www.TK560.com

Steve68 · Newbie Joined: 15 Aug 2007 Posts: 8

I want to build a 2' x 4' machine, and was wondering if there might be some sort of problem with a rectangle setup vs a square.

Thanks,
Steve

tubachris85x · Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:10 pm Post subject:

There really shouldnt be any issue with the shape of the platen/former. As long as the basic requirements to make it work as a former is present (air seal/vaccum, etc.), the shape dosnt matter. Its personal preference and depends on what your forming.

-tubachris
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drcrash

jegner · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 4:20 pm Post subject:

Thurston talks about a 4x4 machine, basically a scaled up version of the 2x2 machine. So a rectangle version should be a non issue. Also, several board members here have made 24x36 machines too.

TK 109 · Guru Joined: 11 May 2007 Posts: 712 Location: Galena, Ohio

charlie

i really thought about building a 4'x4' machine for my armor, but VERY high cost, and SPECIAL-ORDER city. cost came first, so i went 2'x2'. thurston james complained about heating issues, too, when i came to bigger tables.

has anyone on this board or others even made a 4'x4' table? i would love to see it! that would be cool! Smile

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-Alex

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crashmann · Guru Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 501

Yup, my 24" x 32" table works fine. The over under Doug Walsh tables are also rectangular, and with the lifting lever they work great.

My friends have been goading me to build a 4' x 4' oven, but I think I may scale it back just a bit to 48" x 32" which will yield three pieces of plastic from a single sheet (three sheets to the wind Razz

) Now to come up with a good design...

Charlie

Funkzilla · Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:11 pm Post subject:

At my University we had a an oven and a platen that could easily handle a full 4'x8' sheet.

I once helped a friend vac form a mannequin in halves to make a body double.

I *think* we used 3 1/2' x 7' sheets of polycarbonate.

-Eric

TK 109 · Guru Joined: 11 May 2007 Posts: 712 Location: Galena, Ohio

dude, eric Razz

....

i can see that. i actually saw a show a while back that involved making a cast of a human body from vacuum-formed plastic. in fact, the mythbusters used a 4'x' TJ-style machine (i think), to recreate "buster", their crash-test dummy Twisted Evil

.
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-Alex

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cod · Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 3:38 pm Post subject:

TK 109 · Guru Joined: 11 May 2007 Posts: 712 Location: Galena, Ohio

cod, LOL.

good thing he's in carbonite, that might be the only way to shut him up!

Laughing

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-Alex

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thats_right2 · Newbie Joined: 05 Dec 2007 Posts: 6 Location: Kansas

Hey all! I've been checking out the forum for a little while now and just joined. I have a question about oven wattage. I'm looking to build a 3' x 5' oven and wanted to know the proper wattage to put into the ovencalculator. I see that 2400W is used for a 2' x 2' panel. Can I assume that 2400W for a 2' x 2' (4ft^2) panel would equal 9000W for a 3' x 5' (15ft^2) panel? Shocked

jegner · Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:01 pm Post subject:

thats_right2 · Newbie Joined: 05 Dec 2007 Posts: 6 Location: Kansas

That calculator is really nice. I guess what I'm asking...is 2400W the ideal wattage for a 2' x 2' panel? Should the wattage be a function of sq. ft.? If I go to a 3 x 5 panel, should I also increase the power? At 2400W that would be 600W/ft^2. So I would need 9000W Cool

for a 15ft^2 panel?

Entering 9000W into the ovencalculator for a 3 x 5 gives me the same Power output over area as a 2 x 2 @ 2400w (4.167 W/in^2).

jegner · Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:34 pm Post subject:

I think the ideal is to have an oven that won't blow a common 110v 20amp circuit. Hence the math. If you wanted to the same heat level, but wanted a larger oven, you are looking at going above this threshold.

Jim

cod · Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:56 pm Post subject: