What is the technique?
Vacuum forming is a simplified version of thermoforming, whereby a sheet of plastic is heated to a forming temperature, stretched onto or into a single-surface mold, and held against the mold by applying vacuum between the
mold surface and the sheet.
What are the relevant materials needed for the technique?
- Vacuum forming machine
- PVC plastic sheet
- Object as Mold (must be able to withstand high heat and pressure)
- Scissor
How to achieve the technique?
- Turn on the vacuum forming machine and allow it to heat for approximately 20 minutes.
- Cut the PVC plastic sheet to required size depending size of the mold.
- Place the objects to be molded into the machine.
- Place and secure the plastic sheet into the vacuum forming machine.
- Pull the heater out to heat the plastic sheet until no more wrinkle can be seen.
- Push the heater back.
- Pull the lever up and at the same time turn on the vacuum pump.
(If the mold is very tall, turn on the pressure pump before the vacuum pump to allow the plastic sheet to blow into more even thickness) - When desired shape is formed turn off the pump and remove the plastic sheet.
- Trim the vacuum form plastic sheet into desired shape.
What are the uses and applications of the technique?
This technique could be use to create molds, packaging, plates, container, masks, etc.
Photos
The vacuum forming machine
Experimentation with different objects.
Experimentation -moon rabbit-
Own personal reflections
This method is very fast and efficient, and allow the quick creation of forms. However the type of plastics that can be vacuum formed is very limited.
This technique also require quite a bit a skill such as the duration of heating, vacuum pumping, and pressure pumping. And to prevent mold from being stuck in the plastic sheet, the object being molded should not bend inwards(e.g. a inverted cone).