Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => General Wargames and Hobby Discussion => Topic started by: Calimero on 01 June 2017, 09:51:00 PM
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Could this have any hobby usefulness?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1094489804/formbox-a-desktop-vacuum-former-that-makes-beautif?token=3cfc1fac
I'm just curious... :?
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http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=37537.msg439182#msg439182
I made one many years ago, comes in handy every once in a while. I use it more for Halloween costumes than war gaming.
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Vacuum formers have always had a place in advanced hobby projects. I am not sure $350 is an appropriate cost however...
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I am not sure $350 is an appropriate cost however...
Absolute bargain compared to most.
cheers
James
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Absolute bargain compared to most.
cheers
James
That's what I thought as well. But then; it's still a heap of money for something that would only get sporadic outings with me.
It certainly is a nice and audience friendly little tool though...
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Main issue I can see is that unless I wanted to set up in competition to Amera I would only make a couple of copies of each object... as these devices suffer from the lack of undercuts I would struggle to find things to make.
Saying that though - I have a thought of a four seasons board - all hills / rivers etc made the same and flocked differently for the seasons.
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Thing is vac formers are dead simple to DIY. Like REALLY dead simple. The trickiest thing about them is the heat source, and you can get away with using a kitchen oven for that if you're mindful of not going over-temperature for a given plastic.
If someone was looking to spend $300 on a vac former, they could build a huge machine capable of doing multi-square foot sheets at a time for that. For less than half that you could build a tabletop setup the size of what's in that kickstarter, but way more powerful and versatile.
Moreover, if someone came to me with 300 bucks today asking my advice on vac formers, I'd just tell them to spend that on a 3D printer instead. Vac formers have their uses, but on a hobby level, at least 3/4 of those uses would be better served by a 3D printer these days, and the printer will have lots of other uses as well.