is to create removable snowfall for the Polar Express cars....  ill post some pics here later.