I did it back in 2011
Ordered a complex model from the cheapest plastic from Shapeways. Left a few holes to save on the materials costs which I filled with shit when the model arrived.

Cheap and reliable plus the material is strong and very (emphasis on VERY) detailed.

>>947915
sounds like it did really well

if i was making somthing like a iron man helmet lets say (or something more detailed) should i just get it made exactly what i want ?

or do i need to scale it back by the thinkness of the plastic?

>>947921
Dunno, sounds a bit too big for 3D printing
I did a small part, like the size of a smartphone

>>947922
i have seen full hemets 3d printed so this shouldnt be to big (but it will take a long time )

>>947924
I meant that it will cost a lot more than necessary.
It's surely possible to get it printed but prepare to pay a lot

>>947964
it may be but if its under 100 than its still worth it but that doesn't answer my main question if its
even possible

>>947907
vacuum molding is an internal mold. the outer surface will be a smoothed and averaged reflection of the surface detail on the mold.
the thickness of the material does matter as well as how much you are stretching it, which depends on how tall the mold is in relation to big the square area of material.

it sounds like you want to do a helmet? the material will end up slightly thinner top center and thicker at the rim.

my experience was making molds for vacuum forming expanded extruded polystyrene foam ... egg carton material.

>>948501
to try to get around it getting to thin i planned to get the helmet done in a few parts such as front back and the top

than after vacuum molding put the pieces together

what im worried about is getting the 3d printed mold (or what ever material really) to look like the helmet than use the vacuum table to find its now a little bigger than i expected because of the thickness of the material

so is this a worry at all or am i making a big deal of nothing?

also detail loss from mold to vacuum plastic