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alpmc wrote:

beardking wrote:Where did you get the roofing membrane that you used?

I'm a scavenger by nature...not to be confused with a dumpster diver...won't go that far! I only needed a small piece about 22" x 15" to fit the frame. I went to a local roofing company and asked if they had a small piece laying around that they would sell me and the guy said to hold on a sec.......he returned with a piece that was 3' x 4' claiming it was going to be thrown away and let me have it without charge! You'd be surprised what you can find just by asking. If scavenging is not to your liking, I would assume it can be purchased at a roofing supply or online, try a Google search on roofing rubber membrane for flat roofs.

The material I have looks and feels like a thin rubber tire inner tube.

Oh, scavenging is definitely to my liking. Half of the utilitarian things built for use in my garage are built from scraps scavenged from housing developments around my area. :) And, after I posted my question about where you got your roofing membrane, I remembered that "HEY!! I work in an architectural office which has a construction department all its own and that construction department is currently building numerous restaurants", so now I just need to get over to that side of the building and ask one of the guys to pick me up a scrap of roofing. :)

About your suggestion on doing the clamping press, I actually made one of those previously, but because of the (scavenged) material I used, it didn't hold up to the task. After that I started looking up better designs and came across vacuum forming the stuff and I wanted to try it myself. That's why I'm so interested in your setup. :)

alpmc wrote:

beardking wrote:What thickness kydex are you using in that press? And with the membrane vacuum press that you use, am I correct in my thinking that you don't clamp the kydex into any sort of frame? Just the membrane is in the frame, correct?

I'm using 0.060 ABS.

No, the ABS/Kydex is cut in a small piece to fit the gun just as you would if you were using a clamshell type press and once heated is placed, by hand, over the gun resting on the vac table.

Yes, just the membrane is attached to the frame. When the membrane comes into contact with the top of the vac table it sucks down hard thus pressing and forming anything it has sandwiched in between.

The membrane itself not heated in any way but you must choose a heat resistant material that will tolerate the heated ABS/Kydex. I have also tried putting one layer of the foam on top of the gun and the ABS, it seems to work better without the foam.

Hope that helps.

Where did you get the roofing membrane that you used?

I actually rigged up a makeshift vacuum table this past weekend and I was pleasantly surprised at the results. The only problem that I have is that I had to staple the kydex to the frame so I had to use a full 12x12 piece. Being able to use the membrane would be nice so I can make use of the leftovers. :)

alpmc wrote:Here's how I use the modified vacuum former, which I'm now using as a vacuum membrane press.

Cut the Kydex/ABS to fit the gun.

What thickness kydex are you using in that press? And with the membrane vacuum press that you use, am I correct in my thinking that you don't clamp the kydex into any sort of frame? Just the membrane is in the frame, correct?