Acrylic Forming Oven

I have read the post about an acrylic annealing oven, which raises a few questions about acrylic forming. I have done quite a bit of work with un-formed acrylic sheets in making aquariums and have been successful. I would now like to branch off a bit and investigate formed acrylic as there are several parts that I have made out of flat acrylic in the past that I would have preferred to to use a curved sheet. I have seen the 'heating strips' that a DIY'er can use for straight bends, up to like 1/4" thick acylic. I would like to learn more about how an acrylic forming oven could be made and safely used in my basement so that I can attempt bending thicker sheets or make a gentile curve over the length of a sheet (to make a bowfront tank if anyone knows what that is).

I'm an electrical engineer, so I know I can do any wiring involved. I have an area where I can cut a vent to the outside, and probably have all of the tools to do the job, just don't know how to build one because I don't know how one works. Can someone shed some light on the subject? I'm looking at this from a DIY standpoint, not a production shop.

Also, what prompted the questions are a post I read about acrylic annealing. I have worked with aluminium in the past and know what annealing is in that case, but am not sure I understand it as it applies to acrylic. It appears that there is a certain amount of water that needs to be 'dryed' out of the acrylic? How does annealing fit in with forming?

Thank you for any advice you may provide.

Benj420

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Reply to
benj420
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Plenty of stuff on the internet. Here's a first hit:

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you do this at home, make sure you have good fume venting as this can be a problem since you have to heat the sheets to temperatures near decomposition point. Quite large shapes like spas are made by thermoforming acrylic sheet:
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Reply to
Frank Logullo

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