www.TK560.com

[spacephrawg]

my goal is to produce a big series of casts in ABS and it seems like the whole heat your plastic in an oven then put it on a vacuum forming table hooked up to a vacuum cleaner thing seems like it wouldn't be best for mass production. I've seen some designs on here and elsewhere like one where a heater is up top and then you lower the plastic mechanically onto the mold and a vacuum chamber sucks the air out, as well as one that takes up a bit more floorspace, where the frame that holds the plastic can flip like the page of a book from one side of the machine, where it is heated, to the other where it is sucked onto the mold.

I am not set up to build these, but I could potentially have my friend build them since he's good with wood working and similar stuff. Also my brother does welding and metal work so that could work out too.

What I need to know is which of the above designs, or others, are best, and can these things be bought or should they be built? Also how much money are we talking about to buy? I expect it may cost as much to build as to buy or something close. A friend of mine once needed a sculpture stand so he invested time in making one out of metal and he calculated that the end result cost as much to make, including billable man hours, as it would have to just buy one from a factory. If that is the case, maybe I should just buy one?

What do you guys advise? Thank you!

(btw about all of these hypothetical questions, i prefer to find out all I can before i go into something and waste money trying to learn the trade. Thanks for your patience.)
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please pardon my apparent newbie ignorance!

[dbdraggin]

Honestly? if you have the money to buy a machine that will meet your needs, then go for it.

Without the know-how or ability yourself to build or maintain (equally important in my mind, if someone builds something for you an it breaks, then you're at their mercy to fix it) a diy machine, then I think its more important to get a machine that is working before it come to your doorstep. A manufacturer will certainly provide a warranty as well.

The beauty of diy is being able to build something at a lesser cost than it would take to buy it, to get your hands dirty and make something that didn't exist before from a collection of parts that had little value until combined together.

No offense intended, but if you don't have the skill or time, or if you just doubt your ability to pull if off, I'd go the safe and quicker route and just buy a machine instead.

Make no mistake though, building a machine verses buying one is night and day in terms of cost. A little Google searching will give you an idea of what different machines will cost you.

[spektr]

Well heres my thoughts.

You seem like you dont want to produced the parts. Cool. The money is in sales. If you can either produce the tooling, or purchase the tooling, have a shop make the stuff. It is almost universallly less expensive to purchase finished vacuumformed components than it is to own the capacity to build it. The key question is WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO, RUN A PLASTICS COMPANY OR RESELL FINISHED GOODS.

I run a plastics companny, I sell products. I operate in a niche environment by choice. It is important to me to have a short run capability for proofing parts and limited run items. I go to a bigger plastic company for rate parts....

Oh Yeah, the high cost of commercial vac form machines isnt that bad when you look at the plc controllers, real clamping systems and the ability to produce a lot of stuff fast. I DO BUILD MY OWN, there not cheap, theres not a single stick of wood in any of them. I dont use nichrome wire. They are programmable and the process is fully regulated and most importantly, repeatable....

scott.

[jdougn]

Go to Bel-O-Vac to get pricing on commercial single sheet feed vac formers. Their 2'x4' basic vac former starts around $8k
http://www.belovac.com/model_c_class.html]

The shop built over under design that you see a lot of builds for on TK560 is a ProtoForm. The plans & oven kits are sold here:
http://www.build-stuff.com/1002plans_proto-form.htm
Doug Walsh (kayaker43) is the designer of the ProtoForm and offers very good customer service. He is on this forum occasionally.

My vac former is a ProtoForm design. I was very pleased with the plans and particularly all the sources provided for hard to find parts.
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DougN - Just in case you're wondering, I got my "rating" legitimately... by posting aimless drivel, useless advice, and pointless questions.

[jegner]

I agree, it depends on what you want to do. I wanted to make my own machine and make small runs of parts [for a fan film]. Cost was the motivating factor, but the quest for knowledge was a close second for doing it. Buying a machine ready to run is going to cost $4K and up. You can make one for $250-$1000.