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Welcome to The Phlatforum PhlatPrinter III

PhlatFORMER fun machine

Discussion in 'PhlatFORMER General Chat' started by kram242, Feb 4, 2010.

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  1. Anonymous

    Anonymous New Member

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    What if you had a heat gun plugged in where the vacuum hose goes, to push hot air up through the plenum until the plastic sheet softened, then quickly removed the heat gun and connected the vacuum?
    Or maybe a valve between the heatgun and the "Y", so you would simply close the heat-valve and open the vacuum port? I'd probably forget to turn off the heatgun, so I'd need an electrical switch connected to the air-valve. Hmmm - PVC valves would melt - hmmmm. :roll:

    Well, a Heat-Off-Vacuum, 3-way electrical switch would do that part, but how to switch from blowing in heat to sucking out the air without creating an air leak?

    Don't you just love partly-baked ideas? :oops:
     
    Anonymous, Feb 12, 2010
    #26
  2. loud3803

    loud3803 New Member

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    Mark,

    I'm building a Jgro CNCrouter and i found a .6 cfm oilless vacuum pump at surpluscenter.com https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp? ... atname=air

    I am going to use it as a vacuum source for my router. since the rpm limit is at 3450 i was going to take a 1/2 horse 1725 (standard) rpm motor, add a jack shaft to double the rpm and make some vacuum pods for clamping some work.

    I hope to be able to create some quality castings in my shop that will help the phlatboyz buisness as well as The Old Dudes/Dames Clan for UT^2004 /UT3.



    Louis
     
    loud3803, Feb 12, 2010
    #27
  3. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Frank that is a great idea and I think it would work if you could find a way to seal it tight enough to allow for the pressure to build. I am always up to a challenge like this and may just try this one out when I get a chance :)
    Thank you for sharing
    Mark
     
    kram242, Feb 12, 2010
    #28
  4. frankmcneilll

    frankmcneilll New Member

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    frankmcneilll, Feb 12, 2010
    #29
  5. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Those would work great but I cannot find a price on these anywhere. The main goal is to keep these machines as affordable as possible, so that everyone can enjoy them.
    Thank you Frank
    Mark
     
    kram242, Feb 12, 2010
    #30
  6. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    After the last show where we used the heat gun and got the unsatisfactory results. We broke out the old toaster oven and it made a huge difference. Its seems that no matter how hard I tried with the heat gun I could not keep the whole sheet warm. But with the toast oven it did a great job and it looks like that would be the ticket. I still have more experimenting to do but its look better now :)
    Mark
     
    kram242, Feb 12, 2010
    #31
  7. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    I figured the toaster oven would do the trick. I have an old beat up toaster I use for getting bearings out of my glow engines. This way it doesn't stink up the main oven. My wife wouldn't appreciate that one lol. You can pick them up super cheap at thrift stores and garage sales.
     
    3DMON, Feb 12, 2010
    #32
  8. frankmcneilll

    frankmcneilll New Member

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    frankmcneilll, Feb 12, 2010
    #33
  9. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Thank you Frank
     
    kram242, Feb 13, 2010
    #34
  10. TigerPilot

    TigerPilot Well-Known Member

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    What you have to do is open in a new window the shopping cart by control or shift clicking on the 'View my shopping cart' button. Than you copy the part number of the page of the part that you want and than paste it in the cart. Add how many you want and press 'Submit' and the price will come up. Kind of complicated but it works. I'm not sure why they did it like this.

    The cheapest clamp is $11,55 which is about in line with McMaster.
     
    TigerPilot, Feb 13, 2010
    #35
  11. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Thank you Yoram :)
    Mark
     
    kram242, Feb 13, 2010
    #36
  12. meistertek

    meistertek Member

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    Hey Mark,

    I think an toaster oven would work well. I used to use a large pizza style oven to heat up plexiglas for bending up machine guards and stuff like that. The oven I used seemed to heat up the whole piece of plastic evenly. Then I would take the hot plexi out of the oven and bend it between pieces of wood or form it against a wood pattern to get my shape. It may help to have a blower that circulates the air in the oven, but that may not be needed for small pieces.

    I wonder if you can get those slot like pizza ovens for cheap? One of these would be perfect for heating up a sheet of plastic. Sort of like this, just not so expensive :D http://www.acitydiscount.com/Nemco-Pizz ... 30.1.1.htm
     
    meistertek, Feb 13, 2010
    #37
  13. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    That would be nice! There maybe something like this out there for cheap, we have to keep our eyes peeled
    after the toaster oven test I realized that is really all you need.
    The plastic is only in there for maybe a minute tops after getting the feel for it
    Mark
     
    kram242, Feb 13, 2010
    #38
  14. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    Lets see some pics of your latest pulls after using the toaster. Prying eyes want to see. :D
     
    3DMON, Feb 13, 2010
    #39
  15. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Will do, sorry about that I should have posted them. I will take pics on the next pull and post them.
    Mark
     
    kram242, Feb 13, 2010
    #40
  16. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Well guys, Just wanted to share a quick pic. I have been working on the Phlatformer as a complete redesign. I have tried many different Ideas which lead us to this one and will be ready (I hope) to try this prototype out on the Wed. live show. I have to say I am really looking forward to this one I think this will be the best one yet and I am really starting to like the look. The hinge system on this machine is set up like a four bar linkage pivot hinge, think tackle box.
    Hope you like it I know the pic is not that great but I really just wanted to let you know I have been working on it. :)
    Mark
    Attached files [​IMG]
     
    kram242, Mar 8, 2010
    #41
  17. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    I was wondering if you were still working on it.
    I like it a lot!
    The hinge system looks a lot better, and I like the added tabs to hold it down.
     
    3DMON, Mar 9, 2010
    #42
  18. rjarois

    rjarois Moderator Staff Member

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    yea mark, trish the former is looking awesome!! i have a heating element ready and waiting for one, lols...nice work. randy.
     
    rjarois, Mar 13, 2010
    #43
  19. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Thank you guys! :) We are sure having fun with it.
    I just got the plastic in for initial testing and so far so good. I have a few things to change in the design but it won't be long now.
    Here are a couple teaser pics.
    Some of the pulls were good and some were not, the better ones were toward the end where I was getting the hang of the how much to heat the plastic. Its a learning experience for sure
    Mark and Trish Attached files [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] e="max-width:300px" /> [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
    kram242, Mar 13, 2010
    #44
  20. tvcasualty

    tvcasualty New Member

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    neat set of pics! Looks like you are having fun!
     
    tvcasualty, Mar 13, 2010
    #45
  21. blindflight

    blindflight Moderator Staff Member

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    Ok Mark,
    Your just having tooooooooo much fun... :D Geat job..
     
    blindflight, Mar 13, 2010
    #46
  22. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    I am having a blast with this and learning all the way :D I really think from the test today that I am well on the way to making the completed design!
    Mark
     
    kram242, Mar 13, 2010
    #47
  23. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    Those test pics look great Mark.
    This is gonna be awesome!
     
    3DMON, Mar 13, 2010
    #48
  24. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    :mrgreen: Thanks Shaun we are super excited about it here and can't wait to see what you guys come up with.
    We are very close to a release for this one.
    Mark and Trish
     
    kram242, Mar 13, 2010
    #49
  25. 7up

    7up Moderator Staff Member

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    Impressive!
     
    7up, Mar 13, 2010
    #50
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