What's new
By:

Better molded than printed - what sort of plastic parts are we missing in this hobby?

Vacuum forming machine is in the shop! What a tight fit it is too. The ADA would not approve. But plenty of room for me or anyone else able bodied to get around.

Officially all back together. This time with the ability to separate it more easily for whenever it goes into a bigger shop. These things are pricey, but excellent. Just cut it in half, tossed these in between and off to the races.

749136-3c8054f80245472bac8aade283fc36b1.png


Will be rewiring the vacuum pump for single phase this weekend (it can be wired either way per the manual), and am waiting for a three to single phase converter that my electrician suggested to show up, then I'll get the heater up and running as well. I'm sure it can be rewired to single phase as it's not terribly demanding, but the converter is far less hassle.

Already rewired the heater from one massive bank of heaters into center and edge heaters, so I can do smaller pieces without heating the entire 50" bed.

Also found a few local plastic suppliers (sheets, still can't find pellets locally/easily) and chatted a bit about what they offer vs my needs. Things are looking quite up!
 
rewrite said:
Vacuum forming machine is in the shop! What a tight fit it is too. The ADA would not approve. But plenty of room for me or anyone else able bodied to get around.
Click to expand...
Vacuuming forming machines always looked huge and expensive and awesome, but I’ve no idea what they are actually for.
Is there a particular kind of object that they make really well?
 
hatmoose said:
Vacuuming forming machines always looked huge and expensive and awesome, but I’ve no idea what they are actually for.
Is there a particular kind of object that they make really well?
Click to expand...
Shockboxes/Snapcases, for example. Or those plastic trays that some 8 or 16 bit cartridges use in their cardboard box.

Also some bezels or covers.
 
Last edited:
twistedsymphony said:
if you ever run across 3-4mm thick translucent blue sheets let me know! That's what I need to do the control panels on Flash Beats https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/sega-flash-beats-restoration.7141/
Click to expand...
Reading a bunch from the pin ramp makers it seems that it's easier to dye clear plastic than to try and find pre-dyed plastic sheets that are the exact shade you're after.

benime said:
plastic pinball ramps would also be a candidate
Click to expand...
Yes!

Fluffy said:
Also some bezels or covers.
Click to expand...
Some CP items, especially on driving cabs as well. All manner of things! I think I've had three people on KLOV ask about the iRobot panels at this point.
 
rewrite said:
Reading a bunch from the pin ramp makers it seems that it's easier to dye clear plastic than to try and find pre-dyed plastic sheets that are the exact shade you're after.
Click to expand...
yeah that's kind of the conclusion I came to, but getting the color right and even across such a large sheet seems like it would be a nightmare.
 
1738041431930.png


Something to start with! I need to find out/look up what pot is used on these to get the key inside the cylinder, but looks pretty alright so far. After that I'll SLA print one to check that it mates with the real one properly.

twistedsymphony said:
yeah that's kind of the conclusion I came to, but getting the color right and even across such a large sheet seems like it would be a nightmare.
Click to expand...
Not 100% the same, and probably trickier with transparent materials, but my Egret 29 panel surround was dyed, and you can't see any inconsistencies from end to end.
 
rewrite said:
What are the dimensions?
Click to expand...

Hmmmm, what's the best way to get those to you? I took some photos, but I know the measurments are imprecise at there's curvature and such.

Perhaps we could work something out where I could ship it to you to make a cast or something unless there's a good way to get full measurements on this


PXL_20250128_161942920.MP.jpgPXL_20250128_162023128.jpgPXL_20250128_162117213.jpgPXL_20250128_162132064.jpg
 
twistedsymphony said:
to be honest, to do this right would require 3D scanning of the entire thing.
Click to expand...
3D scanned parts take a ton of post processing/cleanup. With a lot of things it seems easier to just draw them up from scratch to begin with. Not enough experience to say where this falls, but it's absolutely something to keep in mind. I keep tinkering a bit with that irobot panel scan because the piece itself is super doable, but starting from the scan is probably more work since it's 10382919383 little triangles even for straight edges.

@xlom I was mostly just curious if it would fit on the bed. And it looks like it will no problem. I've got enough simple projects to keep me busy for a little bit here and gain some experience with for now. Definitely something I'll keep in the back of my head though.
 
rewrite said:
3D scanned parts take a ton of post processing/cleanup. With a lot of things it seems easier to just draw them up from scratch to begin with.
Click to expand...
I completely agree, but the exception are parts with lots of complex and intersecting-curves... which this has.

I've designed a dozen or so custom parts to integrate ODEs within the weird shaped disc tray geometry of consoles. I don't even now where would start or how I would approach one of these monitor shrouds or even how I'd accurately measure the curves of them.

My best recommendation would be to 3D scan and use that as a virtual measurable reference to then re-create the geometry from scratch. then intersecting the models to see if they align. I see that as far more efficient, accurate, and cost-effective than trying to pull measurements by hand.
 
twistedsymphony said:
I don't even now where would start or how I would approach one of these monitor shrouds or even how I'd accurately measure the curves of them.
Click to expand...
Me either. Part of why I'm happily putting this on a back burner.

At least with thin flexible monitor bezels like on the Aeros/Qs/table cabs they're very doable with just making a mold from them. This is something else for sure though.

MickyMac said:
A chap on ukvac got quotes and it was expensive:
https://www.ukvac.com/forum/threads...itor-bezel-vacuum-moulded-reproduction.83143/
Click to expand...
Yep. Injection molding something that size is absolutely bonkers pricing, and I'm sure the machine required to do that work costs equally bonkers money. I don't think 2.5k for a mold to vacuum form it is really that bad though, honestly. Problem is no one is going to get 1000 uses out of that mold.
 
I think this size is right- atleast for the smaller one.... I bet there is demand for 100's if not 1000's of the Vewlix auxiliary panels at the top of the control panel.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top