Vacuum Vapor Deposition

To bring this back to VVD, has this been done on Earth? Does it
require microgravity? Is this something that one could do at home,
in the garage? Sure, it requires a vacuum, and I'm not talking
about setting up a full-blown industry next to the bicycle and the
Weber grill. But is there a machine (or are there machines) that
one can buy for a couple of hundred bucks, or could one *make* the
machine(s) from off-the-shelf parts for a couple of hundred bucks?

Finally, what do I deposit the metallic vapor *on*? There's a lot
of talk of inflatables out at L5, but I rather suspect that the
standard puff-it-up rubber balloon one buys at the gracery store as
an afterthought to the fig newtons isn't going to be quite right.
Or would it work? Hey! could I spray vapor at wax forms, then melt
out the wax later and have aluminum goblets (or candlestick holders,
or whatever)? I'd think that wax would melt...

Oh yes! One more thing: I always read of this being done with
aluminum, but is there any reason it couldn't be done with, say,
copper? Tin? Gold? Iron? Magnesium? Chromium? Etceterium? ;)

Xenophile (master etcerterium-smith... LOL)