https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryfPc7VGEWo

FAILURE

I watched this vid a couple of times and learned some very important lessons:

1) If you mount your camera in a clamp don't cover the mic with the clamp. Turn up volume.
2) Your mold must be very strong. Vacuum is powerful.
3) You MUST leave the vacuum ON until the plastic has cooled, otherwise there is bounce back.
4) The home made vacuum former heating elements taken from a toaster oven are good enough for this kind of project.
5) Heating elements are good enough for 1/16" ABS but may be a bit weak for the 1/8" ABS. Time will tell.
6) It does not take very long for the plastic to get to temperature. Maybe 5 minutes ??
7) I feel this 1/16" ABS is more than strong enough for a roof top storage lid.
8) Safety: Wear leather gloves and a hat. Your head is very close to the heating element hood when you grab the handles. I did many dry runs and it was very apparent that all brain cells must function. The heating element connections are also exposed on the outside of the hood. You can't tape them up because of the heat or even protect them well due to the heat. Also it appears the metal handles don't heat up enough in 5 minutes to be any issue if you are wearing leather gloves. I was going to make slip on wooden handles but that's not necessary.

I don't consider this failure a real obstacle to this project.
I was trying to make a roof top storage lid bottom half but the mold was weak and it got crushed by the vacuum. As long as I make the next mold out of a solid piece of wood this project will be successful. I'm just not sure if this ABS would be feasible on a machine that is run in a desert environment. Would the ABS take the sun's heat ?? Not sure.
Once I have made one of these units I may make a kleem air box lid.
Then I'll experiment with the 1/8" ABS.
CO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgt6KtfEyJ8

FAILURE

Once again I failed. Several issues.
1) Made a stronger mold out of 2x10 but the plastic got into every little crevasse. The only way I could get the mold out was to break the plastic. It needs to be tapered and any gaps between the pieces need to be filled in with something like wood puddy.
2) Got the plastic hotter this time and the vacuum pulled the plastic through the holes in the vacuum former table and I ended up with a couple of holes which reduced the vacuum pulling power. Need smaller vacuum holes in the table.
3) Webbing on the finished product. I'm not sure how to cure this but it may not be a big problem. Not sure.
4) I forgot to use my heat gun to see what temp the plastic was at. In fact I'm not sure what I should be running at.
More research needed.

I'm going to abandon this project for a while. I need a break to think.
Some successes and some failures. I learned a lot.
This was suppose to be a winter project but I got itchy.
Will possibly give it another shot late in the year if I figure something out.
CO

I thought ABS was the best plastic for sun?

Apparently not unless it is treated.
From what I have read polystyrene is better.
I have to change my approach to this project. I did some reading last night and have to change a few things. I'm going to let this project sit until winter. I'm just busy right now.
CO

No Drama, what kind of ride report would that make!

maybe try making your mold out of Plaster and some release agent of some sort?

I second the plaster,plus when I was working first doing fibre glassing pipes etc my boss used to build in an air Schrader valve stem thingy to blow off the difficult made products.

Well I got that transmission destruction under control.
Maybe a ride next week and bury that bang stick.
It's suppose to rain fri-sat-sunday (finally) and the temps are suppose to drop. So maybe this weekend I can find time to make the new female mold and do a pull.
Plan on trying that thick 1/8" stuff. Lets see what happens.
CO

Half success I think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yd_bbmxst8

Had several issues with this pull.
1) Not hot enough and I forgot to use my heat gun
2) The matte side during heating flexed upward toward the elements
3) Heat was escaping out the back side
4) You can see the clamps on the frame --- I was trying to prevent the holding frame from going all the way to the bottom of the former. One side of the frame fell off the clamps and therefore the whole rig was angled. I still may be able to use this piece.

I'm learning a lot. When ever you use plastic 1/8" or thicker you need a double sided heater. Plastic is not a good heat conductor. Industrial machines cycle the heating elements on and off. This allows the plastic to heat soak. All I can do is pull the plug for a bit and then plug it back in. I will have much better success with the thin stuff I got but I was trying to make something solid and not as flexible. More experimentation is needed. Vacuum forming is not a simple as it looks I'm finding out. There is a lot to consider.
CO

It looks German to me.
CO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGzNCcAzL9w

Well still learning.
1) I may need more distance between the heating elements and the plastic.
2) Don't fix a fk up with a heat gun. What you got after a pull is what you got.
3) For the thicker plastic I need a vacuum tank. Did make provisions for it but have not built one yet.
4) I'm going to give it a rest now. I need a break.
CO