marzman Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 Hi all, well after giving up making the LED reflectors last year due to them being too difficult/costly to source, i decided this week to look into manufacturing my own, with vacuum forming being the simplest, most cost effectove solution. So today i made a vacuum forming machine I bought a sheet of acrylic yesterday, cut it into A4 sized pieces, and got to work... The results are below. Obviously these are not finished though... need to go through the LED fitting phase, make a back for them, and of course test fit them, but i thought i'd share the results now... And check out the video here... pretty cool Quote
spursmaddave Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 Very clever I can think of a good Christmas present for the missus Might involve a trip to A&E burns unit though Quote
AK350Z Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 Didn't think it would take you long Looking good so far... Quote
BulletMagnet Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 Great idea, but a quick question and not meant to trash your thread. If you make a vacuum mould isn't the shape gonna be slightly bigger as it conforms around the original piece? Would it still fit in place of the original reflector? Would it be an idea to make a mould of the original reflector and then shave enough material off it to make up for the thickness of the acrylic used to make the new parts? Just asking and suggesting, keep up the good work Quote
marzman Posted March 6, 2011 Author Posted March 6, 2011 Great idea, but a quick question and not meant to trash your thread.If you make a vacuum mould isn't the shape gonna be slightly bigger as it conforms around the original piece? Would it still fit in place of the original reflector? Would it be an idea to make a mould of the original reflector and then shave enough material off it to make up for the thickness of the acrylic used to make the new parts? Just asking and suggesting, keep up the good work No, any input welcome Mark... I definitely see your point, and wont know until i test fit, but at the moment i dont think it's going to be an issue. From my past work with reflector fitting, it's only about 20% of the overall surface area that's on show, and the unit kind of sits behind the bumper, so it should be alright. However if it is too big, i can use these as a mould, and then use an injection moulding technique instead... Cheers. Quote
clarkie34 Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 Nice one Chris. Loving the oven gloves mate. Quote
Husky Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 use inside of the one you just made as the mould for the subsequent ones top work, very impressed Quote
HEADPHONES Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 You got mad skills. In your past life were you a member of the A-Team Quote
BulletMagnet Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 You got mad skills. In your past life were you a member of the A-Team I'll only accept marzman being a member of the A-Team if he videos himself driving his Zed through some oil barrels. Otherwise, membership DENIED Quote
marzman Posted March 6, 2011 Author Posted March 6, 2011 You got mad skills. In your past life were you a member of the A-Team I'll only accept marzman being a member of the A-Team if he videos himself driving his Zed through some oil barrels. Otherwise, membership DENIED Well no, but here's me shooting a 357 Magnum... Quote
BulletMagnet Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 Don't count, A-Team trademark is to drive thru some oil barrels every episode, so that will be minimum requirement Quote
Grantmitchell Posted September 28, 2011 Posted September 28, 2011 Looks interesting Realise this is an old thread any progress been made on this?? Quote
marzman Posted September 28, 2011 Author Posted September 28, 2011 Looks interesting Realise this is an old thread any progress been made on this?? ...in a word - no I keep buying more parts... infact i got the resistors i needed only last week, but i just cant get round to doing anything with all the parts... i cant seem to make time. Quote
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