Customer Reviews

The Secrets of Building a Plastic Vacuum Forming Machine

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This guy is GREAT! He has a whole series of books on building different shop equipment. I have purchased a couple of them. They are VERY useful, VERY exact, and the parts are accessible. Some of the parts he reccommends I found I already had in my shop. If you want to build any of the equipment he has listed, I strongly reccommend his book on the subject. Even if you plan to buy a "profesional" machine, it's a good idea to tinker first. You will be happy with the books, and it is money well spent. STRONGLY reccomend.

The plans take some time to digest but are doable if studied enough. I would have liked a blown up (expanded) view of the entire sytem included to see where every thing fits at first.

this book is really about just building this vacuum machine, not about vacuum forming in general. gives useful info on how to build a machine.

Brand new, good information. Highly detailed schematics and detailed info. Just smaller in size than I thought.

While the book itself is great, and shows how to build an "industrial (almost)strength" type machine, the required complexity and construction, are beyond the ability of many hobbyists (as well as being relatively expensive). In particular, it requires welding and fabrication skills not generally available to the home hobbyist. Having said that, there is much to be learned, and using some of instructions and resources in the book, many people could easily build (as I intend) to build a somewhat simpler version, than is shown in this book.

This book essentially chronicles how Gingery built a vacuum former with no real previous experience or vacuum forming expertise. There are detailed plans to construct the vacuum former pictured on the cover, and that's about it. I have not built this vacuum former, but reading this book definitely raised some eyebrows.

Gingery fails to answer all but the most basic and obvious questions. Some things left unanswered by this book:

What are the advantages, disadvantages and range of applications for this vacuum former?

What other types of vacuum forming machines exist?

What is an appropriate amount of wattage for a given material? In another book I read recommendations varied from 5 to 50 watts per square inch, depending on the application. The heater in this book (The only 110v heater he could find) puts out just 2.6w per square inch. Does this mean it just takes longer to heat, or will there be other problems?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of various kinds of thermoplastics?

What is the practical limit for material thickness?

How much vacuum/heat is needed for a given thickness of material?

What are some guidelines for depth of draw for a given material and mold geometry?

He also fails to mention that some commonly used plastics (such as ABS) are hygroscopic and require drying prior to vacuum forming.

GREAT The book is very helpful. I strongly recommend his book. I taken the basic idea from the book and came up with my own plans to build a Plastic Vacuum Forming Machine.