Yeah, googled plenty. I know how they work, I know the basics of making one. But really not much of a wood worker and have very little interest in building a simple one for now.
If I'm going to build one later on in life, I'll make a professional one with a proper vacuum pump and tank, not a hobby on that runs on a shop vac. For now, I'll overpay for one that runs on a vacuum cleaner and is only good for hobby work but saves me time and effort. It's funny how that works with people. We either have skill and time but no money, or clueless and money. Oh well.
No hotter than a halogen. Remember its only dissipating 35W vs 55 from a halogen.
Plenty of users have made mounting plates out of ABS for their newgen retrofits, no concerns. Forceofwill is one user on here who's done so. No worries about melting lexan or polycarb, those are both used by retrofitters on hidplanet.com, there's all kinds of temp info and material properties on the product listings on usplastic.com. They're a great source for all things plastic/rubbery that you may need as a hobby-ist/motorcyclist. Tubing, plastic, etc.