Forming Body Shells in the uK?

[DimmaDan]

I have a friend who has some great moulds that he has made and wants them to be used for RC Bodies.

Does anyone know any places in the uK (Ideally North East) that can mould lexan bodies?

[Sammy]

What you need is a Vacuum Former

Sam

[DimmaDan]

Yeah, this guy uses one at the moment but he has been told that forming lexan bodies is differnt. I told him its just a material change but he was going on about not being able to get lexan sheets

[T.C~Tamiya]

Lexan polycarbonate sheet is made by General Electric, you can probably find it with google.

[ChrisB]

As far as I am aware the process for forming lexan is identical to ABS plastic.

You must be able to get lexan sheet for this as there is a model material place in East London that sells it by the sheet (not cheap though).

You can get plans for making your own vacu former from several places on the net. For a decent one suitable for car bodies with its own built in heat source I think you are looking at about the equivalent of 300 uSD and a bit of you own time. I keep meaning to get round to making one of these but never seem to have the time / cash / space for it!!!!

What I want to find is a uk based company that can produce solid wood or aluminium mould plugs for vacu forming from 3D CAD models like Blender. You can get your own computer controlled 3D milling setup, but it will cost you dear.

[terry.sc]

The problem of vacforming polycarbonate isn't the vacforming, it's the preparation beforehand. A sheet of polycarbonate is made of several very thin sheets laminated together and because of this it absorbs moisture between the layers. If the sheet isn't dried out before forming the heating causes this trapped water to boil and create bubbles in the plastic, ruining the forming.

To dry it out you really need to leave the polycarbonate in a drying oven for up to 24 hours beforehand, then vacform as soon as possible.

To look for a local vacformer, have you tried the Yellow Pages? Don't expect it to be cheap though. You could also try Kamtec.

[DJTheo]

quote: As far as I am aware the process for forming lexan is identical to ABS plastic.

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Well that holds only for ABS shells like Kamtec ones, all Tamiya ABS parts (RC or static) are casted in moulds, which gives higher detail and variable thickness but is also more difficult and expensive to do.

CHeers

[ChrisB]

I thought the type of ABS used for moulds like the Kamtec ones was a different material to the plastic used to produce the Tamiya part sprues?

Aren't the Tamiya parts injection moulded which is a very different process?

The best way to get higher levels of detail is to make "female" plugs for the models you want to vacu-form. That way the detail from the plug ends up on the outside of the shell. This is the type of master plug I believe most of the large manufacturers like Tamiya use allowing them to produce the high levels of detail on the outside of the shell.

For the small scale production though I guess its far easier to make the male type plug, although sadly when vacuforming this means the detail on the outside of the shell tends to be less sharp.

This is maybe one area where if you have access to the facilities its worth producing your model using a CAD / solid modelling system. You can model the shell as normal and then produce a female style plug design from your original model.

The big catch seems to be getting a plug cut for a reasonable cost from a CAD model. Some companies offer this service, but its only economic if you plan to make several hundred shells minimum.

Chris

[DimmaDan]

This guy uses ABS and says that Pactra wont stick to it hence the lexan question

[NeoGeo]

Hi

I have tried this, first with some home made 'vacumforming maschine' and a mold made from plaster lol. Had no luck with this so I had to do it the expensive way. Read more about it on my webside:

http://www.fullmetalbuggy.tk

The info you're looking for is under the link: -Replica body

[ChrisB]

Neo - do you mind me asking how much the 50 lexan shells cost you to have vacuformed by the company - I didn't see any prices on your site.

Thanks,

Chris

[NeoGeo]

Only had 30 made. The bodies cost about 12 usd including lexan and labour. But buying the mold making material cost about 600 usd for 5 Kg! its called rencast. The mold was also prepared by the factory(drilled vacuum holes and mounting on a plate , this also cost about 230usd. Total price for the bodies [(30*12) + 600 + 230 ] / 30 = approx 40 usd each. I live in Norway that might be one of the most expensive countries in the world to produce stuff so if you live in us or uk you'll probably get it done for less than I did.[]