Trimming vacuum formed coil shells (4 pics)

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

As you may know one of the big challenges in vacuum forming coil shells is trimming them afterwards. I have tried a number of methods none of which worked very well. I last built a hot wire cutter on the advice of someone in the UK and that did work but it was painfully slow, about 14 minutes per shell and created some pretty noxious fumes.

I finally have this problem solved, pictured below is a horizontal bandsaw I built from scratch and as you can see it makes quick work of trimming the shells. The fuzzies wipe right off leaving a very nice edge.



This picture was my day of victory in this project, prior I could not get the blade to track in the center of the tire no matter how much I shimmed the wheel and the cheap Sear blade was made so poorly it litterly knocked through the blade guides. I finally got smart and milled a crown in the wheels and presto the blade tracked properly with zero shimms. A higher quality blade made a big difference also. I had to replace the blade pictured here also as it was too aggressive for cutting the thin plastic shells. I also relocated the motor downward out of my way.


Here's a pic with the table installed and I'm beginning to enclose it.


Heres another view, the thing is so big I needed double tool stands, I got these at Harbor Freight for a reasonable cost.

[plumabob]

As always Charles, you continue to impress so all with your craftsmanship.

Do you have a idea as to when you will be offering some of your coil shells for sale?

Bob

[Alexis]

ingenuity

oooH Charles ,very nice machinery , I'm remenber ,How Charles want to cut the shell ?, now i understand , you have a lot of brain in "mechanismes" and i send you my congratulations for this impressive machine,
Bravo what next??? selling shell???
Alexis

[Carl-NC]

Suh-Weeet !!!

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

Shells - When?

Trimming the shells was the last major hurdle, time wise I'd say I'll be ready to offer shells in 2-3 weeks. I have molds for a 10", 11" and 14x12" double D shells now and 30 sheets of ABS plastic (black and white) enough for a couple hundred shells with fitted scuff covers.

I will be machining additional molds for other shells over the next couple of weeks so now would be the time send me your wish lists e.g. size, shape, DD, concentric, mono, etc. You should also note the width of your lower rod e.g. spacing required of the ears on the shell. At present I'm setup for .900, .750, and .720 inches ID. You can contact me at [email protected].

Now fellas please understand that I can't spend all my free time making shells why you guys are out there building hot coils, detecting and finding all the loot!!! ;-)

Charles