3D printers are the tool of choice for all the hackerspaces we’ve been to, and laser cutters take a close second. There’s another class of plastic manipulating machines that doesn’t get enough credit with the hackerspace crowd – the vacuum thermoformer. Surprisingly, there haven’t been many – if any – vacuum formers on Kickstarter. Until now, that is.
[Ben] and [Calvin] are the guys behind the MOFO, and built their machine around ease of use and reliability. After a few prototypes, they settled on their design of aluminum extrusion for the frame, a ceramic heating element for the heater, and an off-the-shelf PID controller for the electronics.
The MOFO has so far been tested with polycarbonate, acrylic, PETG and styrene with good results. The Kickstarter has reward levels of $500 for a 12″x12″ work area, and $1000 for a 24″x24″ work area. That’s not too bad, and building your own similar thermoformer would probably cost just as much. Just the thing if you need to print out a few dozen sets of storm trooper armor.
That’s not too bad, and building your own similar thermoformer would probably cost just as much.
Uhh.
Wat.
Agreed, i’m almost done with mine and it cost like $60 with new parts…
Agreed, pegboard, an already existing vacuum and a frame… Although they’re probably talking about a finished product and not a kludged up tool ;)
Indeed. WAYYY overpriced. Maybe Brian never made one before?
Price doesn’t appear to include the vacuum or frames if anyone was wondering. .
…or are these posts intended to generate comments which improve search results?
The artical does read like an ad but I doubt that this Kickstarter group has big bucks to spend on purchasing adspace. I bet Brian is friends with the guy though.
Just a tip to those who would be interested in marketing things like this, including “MOFO” in your product’s title will alienate some potential customers. I would recommend this to my dad, but I don’t think he’d want something that says mofo sitting around his work space.
Then make sure you never retain the legal services of Morrison and Foerster.
Mofo dot com, baby. One of the best domain names on the internet, since 1992.
Everybody wants a good MoFo lawyer, but I always get rid of MoFo tools.
That said, the Kickstarter video was hilarious and shows a good team comfortable working together. (Watch Ben’s and Carl’s mouths as the other is speaking.)
I’ve already got Ferreth and Jobs on speed dial, but thanks for the reccomendation!
Big Ass Fans (http://www.bigassfans.com/) has an option called the “big fan option” where they omit the word ass from their name for prude/timid customers. we always called it the “no ass option”.
NOPE…. I want my tools and electronics to be *tasteful*.
Storm trouper armour …. for really small storm troupers.
*trooper and armor
British spelling.
Trooper & trouper are two different things.
It’s storm trooper regardless of where you live: “That storm trooper is a real trouper”.
Sorry about grammar Nazi-ing you’re grammer nazi.
I’m a bit sick about hackaday pages regarding kickfarter.
What about creating a different blog – say, “kickaday.com” – to host this kind of articles?
really dis-appointing that HaD keeps promoting rubbish. This project has no real innovation, minimal features and seriously over priced. Just look on instructables to find guides for better machines for a quarter the price you can make in a few hours…. Now if it supported variable work area, had positive and negative pressure (air tool compressor connection) and automatic heat up to pre-set surface temp (IR thermometer and SSR)… then it might be worth $500
I work out of the Artisan’s Asylum makerspace in Somerville and I’ve had the chance to beta test this thing. There are obviously cheaper ways to make a thermoformer, but I found the heating elements and temp control were a big draw for me.
It was heating the whole sheet consistently and I wasn’t loosing heat toward the edges of my material. I have always had terrible luck with thicker stuff, but I was able to make some pretty thick PETG molds with this as well.
I like having something like this in my shop, versus having to work at home and use an oven. This worked way faster and less clunky for me.
I’m on the “amusing but unnecessary” mindset. Making a thermoformer is absurdly easy, and way, way cheaper. You can even use the oven for emergency plastic softening! (PVC not recommended, tough)
I’m not blaming HaD on it tough. They’ve featured some posts of mine that where..well, let’s say not the worst hacks around but… XD
I see it as a place for everyone, so, let’s just appreciate the ideas, and skip to better posts, shouldn’t we?
“That’s not too bad”.
I’m guessing some how that pesky “too” word slipped in your sentence by accident.
$500 bucks is outrageous for a simple vacuum former (that doesn’t include the vacuum OR SHIPPING).
Any good ideas on how to make recycled plastic sheets for vacuforming? or what free stuff can be used? there are thin pieces of plastics everywhere… i guess there must be lots of things shipped in some kind of plastic packaging that will work… i also guess, that PET plastic from blister packaging is not good enough (or is it?), but there may be some others…
How do you think blister packaging gets in that shape?
Sure, it’s a bit hard getting it flat again. Cutting the middle from plastic bottles (usually PET) works well.
A temp controller? Why? I have used a couple commercial formers and they never had them. Heat until your plastic droops and drop down and hit the vacuum. $1k is way too much without a vacuum included.