Vacuum forming

Darren Wright

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Springfield, Missouri
I've recently picked up a few new toys and need some holsters for them. I saw a few youtube videos on doing vacuum forming of kydex and thought I might give it a try.

Here is the box I've built, which will have my shopvac connected to the port on the side.
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The top is a simple frame suspending a sheet of 12" x 12" X 1/32" silicon, which is heat resistant to 400* and very pliable.
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I'll lay the piece to be formed on the box, lay a piece of kydex (heated to 350* for 2 minutes in a toaster oven) aligned over the piece, put the lid over the box/piece to be formed, and turn on the shopvac to vacuum form the kydex to the shape of the piece.
2013-02-23 18.56.53.jpg

More pics to follow later...
 
I was able to sneak the toaster oven out of the house tonight and give the vacuum form a test run.

I started with cutting a few small pieces of wood to tape to the piece to form around. I also taped over the trigger guard to keep the kydex from pulling through where I didn't want it to go.
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I heated up the oven to 350 and put a small piece of kydex in. I had planned on 2 minutes, but after smoke started coming out after about 1...
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I had to scrap that piece as it was a bit too gooey and melted to the aluminum foil.
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Second try, I lowered the temp to 250, let the kydex set for 2 minutes, then grabbed it from the oven and laid it over the piece and quickly placed the upper frame on the vacuum for and kicked on the shop vac. The vacuum quickly pulled down the silicon skin over the kydex and piece, but to get the kydex formed tightly to the piece I had to push here and there.
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The kydex cooled much faster than I expected, so this piece didn't quite form as tightly as I hoped, but turned out well.
2013-03-05 20.59.28.jpg

The second one I cut a little larger to try to cover the end of the piece, it did ok, but will probably try this style again, didn't quite get the barrel end as squared off as I'd like to have.
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Both of the pieces above can be put back in the oven and will flatten out to be used again. Once I'm happy with a form I can trim it up, sand the edges, drill a few holes, and rivet them to another piece of kydex or flat piece of leather.
 
Nice job Darren!

I saw one other set of instructions that used a block of ply with a cut out that was used to press down on the kydex to ensure a more 'squared off' profile.
 
Interesting project. I saw a vid recently of holsters being made and formed but using a pressure device to form. The details were enhanced by hand boning the curves. But they were using wet leather.
 
Nice job Darren!

I saw one other set of instructions that used a block of ply with a cut out that was used to press down on the kydex to ensure a more 'squared off' profile.

Sounds interesting, was it a vacuum type or just use manual force on the block?

Interesting project. I saw a vid recently of holsters being made and formed but using a pressure device to form. The details were enhanced by hand boning the curves. But they were using wet leather.

I think I can get more detail in these, but it was 22 in the shop last night, so the kydex was cooling faster especially when the air from the vacuum started sucking past it. I also don't think I had heated the kydex quite enough to make it slump properly. I did switch from using aluminum foil on the pan to a piece of my silicon, which didn't stick to it.
 
It was manual. They made a cutout of the item, with a bit of extra room, and then used that to push down on the item to get the definition and a sharper corner at the bottom.
 
It was time to make a new pocket holster for my cargo shorts, so I decided to give this process a try again since it was warmer than 10* in the shop now. :) Since last time I've picked up a used toaster oven at a garage sale, so no more stealing my wife's.
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I taped over the areas I didn't want the plastic pulled down into, added a piece of wood along the top rail to create a channel for the front sight.
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I heated up the kydex to about 210* for about 5 minutes, laid it over the gun, put on the silicon lid, then turned on the shop vac. I did have to do some pushing here and there to get tighter corners.
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The result.
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Trimmed with a leather backer cut to size.
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I just used a 1/8" drill bit and installed stainless rivets.
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Nothing fancy, will work though.
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Pretty neat, so if I understand correctly this will serve to hold the gun up right in your pocket , but how is the whole thing for weight?
Cargo pants pockets don't usually have tight openings now with weight near opening won't it be hanging outwards showing gun through material?
 
Pretty neat, so if I understand correctly this will serve to hold the gun up right in your pocket , but how is the whole thing for weight?
Cargo pants pockets don't usually have tight openings now with weight near opening won't it be hanging outwards showing gun through material?

Weight isnt' bad and the shape helps fill up the pocket. I've got velcro flaps over the top, so they don't have any issues staying closed. The flat side goes outward, which keeps the firearm from printing. It just looks like a book or tablet in the pocket at first, once the sides roll a little bit, it looks a little more natural.
 
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