Vacuform Machine

I recently came across Volpin Props after watching his youtube video on the Daft Punk helmet he made.  Among the many great props and costumes he's produced, I was reminded of the benefits of a vacuform machine which he made himself.  Thinking this would make a great weekend project I got started on my own a couple weeks ago...as you can see it took longer than a weekend.  Anyways, I started off by getting a toaster oven from a thrift store.

Next task was to take out the heating elements and make a frame to hold them in place.

Instead of using cement board for the insulator box, I went with foil covered fiberglass insulation.

To ensure even heat dispersal I decided to use the fan from the toaster/convection oven.

Part of the reason I started this project was to blow through some of the metal scrap I got from Ikea As-Is.  I used some extruded Aluminum channel to hold the the heater box as well as act as a rail for the frames to travel on.

The plastic blocks which slide in the rail are some HDPE scraps that I had from the ROV project.

So far everything else has been made from scrap plywood and a 1"x6" I purchased.

I made the top cover from scrap wood as well, I will often scavenge the scrap wood at Home Depot.

I wired all the electrical to an ON OFF ON switch, connecting the heating element and fan to one position and just the fan to the other.  I also took apart an old battery charger to use the plastic housing to hold the switch.

 
The vacuum table was made from scrap particle board and MDF.  I cut grooves in every inch to increase the area of air flow around objects.  I then drilled a pin hole every square inch.  The inside of the box was sealed with silicon and the walls around the entire vacuum table was raised a quarter of an inch to allow a deeper draw.

Although I haven't fully completed the table, I did manage to get it far enough to do a couple of tests runs.  The first thing I found was that the 2 of the heating elements ran hotter than the other two for no reason that I can find.  Luckily with the built in fan it didn't appear to be much of an issue.  For the two frames that hold the plastic sheet in place I used stretch canvas frames.  I might eventually make metal ones, but this was a good cheap option for now.  My first tests were two masks that I grabbed from my collection.  The plastic is some very thing PETG.

It seems that I haven't been able to get my plastic hot enough, or that my shop vac didn't have enough power.

Trying out spray paint.

Besides improving the heater and vacuum, I will also be adding an arm to move the frames up and down as seen in some other vacuform machines.  Here's a mock up of sorts.

I'm not entirely sure what I will all use the vacuform machine for, but I can't wait to make some real use of it!