Vacuum forming advice anyone?

The only guys who can honestly help you are the guys who are going to do the work. I have found Techplas in Suffolk and Bay Plastics in Newcastle tell me the truth, and deliver what they say. But somewhere near you there will be a vacuum forming specialist who can look at the shape you have and the tolerances you want to achieve and all the factors, and answer your question. It may be so obviously impossible that hundreds of vacuum formers will leap in and say no way, but I guess it may be possible, but the determining factor will be the guy who sets up the tool and machine.

I am not an engineer, but I rely on engineers to turn my silly ideas into working products. I have been consistently stunned by the help offered by engineers in all disciplines, and at all levels. Thank you all.

Simon

I need a bit more info. Are you trying to hold a contour to tolerance or an edge? The edge can be trimmed and with proper tooling you can probably hold the tolerance you need. If your trying to form the contour to your tolerance you are going to need a very stable and consistent environment to make parts to that kind of tolerance. The temperature of your material, tool and the room will need to be held probably to within +/- 2c.

Your process will also need to be very consistent for the time between removal from the heat to the time you suck it down. It might have to be as close as 5 seconds. It all has to do with how much the material is going to shrink as it cools and what the temperature its at when you suck it down. The hotter it is when you suck it down the more shrinkage you will get.

How big are these parts? The bigger they are the harder to get the tolerance you want. If your parts are 10mm your looking at a 1% tolerance, if your parts are 100mm your looking at a .1% tolerance.