24 inch Vacuum Forming Machine

[Charles (Upstate NY USA)]

I have been busy in the home shop over the holidays building a new 24 inch vacuum forming machine, thought I would share some pics. Everything rides on bearings and she's all oak and poplar.

[kt315]

Re: 24 inch Vacuum Forming Machine

good stuff! when this engine will be ready to take off an order, Charles?

yours.

[Al Arens]

Re: 24 inch Vacuum Forming Machine

Looks very impressive. Are there any sketches to look at for the construction?

[Carl-NC]

Re: 24 inch Vacuum Forming Machine

Very nice! I just got the Robinair pump you suggested, so I hope to start on my machine soon. Still got a number of other priorities to finish.

- Carl

[Charles (Upstate NY USA)]

Important note on pumps...

Carl I found a vac forming site and based on their pump recomendations I plan to buy a second Robinair pump and run 2 pumps on my new machine. If you are building a smaller machine than I am you may not need two pumps. My single pump molds some plastics like polystyrene just find and does an okay job on .060 ABS on a 28x28 inch table but not as good as it should. I think if you are planning on building a 24 inch table and you want to form ABS you should probably plan on two pumps. Keeping the volume in the table low also helps a lot.

[Charles (Upstate NY USA)]

I'm working on a web site...

I plan to post lots more photos and some plans I drew with measurements on the website I'm building on the side. I'll post a link here when finished.

[Charles (Upstate NY USA)]

Not for a few weeks...

I'll be busy with some other stuff over probably the next month before I can get back to wrenching on the machine.

[Al]

Re: I'm working on a web site...

Hello Charles,
I'm sure that many folks will be interested. I'm also from UPSTATE NY, Vestal (near Binhamton)to be correct. Glad to see another NY'er on this site.
Al.