This has been an off again/on again project for almost 6 months. It took me awhile to find the right oven. (One that would really tie the room together ya’ know?) Then as luck would have it, I would have no way to hook it up in my shop without installing a new electrical box too…
So I ditched the 220v idea all together and pulled out the bottom element. Then I replaced it with a 110v Smoker Element that I had on hand.
I also had a converter/inverter that I could use as the switch for the smoker element.
It works! definitely gets hot enough to heat the ABS to a proper temp.
The table is really just a 1" hole drilled through my work bench with a shop vac stuffed underneath. I used some door seal molding to shape the seal around the top.
You can use almost anything as your mold as long as it doesn’t have a melting point of 220-300 degrees. I use wood, laminated to the thickness I need and then cut and sanded to the shape I want. Sometimes I can just add a piece to the mold if I’m adding a component. *I used a few flat head screws in the bottom of my mold to barely lift it up off of the table. This really helps get a good suction on your ABS.
I used 5/16" screen frames cut to oven size and then clamped together over the abs sheet.
The process is simple if you keep things in order and time it the same way every time. Pre-heat your oven, place your screened abs in the oven and wait for it to sag. It’ll sag a few inches below the screen frames when it’s ready to form. I left an oven rack below it just to make sure the sagging abs couldn’t hit the hot element.
In this order, Turn on your vaccum, open your oven, pull the abs sheet, place it on the vac table, make sure you press it down far enough to get a good seal, turn off your oven, Let the vacuum run a couple of minutes while the abs cools.
Now all that’s left is to trim the fat off of your new cover. I use a 5 in 1 tool and a dremel. A band saw would be nice though!
As you can see, the ABS flexes to the shape of the deck nicely and road clearance is pretty damn good! These enclosures shown here are 39mm in height. 2 zippy 4s 8000’s or 2 zippy compacts 6s 5000s fit great.
I’m limited to enclosures under 19" in length because of the size of my oven so keep that in mind when you’re hunting for ovens. You can find free broken ovens pretty easy. Then just do what I did and buy a 110v smoker element. It will install into your oven easily and you’ll be up and running without an electrician. I think the elements cost about 30 usd. If you don’t do this, you’ll need to get your 220v oven wired into your house or shop. I would have needed a new panel installed as well as some new wiring. Quoted $1500 to $2000. Of course I chose the DIY alternative. Haha!