We use cookies to personalize content, interact with our analytics companies, advertising networks and cooperatives, and demographic companies, provide social media features, and to analyze our traffic. Our social media, advertising and analytics partners may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services. Learn more.
Our heater banks use ceramic heaters like those in the link. You should be able to find 24” x 24” pre-wired modules. Not sure if you’re good with electrical work? I’m not. https://www.infraredheaters.com/ceramic.html
PVC is corrosive. It’s the only material I know we avoid.
Any fire extinguisher would work but several things happen all at once.
You need to design your heaters based on the material thickness you plan to form.
If you’re using only a top heater bank you need to flip the sheet to saturate the sheet with heat. It takes time but I wouldn’t mess with this method if I were forming a thickness over .1”. Top heater only is pretty safe as long as you stay at the machine.
Forming thicker sheet requires a top and bottom heater bank. Cycle time is much faster. The machine in the videos you posted have top and bottom heaters. Those machines cycle either on a sag eye or time. As the molecular structure of the plastic sheet relaxes during the heating process the sheet develops a sag or belly. This is a critical time where experience counts. Pull the sheet to soon and the part won’t look uniform due to cold spots in the sheet. Wait to long and the sheet drops on the heater bank.
I’ve seen a 6” x 8” x .25” piece of polyethylene fall into a heater bank and fill a large building full of smoke. And it was so thick you had to bend over to keep your head below the smoke line. It doesn’t take much plastic to cause a lot of smoke.
Being a petroleum base product, plastic will burn if you don’t remove it from the heat source. Once you remove the heat source it will extinguish but still smoke.
Sorry I got long winded. I’ve used a food hot plate, .04” styrene and a shop vacuum at my in laws shop to show them how thermoforming works. I wouldn’t do it in my house or garage. I’m sure others have but to each their own.
I’ve made several knife sheaths with Kydex by making male/female molds out of MDF with some clearance in between. Very crisp and professional looking. Just bake in the oven for a few minutes with the molds on the floor of the kitchen on a towel (just in case).
Don’t worry, this was back in the 90’s when not everything caused cancer. My roommates and I had hundreds of lasagna dinners out of that oven and we all turned out just fine…
Potential Health Effects:
Primary Entry Routes: Inhalation, skin/eyes, ingestion (vapors if burned or dust from machining the sheet)
Target Organs: Respiratory system, eyes
Acute Effects:
Inhalation: Prolonged inhalation of dust from cutting or machining the plastic sheet may cause nose, throat
and upper respiratory tract irritation. Excessive heating may lead to decomposition with the release of hydrogen
chloride which could cause irritation to upper respiratory tract.
Eye: Excessive heating may lead to decomposition with the release of hydrogen chloride which could cause
irritation of eyes
Skin: Dust from cutting and machining may be irritating to skin.
Ingestion: Not a likely route of exposure
Carcinogenicity: IARC, NTP, and OSHA do not list KYDEX® sheet as a carcinogen.
Medical Conditions Aggravated by Long-Term Exposure: Not known
Chronic Effects: Not known
Section 11:
Toxological
Information
Toxicity Data:*
Eye Effects: Possible irritation due to dust particles.
Accute Inhalation Effects: Polyvinyl chloride [PVC]: Rats and guinea pigs exposed continuously to PVC dust for 24 hrs/day
for periods varying from 2-7 months were found to have extensive lung damage. In rats, inhalation of fumes from
heated PVC produced interstitial edema as well as focal, bronchial and intraveolar hemorrhage.
Accute Oral Effects: Not known
Chronic Effects: Not known
Carcinogenicity: KYDEX® sheet is not a carcinogen
Mutagenicity: Not known
Teratogenicity: Not known
You might have seen this desktop vacuum forming machine Vaquform. Small but works like an industrial vacuform. No need to attach a vacuum cleaner at it has dual vacuum motor to capture the finest details. No need to heat the plastic sheet in the oven. Heating temperatures are already set depending on what kind of plastic material you are using. You only have to push buttons. Cheaper than formech.
