Hugh Jarce
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| posted on 7/11/04 at 02:56 AM |
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Thermoforming acrylic sheet.
Graber et al, this may be of interest:
LINK 
The pay isn't very good , but the work's hard.
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sgraber
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| posted on 7/11/04 at 05:20 AM |
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niiiiiiiiice!
good info - thank you sir...
Steve Graber
http://www.grabercars.com/
"Quickness through lightness"
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mangogrooveworkshop
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| posted on 7/11/04 at 11:50 AM |
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Top marks for that link That is very useful! Seen it done by a guy once and its works well. Made fan belt covers for my baja bug that were see
thru.
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dern
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| posted on 7/11/04 at 03:24 PM |
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Excuse my ignorance but is this the sort of thing one can do at home with a domestic oven, somekind of wooden former and a vacuum cleaner?
We made simple stuff at school (a long long time ago now) with thermoplastics and an oven , hence the question.
Mark
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sgraber
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| posted on 7/11/04 at 04:01 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by dern
Excuse my ignorance but is this the sort of thing one can do at home with a domestic oven, somekind of wooden former and a vacuum cleaner?
We made simple stuff at school (a long long time ago now) with thermoplastics and an oven , hence the question.
Mark
Simply put - yes, yes indeed.
But I would probably not use the wife's oven or any oven indoors for that matter. The acrylic that I have heated up lets off some pretty nasty
smelly's... Don't know if it's poisonous, but why take the chance.
Around here one can buy an old working oven at a garage sale for next to nothing.
Steve Graber
http://www.grabercars.com/
"Quickness through lightness"
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Hugh Jarce
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| posted on 7/11/04 at 08:14 PM |
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For a heat source, you could also use a chipboard cabinet and a bank of those infra-red heat lamps as used in bathrooms, chip shops and poultry
houses. They would give better flexibility to jobs that are larger than domestic ovens.
The pay isn't very good , but the work's hard.
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CooperLight
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| posted on 8/11/04 at 06:07 PM |
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A looong time ago I did this in my parents oven.
Forgot to remove the plastic due to watching TV, melted plastic does not smell good in an oven, and it's virtually impossible to remove.
Lesson learned: get a dedicated oven !
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tadltd
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| posted on 27/11/04 at 01:04 PM |
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Another link if you fancy forming Lexan...
Click here!
VERY useful, descibes forming techniques, painting, fabrication, cutting, drilling, cleaning, etc, etc.!
Best Regards,
Steve.
www.turnerautosport.com
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sgraber
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| posted on 27/11/04 at 03:58 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by tadltd
Another link if you fancy forming Lexan...
Click here!
VERY useful, descibes forming techniques, painting, fabrication, cutting, drilling, cleaning, etc, etc.!
That's good, very good. I suspect that the mar-guard version of lexan would be very scratch resistant? Any other polycarb/lexan products that
would be good for headlamp covers? From a scratch resistance perspective?
Graber
Steve Graber
http://www.grabercars.com/
"Quickness through lightness"
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tadltd
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| posted on 27/11/04 at 05:24 PM |
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Margard is the stuff they use for helmet visors and, I suspect, headlamp covers on OEM cars (and will be used on the LMP).
Only problem is - in case you haven't read thro' all the info yet - draping it's easy but getting the optical clarity isn't.
You need a mirror surface tool for the optical clarity, i.e. expensive if you're not going to produce more than one set!
However, the prototype covers on the LMP seemed acceptable enough from toolboard moulds (rough surface).
Best Regards,
Steve.
www.turnerautosport.com
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Rorty
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| posted on 3/2/05 at 08:52 PM |
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Graber et al, this book on vaccum forming may be of
interest.
Cheers, Rorty.
"Faster than a speeding Pullet".
PLEASE DON'T U2U ME IF YOU WANT A QUICK RESPONSE. TRY EMAILING ME INSTEAD!
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sgraber
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| posted on 4/2/05 at 12:24 AM |
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Wow. i think I may have to get that.
Thanks RORT-man.
Graber
Steve Graber
http://www.grabercars.com/
"Quickness through lightness"
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sgraber
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| posted on 4/2/05 at 12:38 AM |
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I bid on that book ^, so no-one else please! 
And what about
this book
for steel tubular structure theory and design?
Way over my head...
Steve Graber
http://www.grabercars.com/
"Quickness through lightness"
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nick baker
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| posted on 4/2/05 at 12:43 PM |
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I've used a purpose built vacuum former to create poly-prop moulds.... from which you can make fibreglass/carbonFire parts.
Very useful....
For really SMALL things, you can make a wooden plug and jam it into a plastic (PET) coke-bottle (or similar). wedge it in so it's very tight,
and then attack it with a heat-gun or Oven.
The plastic bottle shrinks to fit the plug.. and again, you can use it as a glass-fibre mould.
maybe useful for someone
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The Shootist
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 posted on 4/2/05 at 03:53 PM |
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Bubbles with pressure
Bubbles shapes like the canopies for homebuilt aircraft are made by plumbing a piece of plywood for air pressure, then cut another piece into an out
line of the hole the part will cover. Screw the 2 pieces together with lexan in between, and heat the entire assembly. Once up to temp, inflate the
plastic dome to the desired profile and allow to cool.
Presto! a custom moulded canopy.
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