[kiltic]

So, I think I will be leaning toward using about 4 IR heaters on the top of my vacuum table as a heat source. I need to vacuum form a PC or PP sheet that is 18" x 12". I am curious what you guys think about stringing 4 of these (side by side) across the top. Will these be hot enough to get the PC soft enough to vacuum form? I need a uniform heating across the sheet of plastic. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I found this at Lowes. I am curious if anybody here has tried anything like this?

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Heat-Storm-...ter/1001452646


Thank you so much.

-Connor

[peteeng]

Hi Kiltic - There are specialist IR ceramic heaters for this sort of thing. The frequency is specific to plastics. Your link does not work. This may give you some clues. Peter

https://www.heraeus.com/en/hng/indus...rocessing.html

[RaderSidetrack]

Your link does not work.

The link works OK if you are in the USA. Here is a screenshot of the product Kiltic was referring to:

[kayaker43]

The wavelength and watt density matter a lot. Get it right and the IR penetrates well and is far more efficient than a non tuned system. For comparison, the Hobby-Vac plans built machines use a $65 element built for that exact size. It only draws 1500 watts so can be run off a single 120 volt residential circuit. That's one fourth the current draw and one fifth the cost of the proposed elements.