Vaccum Forming?

[eddy]

I was searching microrccenter and i found some topics on vacuum forming Bit shells. I am pretty good with Modeling Clay So I can carve out molds but I was wondering: would it work? If so, Im making my own vacuum forming machine and vacuum forming these bodies nonstop:(note- all cas with no date listed are of the newest possible model)
Toyota MR2 Spyder Hardtop
Lexus IsF Coupe
BMW M3 GTR Coupe
Lexus LF A
1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
Nissan 350Z Fairlady Z
Nissan GT-R Spec-V
Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1
Toyota Sprinter Trueno BZ-R AE111
Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-S AE86
Mazda RX-7 FC3s
Ford GT
Mercedes Benz C63 AMG
Mercedes Benz SL65 AMG Black Series
Toyota Corolla Axio
Nissan 300ZX Fairlady Z
Nissan 240SX
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X MR
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX MR
1988 Lancia Delta Intergrale Evoluzione
2009 Honda Civic Type R
Volkswagen New Beetle RSi
1998 Volkswagen Jetta
Gumpert Apollo
McLaren F1
Hyundai Genesis Coupe
Audi S4
Ferarri California
Shelby Mustang GT500(1969),
BMW M3 E90
Dodge Charger (First generation)
Toyota Supra Targa Top MkIIII

[sidewinder]

Yes it will work as long as you use hard clay, either air dry or oven dry clay. You could use the good stuff but then you'd need a kiln. One other thing you might consider is casting it with resin. Smooth On and Alumilite both work great, Steelwoolghandi had a tutorial on the process, he used smooth-on I believe, I prefer the Alumilite because you can pour the silicon mold instead of painting layers and layers, but the painted on uses latex and it's a bunch cheaper.

Still vac-u-forming is a lot of fun, and the shells will be lighter. The only real downside is you will lose some of the detail unless you have a monster vacuum. If you have any undercuts they may be a problem too. Building a vacuum box is cheap enough, and if you have a 5-8hp shop vac your pretty much good to go... it should be fun.

[eddy]

Too bad I don't have a kiln
My school has one maybe I can use that. Where can I get a monster vacuum? Just wondering. Have you done this before? As for the resin, Doesn't that break easily? I heard that from micro RC center. I can't wait for this- Iv'e already started making practice molds. How do you heat the plastic? My wife would never let me use the oven to heat plastic. could I do it over a open flame or something(W/ Supervision) instead? What do you think of my list? I'm gonna Recreate all of the initial D and all of the Fast and furious cars. After that maybe I can sell them for profit. Take a clone chasis, Mod it,custom body(vac formed),Modded controler and sell it. Too bad I can't give you pics because my camera broke. If it didn't I would be modding like a king. When I get my new camera I will Start my first major Project car with multiple mods. Gonna Be a Red MR-S(note the Toyota MR-2 Spyder, also known as the Toyota MR-S in japan, ws listed first in the list of cars) /w/ A carbon fiber hood, side decals, Spoiler,LiPo Dual cell, Lowered PCB, metal centered shocks, Music spring coils,Lowered Body,Lightened Chassis,New Shoes(with scale brakes),possibly 4WD,Perfect Weight Balance and to top it off Custom Eraser molded tires(died black). I also have a 1/64 scale buggy in the works and I might send it to HPI. oops, I just revealed bit everything on my mind. For the Metal centered shocks, Im gonna take a hard copper wire, Heat it with a soldering gun,pierce it into the inside of the shocks,Let it cool and cut off the remains to make a copper centered shock. For the tires Im going to melt down Eraser rubber, Mix it with Granite shavings from a pencil, Mold it and slip it on for the perfect Hard-Surface Tires. For Foam and carpet tracks,A set of foam pencil grip(from the dollar store)tires will o the job. That should make the perfect track bit. Sorry for the run on sentence, that is 4-5 days worth of thinking about/dreaming about bits. I pretty much have nothing else to do. I think i'm going to build a model house for my homies which includes a garage for ll of my bits,2 bedrooms(one for me, one for a guest), Granite counter top, state of the art fridge,Bed,3 HD tv's, Microwave,toaster, couch,my chair and a blender. Yeah, I got alot of time on my hands and I think too much. Im also boared. Im gonna go to boared.com. also, my first bit was destroyed because I hacked the chassis for no reason whatsoever. In fact if anyone is having trouble coming up with an idea for a project, I get millions of Ideas per month so just ask. nothing I really could do but still cool stuff. Why don't people mod anymore? I want to see some mods. I guess if you want something, you gotta do it yourself. I think wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much

[sidewinder]

I think more people were moding when the micro crazy was at it's peak, and then again when the stores started to clear stuff out for $5. I'd like to see a resurgence, but someone's going to have to come out with something new to get people interested. I think the Q-Steer buggies will get a little attention, but it's going to have to be something way more dramatic. Maybe if someone came out with a propo bit that was about half the size of a zip, then people would notice and be bitten by the micro bug again. Or maybe a tiny little gyro so that you could have real tabletop drifting.
Vacuforming; you can use a shop-vac for the suction. I have had a little experience with vacuform but not on a small scale. The buddy of mine who used to build my chassis for the Late Model owned a sign shop and he has a huge-ass vacuum table. He can make formed signs up to 8X4 feet. I used to help him when he'd get rushed, I'd trade the labor for repair work on the chassis...not that I ever bent one.

I'm not sure what kind of plans/blueprints you have for vauform, but this http://starshipmodeler.com/tech/jw_vac.htm is a nice overview of the process, and tips on homebuilt boxes.


Resin; It depends on the resin you use, you can find charts that show compression and shore strengths. Smooth-on makes a series of Urethane plastics, the most useful is probably one of their Task plastics, they carry a 4500psi compression strength, a 3000psi tensile strength and a shore hardness of 70d. In other words, you can make gears with this stuff, its sandable, paintable, and machinable.

[eddy]

How about a 1/64 scale AWD propo bit for around 30$? would that do it? Don't tell me that we need smaller stuff......... THe wires are too damn thin! No one would mod something that small.

[sidewinder]

I would, I'll have to post my 1/2 scale micro plan...I couldn't source the parts but I had a plan to build a micro-micro bit, it wouldn't have been propo, but that's because I didn't want to spend 5-6 hundred on the project.