vac U form?

mandrake wrote:

hi there, i am looking for a Vac U Form machine, i have seen the old mattel one in ebay but it seems to be a little bit to old, is there any suggestions you guys can give me? i need it to make 1/48 airplane modifications and or spare parts-

Nautilus Hobbies makes a product they call the Vacu-Box

http://nautilusmodels.com/vac-u-box.htm

It comes in two sizes.   It comes broken down as flat shhets of basswood which are laser cut.  Punch it out and glue it together.   It uses you home oven to heat the plastic and your home vacuum cleaner to provide the suction.

I have the smaller one and it works well for smaller parts and say 1:72 canopies.   It takes some practice to get the plastic heated correctly.

If you can get the Mattel Vac-u-form, get it...  If it's still working good, (Mine gave up the ghost years ago) it's great for 1/48th small parts, panels, engines, and especially canopies.  I'm bidding on one right now....

  Hello Mandrake, If you have a Radio Shack down there you can buy a perforated board approimately 4"x8", and a black plastic box the same size but about 5"tall. My buddy made a vacuform with these pieces from Radio Shack. You have to seal the perforated board on top of the box opening with silicone, oh and cut a hole the appropriate size for your vaccuum cleaner hose. Then make a wood frame 2 pieces so you can clamp your plastic between them, heat the plastic over your stove heating element, then when it starts to soften and sag put it over your master and turn on the vaccuum cleaner and Walah! you have made a new piece.

  I hope this helps Mandrake.

Looking at a Mattel vacu form box... should I be terrified of a 46 year old electrical unit with a heating element?

Steve

I just had an image of shocking myself into a vegetable, just before the house burns down

Thnx for the vote of confidence, I really want to try it out.

Alex... great link.

Steve... fear not the ancient technology. As stated as long as it's not damaged it will be fine.  I got mine on Ebay a few years ago... for allI know I may have bought the same one I had in 1962... and it work great and it all original.

Someone makes upgrade parts for it but I can't rememebr the web site.  If anyone has that site info, can you please post it? 

SteveM wrote:

I just had an image of shocking myself into a vegetable

That is freakin funny.

I think I laughed for 5 minutes when I read that.

Mike 

Took me over a month but I FINALLY won a Mattel Vac-U-Form on Ebay... I've been bidding on several over the weeks, but there were richer guys than me that wanted one worse fightin' me... But I hung in there...  Even has about 60 sheets of styrene, a few of which are clear... I'm finally gonna be able to have an unlimited supply aircraft canopies, and can get all the little do-dads I need like modern pro-mask carriers, ammo pouches, helmets, cowl-rings, panels, etc...   

Got it for 61 bucks, decidedly higher than my original one, but sweeettttt....

smeagol the vile wrote:

If one was to get one of these ancient monstrosities, what would one look for, specificly, in the auction?

Try to find one that hasn't been through a war, or costs beyond what is affordable. More than $50 is probably overpriced, unless mint. Don't worry if it needs a little repair. Here's a guy who sells upgrade/rebuild parts:

http://www.gaugepods.com/vacuform/parts.htm

They're very simple machines, and quite easy to repair if needed. And they work great!

Look for the heating element to work, and the vacuum-pump.  The molds and such extras don't mean squat for modeling...They're just for making little toys and such...

 Nice to have some plastic sheets for it as well, especially the clear and metallic. (The metallic, you can take the metal finish off with oven cleaner and they're clear) Like was shown, you can get more plastic for it, or make your own if you have one sheet for making a drilling jig and some patience...

SteveM wrote:

... should I be terrified of a 46 year old electrical unit with a heating element...

Why?  I'm willing to bet that old Mattel Vac-U-Form is made better than almost anything you can buy today.

I just found a nice webpage for you.

Here are some plans for a very basic vac-u-form setup, great for giving you a quick idea of how this process works.  This particular article is VERY basic, but if you click on the related articles to the right, you will find more in-depth vac-u-form setups, all with instructions.  Also here are some nice articles on mold making and casting.

(As an added bonus, the looks your wife gives you as you play with saran wrap, an empty plastic jar, tape and popsicle sticks as you sit at the couch watching TV with her are PRICELESS.)

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http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Your-Own-Prototypes-%3a-How-to-make-your/#comments

  Haha!  I said the same thing, but it works!  For me, it was a good, simple way to get a handle on how vac-u-forming works.