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Scratch Built Bugatti 100P by edtherenderman. Viewed 342 times.
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edtherenderman24-Dec-21 11:36
I bought myself a Christmas present after trying to 3D print clear canopies, a hobbyist vacuum former! This one has a 6” X 6” surface although you can’t really go that large. I’m finding 4” to be about max. The former is pretty simple: 1) Put 20 mil TPE plastic between the two halves of the Material Frame, which are held together with magnets. 2) Place the Material Frame under the Heater. Magnets will hold it in place. 3) Turn on the heater. 4) Wait until the material sags about 1.5”. This takes about 10 minutes. 5) Place Buck on Grill. 6) Turn on Vacuum. 7) In one quick motion, push Material Frame down onto the Buck / Grill. Vacuum will suck hot material around the buck. This was probably overkill, but I figure I do enough scratch building that something like this will be handy!
Don C24-Dec-21 13:19
It looks a lot easier than plunge moding, but at my age I'm trying not to buy new toys. Ido like it and the outcome.
hjlittman24-Dec-21 16:37
I use one of these and although it's meant to be a crafters toy it works quite well. It does take a little practice. It's optimized for .020 PETG. Experiment with other materials, you have to find how long you have to heat other materials or how far from the heater other material have to be and mark the side frame with a Sharpie. It also helps to have a good shop vac. The PETG sheets from the maker or craft stores are a bit expensive, a concern for me since I make kits . A 4X8 foot sheet from a plastics supply house is about $16.00.
edtherenderman26-Dec-21 09:11
Great advice! I noticed the actual size of the sheets are 6 3/4" x 6 3/4" and most sheets come in even sizes. like 12" x 12", which means a lot of wastage. Sounds like buying a large sheet would be the way to go.
Don C26-Dec-21 12:39
just bought a few sheets of .15 PETG 8.5 x 11 from K&S Precision Metals at just over $5 per sheet (+shipping, of course). That's a good price.
David Duckett26-Dec-21 13:02
Good job, Don, I’ll put you to work shortly.
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