Trying new type of Waterfall technique

[Studdlygoof]

Had been looking around at everyone's waterfall and the ways to build them when i came upon the idea of making one out of plastic by Vaccum Forming one...my idea is to build a mold by layering different thickness plywood and shaping them to look like rocks...the stream and actual falls would be incorperated into the design...i have access to a machine that vaccum forms Kydex (sp?) around molds...this is the same material your Samsonite luggage is made up...in essense i would have a stream and waterfall that were all one piece....then silicone rocks in strategic places to give it a natural look and you have a durable, no-leak waterfall that is very lightweight....im making the mold now...ill post pictures along the way...

[Tindomul1of9]

I don't have a technical mind, so Im a bit confused by this technique. I'll wait for pics to get a better understanding. Sounds interesting though.

[Landon]

ive heard of people doing that type of thing with epoxy.

a mold out of plywood sounds interesting. id like to see pics of that part of the process as well, if you have them time to take them.

how large of a fall are you planning to make?

[Studdlygoof]

Not too oversized...i dont want a lot of splash...just a little stream with some rapids...no more then 12" in length...i built a mold yesterday but wasnt too happy about the naturalistic look of it so im gonna retry today and search the net for a picture that i like so i can mimic it....pictures to come soon

[Landon]

for inspiration i like checking out vivariumconcepts's (huh?) gallery. theyve always got some innovative ideas and do some vry nice water features.

http://www.vivariumconcepts.com/gall...p?g2_itemId=88

[pa.walt]

if you are using this kydex why not when it is vacumm formed use that as your basic mold and then you could use other materials. maybe the great stuff people use or the epoxy method or some other material. then with the mold you could always make a few and tweek them to your liking.

[Studdlygoof]

Great site Landon...been there several times and have it favorited...Pa.walt you read my mind...i was sitting on the computer this morning looking at pictures of streams I had googled and got to thinking there is no way to replicate a stream without using actual elements from mother nature...i have decided to keep the mold simple and silicon rocks and what no around the mold using it only as a base...was even thinking about gettting some slate, smashing it up and siliconing it down for the stream bottom...but you are right...i should pull a couple of them and experiment...here are a few pictures of the roughed in mold thus far...still a lot of sanding and tweaking to do but figured it would give you guys a better idea of my thought process...thanks for all the help...

[Landon]

thats pretty cool. you may want to consider insulation foam for your molds also. im not sure how it would react with the kydex, as im not familiar with that stuff at all.

also, if you are going to do some sort of additions of stones and what not, you could just use the foam as a bottom layer and water trough. here is a pic progression of my water feature using gravel and wood siliconed onto a fowm trough of sorts.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...-08_020_PB.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...-08_025_PB.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...-08_029_PB.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...-08_051_PB.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...-08_058_PB.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...-14_027_PB.jpg

that is the insualation foam im talking about. it may a bit easier to work with than plywood, and its definatly cheaper. there are other people that use it as a FB/drainage layer replacement and have success breeding frogs in those tanks, so its a safe material.

[Studdlygoof]

Well i finished sanding the mold and got the chance to pull two different ones today and they turned out awesome imo!!! The insulation foam would be cheap but it collapses under the force of the vaccum...even simple plywood molds collapse if not properly braced...i pulled two molds in two different colors...let me know which one you guys like better...i think im opting towards the tan...



This is a picture of the mold after it was completed...as you can see its a really simple and undetailed





This is the black and tan (i sure could use one!!) pieces i pulled...they are just rough cut right now so they dont look too pretty around the edges...i left extra on it so i could cut it to fit...im going to cut it to fit a stump i have so the water feature looks as if its coming out from under the stump...various rocks and slate will be siliconed to them as well to give a more natural shape...comments/suggestions appreciated as always...

[Landon]

WOW! they look great. how long did it take you to make this set up? you could probably market this type of thing if you could do repeats for relatively cheap.

i wasnt sure how the process worked. on a pour in mold i guess the foam may be viable.