Despite their widespread use in manufacturing, plastics can be hard to incorporate into do-it-yourself projects. Hobbyists have plenty of tools for working with wood and metal, but shaping plastic is often too complicated for most home garage workshops.
That lack of accessibility was a source of frustration for Chase Harper, Jesse Howard and Lorin Mueller, a trio of local DIY-enthusiasts, and it eventually prompted them to try their hand at designing and manufacturing a desktop-sized thermoformer.
After more than two years of work, the team is ready to take the wraps off their creation, which they’re calling the Thermo-Rig. If they can bring the device to the market, the trio say they hope it can open up a whole new avenue of possibilities for people who like to make things at home.
The process
Thermoformers shape plastic sheets into configurations. It’s the reverse of a casting process in which a hot liquid substance such as wax is poured into a specially designed container — the mold — and the liquid takes the shape of the mold as it cools into a solid object, such as a candle.
With thermoforming, a flat sheet of plastic is heated to a temperature where it doesn’t melt, but becomes malleable. The sheet is then slammed on top of a solid object so that it will re-form around that object. A vacuum sucks air from under the sheet, ensuring the plastic stays flush with the surface of the forming object while it cools into the new shape.
Many commercial products with specially shaped plastic casing, such as consumer electronics, are manufactured using industrial-scale thermoforming. Thermoforming is also typically used to manufacture plastic blister packaging for pills and form-fitting packaging for products such as action figure toys.
Thermoforming can also be used to create plastic molds to cast solid objects. A decorative candle with a complicated design, for example, could be manufactured by 3D printing a plastic version with the exact shape, and then using that version to thermoform a mold for the candle wax.
“The mold can really be anything you want,” Harper says.
The process is also useful for projects in which someone might need to rapidly manufacture several copies of a specific mold, Howard says. A baker trying to make large batches of custom seashell-shaped chocolate treats, for example, would need dozens of the seashell mold to shape the hot melted chocolate.
The Thermo-Rig’s designers say their machine is aimed less at large manufacturing companies and more at hobbyists, although Howard says the device could also come in handy for small business owners who might need small-scale plastic shaping capabilities.
“Say you have a small business and you’re looking to make a short run of 100 or 1,000 parts,” he says. “If you go to a large company for that, it’s thousands of dollars.”
Most of the uses they describe are a mix of either plastics that are used directly — as the exterior casing of a home-built, remote-control car, for example — or indirectly as a mold to cast other objects such as custom drink coasters.
The Thermo-Rig can use plastic sheets in several varieties, depending on the project. Some projects need more durable plastics. Others are transparent and food-safe, making it ideal for packaging and food molds.
Design
Harper works in marketing and purchasing in the manufacturing industry, and Howard is a mechanical and design engineer. The two were friends and had often worked together on projects at work and in their free time. They say the Thermo-Rig idea originated because they got tired of outsourcing short-run thermoforming jobs to expensive agencies or waiting hours for a 3D print objects to take shape.
The concept of a personal thermoformer isn’t new, Howard says. A vacuum and a heating element for the plastic is all that’s needed, so many hobbyists have their own home-built versions.
But Harper and Howard say their goal in designing the Thermo-Rig was to introduce a level of standardization in order to make the final product more accessible for casual users and more reliable for enthusiasts.
“We started out in my garage, just talking about different heating elements to see what would work,” Harper says. “It’s been a full-time job after our full-time jobs.”
The heating element was one of the biggest design hurdles, Howard says. If the plastic sheet isn’t uniformly heated to the correct temperature, it can mess up the forming process. So the duo had to make sure they were using a component that could supply heat evenly and reliably.
They also tried to design it to be connected to almost any home vacuum cleaner rather than a built-in unit, in order to keep the cost down.
The goal of accessibility led them to seek out the third team member, Harper says. Early versions of the prototype didn’t have electronic controls, and he and Howard concluded that the result would be too complicated for first-time users.
“We wanted something that someone could use — regardless of their skill level — to make whatever they want,” Harper says.
They joined forces with electrical engineer Lorin Mueller. With his expertise, the trio designed a control unit to precisely adjust the temperature of the heater, with a digital display showing when the unit reached full heat. The control box also adds a fail-safe mechanism to turn off the unit if it gets too hot.
After seven design revisions, the team says they’re now confident that they’ve arrived at a version of the Thermo-Rig that they can turn into a commercial product.
Manufacturing plans
Harper and Howard say they hope to sell the Thermo-Rig at $699 apiece. They plan to turn to Kickstarter to fund their initial production run (with a discount price of $550 for early backers). They entered the product on Kickstarter last month, but canceled the campaign when it became clear the Thermo-Rig needed more publicity to attract backers.
They’ve also begun to promote the machine with a website and a visit to the Eugene Mini Maker Faire event in September, where they gave visitors a chance to try out making their own creations. Harper says the plan is to relaunch the Kickstarter campaign in January and visit more trade shows and other events in the spring.
Since the concept of a thermoprinter is relatively straightforward, Harper and Howard acknowledge that the Thermo-Rig will face some competition. But most existing models are much heavier-duty and more expensive machines, Howard says, so he’s confident the Thermo-Rig can offer a better value proposition.
“No one’s really in our price point with this performance range,” he says.
Kickstarter campaigns have led to a number of entrepreneurial success stories, but the fundraising approach has also had some high-profile stumbles. In one notable local example, the Coolest Cooler campaign broke fundraising records in 2014 but then missed several shipping targets as its creators struggled to keep pace with the demand for their high-tech food cooler. Approximately 20,000 backers still hadn’t received their coolers as of mid-2018, according to a report in The Oregonian.
Harper and Howard say they’re cognizant of the risks in a Kickstarter approach, but point to their professional backgrounds in manufacturing as proof of their ability to deliver on the Thermo-Rig if it’s funded.
“We work in manufacturing, so that’s the easiest part for us, producing product,” Howard says. “It comes down to how we decided to build this thing.”
The pair worked to source most of the Thermo-Rig’s parts from local suppliers in order to keep control of the supply chain, and worked to develop a manufacturing process that they believe is scalable.
The metal components are fabricated by a Vancouver-based metal sheeting company called Element 13, with the exterior finish and paint job done by Masic Industries in Clackamas, Ore. Portland-based Port Plastics will supply both the plastic internal components of the Thermo-Rig and plastic sheets for Thermoforming.
Once the initial components are fabricated, Harper says the group plans to do some of the initial assembly work and then turn to a local contract manufacturer to finish the process. They also plan to handle the packing and distribution themselves, with packing materials from Columbia Corrugated Box in Tualatin, Ore.
“We know we can build it,” Howard says. “We know exactly what it’s going to take.”
