Re: Make your own windscreen.
The only thing I'm worried is the acrylic's clarity getting messed up but as you said it is all good.
Yes it's clarity is still in its original state.
When you place the hot acrylic over the mold, do you wipe it with a dry/wet/cool chamois cloth?
I used planela (got it from ace hardware) but I think any cotton cloth will work.
Re: Make your own windscreen.
Very nice link! Moji!
This kind of link will give tools monger another sleepless nights of pondering.
Hah! another medium. Acrylic !
Your concept of heating the acrylic then placing over the mold is very similar to the concept of vacuforming. I have seen one in action and it was a DIY type contraption. The nice thing about vacuforming is that the vacuum pulls the plastic against the mold, registering an exact copy.
No more clamps, no need for oven. You do need a heating element and a vacuum machine though. Plus the heating element heats up the plastic faster than a hair dryer can.
If you plan on doing more of those types of projects then you may want to look into making one.
Here is a site detailing a simple setup, you can modify the way the holding frame goes to the vacuum table to suit your space.
Re: Make your own windscreen.
I think the vacuum table works great but only if the material you're going to use is Styrene or ABS, to where the table is really made for.
To form a vacuum press for acrylics, best bet would be those vacuum sealed bags used we see in TV shopping shows for storing bulky clothing and turned them into thin vacuum pressed items like those vacuum sealed bacon in groceries (again, sorry for the analogy)
But click [COLOR="Blue"]HERE for a more ingenious and DIY solution.
Re: Make your own windscreen.
I think the vacuum table works great but only if the material you're going to use is Styrene or ABS, to where the table is really made for.
To form a vacuum press for acrylics, best bet would be those vacuum sealed bags used we see in TV shopping shows for storing bulky clothing and turned them into thin vacuum pressed items like those vacuum sealed bacon in groceries (again, sorry for the analogy)
But click [COLOR="Blue"]HERE for a more ingenious and DIY solution.
Hehe won't the plastic bag melt once it sticks to the hot acrylic? :p
Acrylic works in vacuform machines although acrylic heats up slower and cant be made into as tight a fit as can abs or styrene.
Re: Make your own windscreen.
Hehe won't the plastic bag melt once it sticks to the hot acrylic? :p
Acrylic works in vacuform machines although acrylic heats up slower and cant be made into as tight a fit as can abs or styrene.
Moji, you would still place a pranela cloth over the acrylic like the picture posted previously.
Not sure if I'm missing anything but I'm not sure how the 1/2" acrylic would be pliable as most materials used vacuform are thin plastic sheets.
Re: Make your own windscreen.
It would be pliable because it would be heated first before the vacuum stage. At that thickness it would probably take a while to be pliable though.
