Adam Savage's Favorite Tools: Great Budget Vacuum Former!

One of the most useful tools for a small scale modelmaker is a vacuum forming machine, which lets you make lightweight plastic copies of model or prop parts quickly. Adam shows us the vacuum former he built while he was a professional modelmaker, and then demonstrates a small dental vacuum forming machine that is a great way to get started without spending a lot of money.

Shot and edited by Norman Chan

Join this channel to support Tested and get access to perks:

Tested is:

Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman

Thanks for watching!

#AdamSavage #VacuumFormer

[lockpickinglawyer]

Thanks for featuring this… I have a couple projects for which this will be perfect. 👍

[JanTuts]

Every time I see your homebuilt vacuum former, for a split second I think it's a popcorn machine :D

[TheNiteinjail]

Somewhere there is a warehouse that's had pallets of those things slowly selling has no idea what's coming haha

[Mantakev]

Very nice. I’ve been using one most weeks for the last 30 years in my Dental Laboratory. Don’t forget you can fill the bottom area above the vacuum with ball bearings to allow different depths of form. This also means you can place items in that have an undercut and use the ball bearings to stop the form being pulled into the undercut.
Great channel mate !

[akkhoroffline]

I love how Adam has a tiny version of most tools in his shop now. Time for a mini lathe Adam!

[Evergreen]

You can tell how good a tool is by how excited Adam is about showing it to people.

[erikaswanson]

I work with this everyday. I'm a dental assistant and I've been an Adam Savage fan for decades!

[GeekRedux]

Styrene appears to be laser-safe, too, so combining this with a laser cutter could lead to some very cool projects.

[BrothersAcrossThePond]

nothing brought me more joy than having to hear adam censor himself at 7:50. the only thing that would have been better would be hearing adam actually say "CHECK THAT SHIT OUT!" LOL

[BenjaminVaterlaus]

Used one very similar to that when I worked in a dental lab. The reason for the higher position is because the thick, rubbery film we'd use were for tooth grind guards and needed to be closer to the element. Worked great for ages.

[fjbrady]

I still have a Mattel Vac-U-Form from the early '60s. I loved that thing when I was a kid.

[Sayyadina]

Not only does it work great but I really like the design and colors. It looks like it would belong in a 1950's ice cream shop.

[krimke]

I really love re-purposing tools. you can find amazingly similar tools in every profession, just a tiny difference to acommodate the needs for a profession. And finds like these are the best :)

[bernhardb]

Am I the only one that prefers the self shot videos? I think they are more chaotic, real and authentic. I can definitely relate more to the chaotic Adam..

[CraftComputing]

This is awesome! I'm slowly piecing together a makerspace, and this will absolutely be getting a home there.

[chuchuchip]

I remember in the 60's, Mattel came out with a vacuum former. It was slightly smaller than Adam's red machine. One side had a hot plate, the other had the vacuum side with a hand pump & a plastic holder you would flip over from heater to former, then you had a handle for the hand pump. I got one for Xmas but didn't try it for a while because I had to save my allowance for plastic sheets. It had a few pieces to start but like a typical guy, I didn't read directions. I needed a couple of boats for flat car loads & I wanted different color boats. After a couple fo failures, I read the directions. Now once I mastered the procedure, I had so many boats I had to get more flat cars. Boy, was I happy my father liked trains, my mother lost her basement every winter to a gigantic layout. Best use we got out of the 5 ping pong tables (summer they doubled as buffet table when the family came to visit). I miss those days building with my dad even though he hated that my modeling was better! I wished I had kept that vacuum former.

[LukebridgesCoUk]

Kind of find the fixed camera, or other hand held camera weird after really enjoying the slightly shakey, but more natural feeling phone on long bendy arm shots

[truekaliban]

I scored one of those FOR TEN BUCKS, at a local shop. The dealer had no idea what it was and I only suspected that it was a vacuum former. Sometimes, life is super-sweet!

[jamieclay]

Good call - when I was a kid, we had a Vac-U-Form and it was so freakin' great. This is a great 'adult' version of that toy.

[Bigrignohio]

Looking at the camelcamelcamel price history it seems to reach a low of $95 regularly. Although that may change once the "Tested death hug" hits the seller.