Make your own bodies?
10-01-2007, 05:46 AM
#1
Make your own bodies?
Does anybody here vacuum form your own bodies? If so I have a ton of questions.
10-01-2007, 02:34 PM
#2
anybody?
10-01-2007, 02:36 PM
#3
I've been looking for the same info... Best bet is to just Google Vacuum Forming... I have a few irreplaceable bodies uncut that I'd love to use but won't, I'd love to copy them....
10-01-2007, 03:14 PM
#4
I've looked into doing it some. For smaller 1/18th scale you can build your own machine using your oven but to do anything bigger you'll really need a vaccuum form machine. To get the kind of detail I was looking for was going to cost several thousand dollars for the machine so I gave up the idea.
10-01-2007, 03:20 PM
#5
http://www.rctech.net/forum/showthre...&highlight=dh1
http://www.webspawner.com/users/dahellion/
10-01-2007, 04:41 PM
#6
i pulled a plug from a body last year for a project but never got around to pulling the new body. i have pulled plenty of stuff in abs plastic for work, but not lexan. the proces is similar, but the temperatures are different.. there are numerous vacuum box plans online including a great simple one i was going to build that just used your oven to heat the lexan (when the wife won't be home for long enough to get the smell out of the house obviously).. the hardest part of pulling from an existing body is reinforcing it well enough to not deform durring the process of making the plug.. the solution i came up with was to paint the entire body with gorilla glue in successive coats (it's great stuff and expands like foam). if you do it over a body that still has the clear protective layer, you can save the original..
10-01-2007, 05:45 PM
#7
Yep i done some of my own bodies. very simple.
Get a brand new body of choice, (not cut out)fil with plaster on inside.hey presto. a mold..take the orignal body off the plaster and use it like new...its nice to use some PVA relese agent same as fiberglass mold relese (its water based)..
I tried expanda foam inside a body but the vacume force still crushed it and you dont get the detail, from a body over a body, you need the orignal shape wich is the inside..
Getting the right plastic, there are so many types and when you go to the plastic supplier he wants some technical name of the plastic.lexan.poly.
Bulit a box , a frame, some door weather sticky foam. the old ladies vacume cleaner, and the oven bigger the better or a comercial pie warmer works best..
Too many words, ill take some photos, back soon..
Get a brand new body of choice, (not cut out)fil with plaster on inside.hey presto. a mold..take the orignal body off the plaster and use it like new...its nice to use some PVA relese agent same as fiberglass mold relese (its water based)..
I tried expanda foam inside a body but the vacume force still crushed it and you dont get the detail, from a body over a body, you need the orignal shape wich is the inside..
Getting the right plastic, there are so many types and when you go to the plastic supplier he wants some technical name of the plastic.lexan.poly.
Bulit a box , a frame, some door weather sticky foam. the old ladies vacume cleaner, and the oven bigger the better or a comercial pie warmer works best..
Too many words, ill take some photos, back soon..
10-01-2007, 06:13 PM
#8
I've done it as well. Not only just copying bodies, but making custom ones too. It's not hard, but time consuming. The easiest plastic to form is PETG, but it's heavier and less impact resistant as Lexan (but 1/5th the cost). It molds at around 250 degrees. Lexan (polycarbonate) needs to be preheated/dried at about 150-200 degrees for an hour or two, then heated up to 400 degrees for forming. If you don't predry it, airbubbles will form due to the moisture inside the plastic vaporizing.
If you want to copy a body, I prefer using Durhams Water Putty for the mold.
-Frank
If you want to copy a body, I prefer using Durhams Water Putty for the mold.
-Frank
10-01-2007, 06:19 PM
#9
these are 1/18" bodies and aircraft parts, the options are end less..
There is a hole for the vacume cleanr in the frontof the box.
sticky tape the plastic to the frame, bung it the preheated oven till it starts to bow down about 2-3"(about 60 sec) a bit of trial and error.. as quick as you can slam it over the mold (dont miss the foam seal) with the vacume already running....its over pretty quick....
It would still be worth while googling, and find some finner points, im pretty slap dash.and differant plastics have have some diff methods,,lexan likes to be drooped, heated and vacume all at the same time so they say (hence doing it all in heat ie the pie warmer...
yes people will shoot the shit out of my advice, but its free,,or go buy a $7000 molder.
as FrankW just said PETG, or PETA it cost me $35 for 2.4m x 1.4m sheet and some scrap wood..not fancy,cheep
There is a hole for the vacume cleanr in the frontof the box.
sticky tape the plastic to the frame, bung it the preheated oven till it starts to bow down about 2-3"(about 60 sec) a bit of trial and error.. as quick as you can slam it over the mold (dont miss the foam seal) with the vacume already running....its over pretty quick....
It would still be worth while googling, and find some finner points, im pretty slap dash.and differant plastics have have some diff methods,,lexan likes to be drooped, heated and vacume all at the same time so they say (hence doing it all in heat ie the pie warmer...
yes people will shoot the shit out of my advice, but its free,,or go buy a $7000 molder.
as FrankW just said PETG, or PETA it cost me $35 for 2.4m x 1.4m sheet and some scrap wood..not fancy,cheep
Last edited by ROV; 10-01-2007 at 06:58 PM.
10-01-2007, 06:21 PM
#10
http://www.tk560.com/phpBB2/viewforu...49f7b8be762482
These guys make their own machines, and it seems reasonable priced, less than $200, and they are plenty big enough for 1/10 and possibly bigger models. I mainly need to know what material to make the master molds out of, and good suppliers of plastics. I've contacted Tap plastics, but I don't know if you can get a better price elsewhere.
These guys make their own machines, and it seems reasonable priced, less than $200, and they are plenty big enough for 1/10 and possibly bigger models. I mainly need to know what material to make the master molds out of, and good suppliers of plastics. I've contacted Tap plastics, but I don't know if you can get a better price elsewhere.
10-01-2007, 06:47 PM
#11
I would leave off the foam seal; the plastic seals itself. When you're pulling 400 degree plastic foam tends to melt.
-Frank
-Frank
10-01-2007, 06:54 PM
#12
once you have a fiberglass or plaster or something mold of the original body, you can modify it simply by adding bondo to the mold or scratching away at the now hard plaster.
Take some bondo and dab it on where you want to add fender flare, raised hood etc etc...then once it dries, sand it to shape and you've got a custom mold.
Take some bondo and dab it on where you want to add fender flare, raised hood etc etc...then once it dries, sand it to shape and you've got a custom mold.
10-01-2007, 07:10 PM
#14
Quite correct frank. .
[QUOTE]i'm telling you if you pour plaster into a 1/10th scale body it will deform badly. it needs to be reinforced.. plaster works fine, is cheap and fairly durable and hold detail very well..[/QUOTE ?????? glass resin you mean??
10-01-2007, 07:37 PM
#15
there was a guy here DaHellion , made all his bodies but havent heard of him for over a year now
http://www.rctech.net/forum/showthre...&highlight=dh1
http://www.webspawner.com/users/dahellion/
http://www.rctech.net/forum/showthre...&highlight=dh1
http://www.webspawner.com/users/dahellion/
