The next step up is to build your own oven that heats very evenly. If you want to form thicker and less forgiving plastic, you need a good oven, and maybe a high vacuum system. (But I've posted stuff about how to fix that on .)įor thin, forgiving plastics like styrene, it's not hard to make a good enough vacuum former for most purposes. Unfortunately, the little electric barbecue grill it uses as a heater is hard to come by and doesn't heat very evenly anyway. Ralis Kahn has an elegant design for a medium-sized over-and-under machine with its own oven on. That's plenty good enough for a lot of stuff. The vacuum former is little more than a board with a hole in it, some weatherstrip, and a couple of wooden frames for clamping the plastic. The Studio Creations web site has a tutorial on stormtrooper costume-making that includes a nice, brief discussion of making and using a simple vacuum former, using your home oven. It's model plane-centric, but the issues are general.
Some useful references for beginning vacuum forming and vacuum former design:Ĭhad Veich has a nice intro to small, simple vacuum formers on :
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