How does the dome blower work?

Before starting you need to prepare your material. The plastic sheet should be cut to a circle slightly larger than the size of the dome you are creating. Always check the sizes of the example domes in the workshop to check which size you should use.

• For a 150mm dome you should cut a 200mm circle
• For a 225mm dome you should cut a 275mm circle
• For a 300mm dome you need to cut a 350mm circle. At this size a square will not fit in the dome blowing unit. Acrylic can be laser cut to create a circle. Styrene will need to be cut into a circle using the bandsaw.

When using the dome blowing unit the plastic sheet needs to be heated up first. This is done in the plastic oven. After 10 minutes the plastic should be hot enough to be formed into the shape of a dome.

The hot sheet is then fitted into the dome blowing unit. Air is then blown into the hot plastic until it reaches the desired height. The machine takes its air supply from the vacuum forming machine nearby. A height gauge is fitted to machine, this can be set to the desired height.

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