8 replies to this topic

[NerfFreak]

After looking at how some craftsman use vacuumform tables to make certain types of projects, some being armor and costumes, I was thinking that stock shells from guns could be made, detailed, and used. Just use each half of the gun as a mold, and when both halves are completed, drill holes and screw them together. Plastics could be places on the inside of the gun for the inner structure, and essentially, you could replicate one of Nerf's original blasters. Even the Crossbow.

Again, just a thought. By the way, these probably couldn't be sold, due to copyrighting issues against Hasbro, so they'd have to be for personal use.

[Senor Wolfwood]

I don't know if you've ever used a vaccuumform table or not, but most of the plastics used are thin and flimsy. Few, if any, would be thick or strong enough to make a gun shell.

[bobafan]

Doing that would not make a copy, it would be larger then the original shell. Also, there would not be any screw holes with the post the the screw .

[Quilan Fett]

I think there was a thread about this before, but to use it to copy the manta ray.

[Direct Threat]

To make an exact shell would be a real challenge considering you would have to someone also form the inside shape of the gun. I'm been trying to build new shells for guns for a while now here and there, sort of as a replacement cosmetic thing. The only way you're going to get a copy of the original shell with the same overall size is to make a mold of the original shell, and then vacuform into that. It will pull the plastic into the negative of the mold and produce at least an outwardly acurate copy of the gun. You're screwed for the internal plastic nubs and screw holes though.

[shadowkid33]

An ABS rapid prototyper would be much more efficent with something of this nature. The only problem is, they cost upwards of $15,000, so you'd need to have access to it at your job or something. I believe CaptainSlug said something about using an ABS prototyper to clone a crossbow at the Summer DCNO, but I don't know how far that went.

[CaptainSlug]

You can only use a vacuum-forming table to make one half of a mold should you want to make a two-part mold of an existing shell. The two-part mold would then be used to make a wax or polyester casting that you could use to make a stronger mold for injection since polyester resin isn't strong enough to be used.

The effort is not really worth it considering the very high cost of setup and the fact that you still would have to have access to injection-molding equipment. Remolding something is very time consuming and expensive.

[NerfFreak]

Again, I was just throwing this out there for discussion. Just trying to get opinions, as I'm going to start building a vacuumform table and oven, and thought it might be at least fun to try.

[CaptainSlug]

I don't recommend attempting since the plastic that the gun shells are made from have a lower plasticizing temperature than the styrene or acrylic you would be using with the vacuum forming table. You might end up deforming the shell you were trying to make a mold of.