02-10-2010, 01:46 AM
I'm getting ready to make my own vacuum former this week. I just need the parts. A regular household vacuum cleaner would work,so a shop-vac would definately do the job. You can go to Lowes',the Home Depot,or even a hardware store to find the sheet steel with holes through it. It doesn't even need to have regular holes in its' design,but enough air needs to pass through,and still have rigidity. I'll post photos of mine with step by step how-to instructions,so anyone can make one of these for around $20.00-$30.00.
You'd have to measure the inside of your oven,and decide if you want to make this in vac-formed sections,then glue them together instead of trying to vac-form the entire hull as one piece. I think this would be the way to go. A heat gun is actually for "force-drying" automotive paint,not for melting plastics. This will cause hot spots in the sheet,and it won't be evenly heated causing deformations in it when you try to vacuum it down to the moulded cast under it.
You'd have to measure the inside of your oven,and decide if you want to make this in vac-formed sections,then glue them together instead of trying to vac-form the entire hull as one piece. I think this would be the way to go. A heat gun is actually for "force-drying" automotive paint,not for melting plastics. This will cause hot spots in the sheet,and it won't be evenly heated causing deformations in it when you try to vacuum it down to the moulded cast under it.