Charles (Upstate NY)
Well-known member
Okay here are some pics of my coil shell building equipment, I have uploaded to Findmall so these won't vanish like the others
This is the larger vacuum forming machine, it accepts 24x24 inch sheets. Its powered by two 6cfm 1/2hp two stage vacuum pumps. She'll reach 28 inches of vac in under 1 second and pull .030 styrene right into the table and burst the sheet. (makes with the arm flex pose)
[attachment 7043 vac2.jpg]
This is the jr. sized vaccum forming machine, it accepts 16x16 inch sheets. These two sizes make the best use of a 4x8 foot sheet of plastic. This table is plumbed into the same two pumps my larger machine uses.
[attachment 7044 vacjr2.jpg]
Here is my greatest victory of all time, a scratch built horizontal bandsaw. Once you get one of these shells formed on the vac machine you need to trim off all the waste material and this ABS plastic is tough stuff. I tried various methods including a hot wire cutter but nothing comes close to this brute.
[attachment 7045 saw3.jpg]
Here you see a shell just after trimming. I can trim a shell on this saw in about 10 seconds versus more like 5 minutes on a hotwire cutter. She can be scary to use though, thats 20 inches of open blade spinning.
[attachment 7046 shelltrimmed.jpg]
Here are a couple of coils I built for my Explorer, this is the end result of a lot of trial and error equipment wise.
[attachment 7047 coil1.jpg]
[attachment 7049 14DDd.jpg]
This is the larger vacuum forming machine, it accepts 24x24 inch sheets. Its powered by two 6cfm 1/2hp two stage vacuum pumps. She'll reach 28 inches of vac in under 1 second and pull .030 styrene right into the table and burst the sheet. (makes with the arm flex pose)
[attachment 7043 vac2.jpg]
This is the jr. sized vaccum forming machine, it accepts 16x16 inch sheets. These two sizes make the best use of a 4x8 foot sheet of plastic. This table is plumbed into the same two pumps my larger machine uses.
[attachment 7044 vacjr2.jpg]
Here is my greatest victory of all time, a scratch built horizontal bandsaw. Once you get one of these shells formed on the vac machine you need to trim off all the waste material and this ABS plastic is tough stuff. I tried various methods including a hot wire cutter but nothing comes close to this brute.
[attachment 7045 saw3.jpg]
Here you see a shell just after trimming. I can trim a shell on this saw in about 10 seconds versus more like 5 minutes on a hotwire cutter. She can be scary to use though, thats 20 inches of open blade spinning.
[attachment 7046 shelltrimmed.jpg]
Here are a couple of coils I built for my Explorer, this is the end result of a lot of trial and error equipment wise.
[attachment 7047 coil1.jpg]
[attachment 7049 14DDd.jpg]
NICE