Recycling Milk Bottle Vacuum Former

thingiverse

I was eager to find out how simple it would be to vacuum form PE plastic from milk bottles, and guess what? It's a lot easier than you think. The temperature and timing need to be fine-tuned, but the first test turned out better than I expected. After some trial and error, the vacuum forming process can produce amazing results. The tool is made from PLYwood milled on a CNC machine and a 3D printed vacuum cleaner nozzle. The main parts are glued together, and the plastic holder screws in place with a PE sheet pushed between them. The PE sheet comes from the side of milk bottles - the bigger and flatter, the better. The plastic holder goes into an oven to soften the PE plastic, and the nozzle is attached to a vacuum cleaner. A buck or pattern is placed in the center of the vacuum bed. Once the plastic is soft and droopy, it's ready to form over the buck. Remove it from the oven and place it quickly and carefully over the buck/bed. Turn on the vacuum to seal the plastic over the buck and shape it. Once cool and solid, the plastic sheet can be removed and cut to make the formed part. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WnLDfev1n8 Stay up-to-date with my latest projects by following these links: New Parts will be added regularly - keep up to date by checking out: Project page -> https://tinkersprojects.com/project/recycling-milk-bottle-vacuum-former This Thing -> https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3059877 My Profile -> https://www.thingiverse.com/haybailes/about Twitter -> https://twitter.com/TinkersProjects <a href="https://twitter.com/TinkersProjects"><img src="https://tinkersprojects.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/download.jpg" alt="Twitter" height="70" srcset="https://tinkersprojects.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/download-300x110.jpg 300w, https://tinkersprojects.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/download-350x129.jpg 350w, https://tinkersprojects.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/download.jpg 370w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px"></a> Check out my other projects at http://tinkersprojects.com/