An Interesting Visor Situation

Benton188 · Nov 21, 2015

For the next helmet on my build list, I am making the Halo Reach Security helmet. It's fully pepped and ready for some resin. While I am putting the resin on it I wanted to get some opinions on how to make the visor work. I've search the forums and was only able to find one other person who has made this helmet before, but he was not satisfied on how the visor turned out. He had used a motorcycle visor that did not have the correct amount of curve to give it the right look, and made the visor look 'sunk into' the helmet as opposed to bulging out. I highlighted the visor section with a sharpie and have a pic of the in game model in the background as a reference as well. Looking at the in game version I can see that the top breakaway part of the visor needs to be sunk in as opposed to how it is bulging out on the pepped version, so that will need to be changed. I'm open for suggestions on how to go about this. Should I chop out the visor in one big section, or split it for 3 different sections?

GrimCitizen4 · Nov 21, 2015

I recommend vacuuforming your visor. You can make a vacuum form machine for about 30 dollars. That's what I did for my Halo 3 EVA visor. The plastic (PETG) is about 40 dollars for 4 sheets. After vacuum forming your visor you can die it the desired color and then apply alcalad on the inside of the visor to get that mirror effect.

Benton188 · Nov 22, 2015

GrimCitizen4 said:
I recommend vacuuforming your visor. You can make a vacuum form machine for about 30 dollars. That's what I did for my Halo 3 EVA visor. The plastic (PETG) is about 40 dollars for 4 sheets. After vacuum forming your visor you can die it the desired color and then apply alcalad on the inside of the visor to get that mirror effect.

I am considering the vacuum form method, but it is down on the list right now. I want something not necessarily quicker, but less involved than building a rig that I may only use once or twice. My usual method for visors is that I get a flexible metallic sheet from Jim McCrea and slap it in, but I've checked and his visors aren't quite long enough to span the area.

GingerOfMidgard · Nov 22, 2015

Do you think it's possible for Jim McCrea to cut you one a little bigger than usual? You are a fairly regular customer. It wouldnt hurt to shoot him an email

Benton188 · Nov 25, 2015

GingerOfDoom said:
Do you think it's possible for Jim McCrea to cut you one a little bigger than usual? You are a fairly regular customer. It wouldnt hurt to shoot him an email

Just shot him a message and alas no. I'll figure something out, and if anything I'll have to build a vacuum forming table and get knowledge on it.

GingerOfMidgard · Nov 25, 2015

the shiznite88 said:
Just shot him a message and alas no. I'll figure something out, and if anything I'll have to build a vacuum forming table and get knowledge on it.

Well, if its any consolation I'd be more than happy to help you build that vacuum forming table. That sounds like something that would be pretty cool to make

Benton188 · Dec 7, 2015

So after some research and trial and error, it looks like I will have to go the vacuum forming table route. I've seen a couple tuts on how to build the table and how to heat the plastic. That said, does anyone have any tips for me before I start wasting material trying to form this thing?

Reclaimara · Dec 7, 2015

Most people use to vacuum form... I'm too poor for making a vacuum form, buy a toaster or anything ... way too expensive for me.

I'm doing a Scout GEN 2 helmet with such visor:

I planned on buying Worbla's TranspArt, which works like Worbla but is transparent, so perfect for visor... It will work perfectly under hairdryer or heatgun... So it works for me. Just make the visor "complete" and as much detail as you like and then use Worbla on it.

I just thought I'd share.

Frozensnot · Dec 7, 2015

First of all, if you're making a vacuum table do you have the necessary tools? I used a skill saw to cut out all the pieces I needed from particle board I purchased from Lowes.

I would also make sure to buy the correct type and size of plastic sheets. I haven't tried many types of plastic but PETG worked great for me.

Are there any particular tutorials that you will base your design from? I designed my vacuum table based off of XRobots vacuum table.

What are your plans for heating the plastic? There's isn't a whole lot of concise information on how to make a heat box. But I did manage to create on myself and it works pretty good. If you're interested, I detailed some of my work in my Mark VI build thread.

Benton188 · Dec 7, 2015

Frozensnot said:
First of all, if you're making a vacuum table do you have the necessary tools? I used a skill saw to cut out all the pieces I needed from particle board I purchased from Lowes.

I would also make sure to buy the correct type and size of plastic sheets. I haven't tried many types of plastic but PETG worked great for me.

Are there any particular tutorials that you will base your design from? I designed my vacuum table based off of XRobots vacuum table.

What are your plans for heating the plastic? There's isn't a whole lot of concise information on how to make a heat box. But I did manage to create on myself and it works pretty good. If you're interested, I detailed some of my work in my Mark VI build thread.

Yep, I have an almost full wood shop at my house (Still haven't gotten that table saw though) , and I have particle board at the ready.
As for plastic I researched and found that Polycarbonate Acrylic will work and is what Home Depot happens to carry in a variety of sizes and thickness. I went with the thinnest .093"
As for tuts I stumbled across another 405th thread that had the video which I can't seem to find again. I will definitely check the one out that you linked.
And for heating....oven? I've seen 2 videos where they've used an oven, and 2 that had built their own heat box. Oven would be the cheaper route, but there's also the potential of ruining our oven. I do have a small 60,000 BTU propane heater that I could build a shielded box around and pump hot air into, but I'm not sure if that would get it toasty enough.

Frozensnot · Dec 7, 2015

the shiznite88 said:
And for heating....oven? I've seen 2 videos where they've used an oven, and 2 that had built their own heat box. Oven would be the cheaper route, but there's also the potential of ruining our oven. I do have a small 60,000 BTU propane heater that I could build a shielded box around and pump hot air into, but I'm not sure if that would get it toasty enough.

Depending on how large your frame (holds the plastic) and oven are, you may or may not be able to go that route. I ran into the issue of my oven not being big enough. On a side note, I am also kind of paranoid about heating any type of plastic in an oven even if my plastic was food safe.

I would imagine that your propane heater would provide ample heat. From what I have heard and read, it's best to have a heater that doesn't use forced-air. I'm not exactly sure why that would be the case but I think your heater would work. If your heater is rated to heat an area of 1,350 sq ft, I think it would be just fine.

Do you have a buck to form the plastic?

Reclaimara · Dec 8, 2015

Also, you have to have an oven specially for that, if you put the plastic in there once, you won't be able to put food in there again.
So - extra oven.

tomboy · Dec 8, 2015

Marawuff said:
Also, you have to have an oven specially for that, if you put the plastic in there once, you won't be able to put food in there again.
So - extra oven.

I'm not sure you do. There are plenty of guys over in the 501st and MandoMercs who pop their sintra straight into the kitchen oven, and they say it's still food safe afterwards. Maybe it depends on what material you use?

Reclaimara · Dec 8, 2015

tomboy said:
I'm not sure you do. There are plenty of guys over in the 501st and MandoMercs who pop their sintra straight into the kitchen oven, and they say it's still food safe afterwards. Maybe it depends on what material you use?

Well, I'm not sure. I wanted to do vacuum forming originally... And so I read online and watched YT videos and many said once you use it like that it won't be anymore for food and all of them had extra ovens/heaters in their workshops. O_O

Benton188 · Dec 8, 2015

Yeah, if possible I'm going to avoid the oven route for food safety reasons. I honestly don't remember if my propane heater has forced air or not, and if it does it's not much. Nice thing is is it has a dial to adjust the heat setting. If the propane heater doesn't work out, what other type of heater should I use? I have 2 standing, portable radiator heaters but I'm not sure if they can dish out the heat needed.

Also, yes I do have a buck ready for the plastic.

Reclaimara · Dec 8, 2015

Well, here is the transparent Worbla I was mentioning earlier and how to apply it on the form... It got me and I'll be using that for my visor as I don't have to use any oven or anything... just a heat gun which works for me.

http://www.worbla.com/?page_id=4013

Benton188 · Dec 8, 2015

Marawuff said:
Well, here is the transparent Worbla I was mentioning earlier and how to apply it on the form... It got me and I'll be using that for my visor as I don't have to use any oven or anything... just a heat gun which works for me.

http://www.worbla.com/?page_id=4013

Oooooooo. I like that, that might be way easier than building a vacuum former. Plus since it is worbla if I make a mistake I could re-heat and try again. The one thing I'm curious about though is how to dye it. I've looked up RIT dye and it requires boiling water (212 degrees F) and this worbla is flexible at 250 degrees F. A little bit off, but it may have a negative effect.

Also, I just noticed your first post about using this worbla for your scout visor. May I recommend this instead? https://www.etsy.com/listing/193364395/flexible-metallic-visor-material It's the same stuff I have for my scout helmet and comes pre colored.

Frozensnot · Dec 8, 2015

If the propane heater doesn't work out, I would suggest using a heater that has quartz/halogen heating elements with no forced air. This is the heater I use in my set up. It's a little spendy but it works great for my set up. An ideal heating set up would need at least 1200 watts, 2000 watts would work as well. I think your propane heater would provide the right amount of heat. It's just a problem of creating the right heat box and directing that heat to your plastic.

Marawuff, That video is very interesting. It certainly is another option for those who want to avoid the vacuum forming process. I'm going to be honest though it looks like a lot of work to heat form the worbla but that's subjective I suppose

. I guess it's a trade off. A person could work through forming the worbla every time they wanted to make a plastic copy or make a vacuum table once and form plastic around an object in less time. Either way, it seems that both of those options would work.

For dyeing your visors, I would take a look at this video. I did almost the exact same thing except of using idye poly, I used rit dye more.

I have one of those visors from Icon Props and it's a really good visor. I'm really tempted to get the visors with the hex pattern. They are so darn cool!

Benton188 · Dec 9, 2015

Frozensnot said:
For dyeing your visors, I would take a look at this video. I did almost the exact same thing except of using idye poly, I used rit dye more.

Thank you for this video =) It gives me a very good example of what I should do and not do when I go to dye it. Plus it also answers the question I had about how to give it a 1 way mirror finish.

After consideration, I've decided to take the transparent worbla route. It seems a better route in the fact that I'm only making 1 visor for 1 helmet, so the need to build a vacuum former for only 1 project seems unnecessary. Once materials come in I'll get to work on it and post some pictures of how it turned out.

Reclaimara · Dec 9, 2015

the shiznite88 said:
Oooooooo. I like that, that might be way easier than building a vacuum former. Plus since it is worbla if I make a mistake I could re-heat and try again. The one thing I'm curious about though is how to dye it. I've looked up RIT dye and it requires boiling water (212 degrees F) and this worbla is flexible at 250 degrees F. A little bit off, but it may have a negative effect.

Also, I just noticed your first post about using this worbla for your scout visor. May I recommend this instead? https://www.etsy.com/listing/193364395/flexible-metallic-visor-material It's the same stuff I have for my scout helmet and comes pre colored.

Yeah, this is where it may not work dying Worbla. ^^" But also then, you may to re-form it later... or dye it first and then form it... but no idea if the dye won't wear off... So lots of experimenting... but also, there are window-tapes that are tinted and you just glue these on... People use them on the lights on their cars, etc.

Thanks for the link, someone already posted it for me, haha... I don't like it, sadly. It looks way too plastic for me and frankly, too expensive, seen similar things on eBay and other stores where it's way cheaper. ^^"

Frozensnot said:
Marawuff, That video is very interesting. It certainly is another option for those who want to avoid the vacuum forming process. I'm going to be honest though it looks like a lot of work to heat form the worbla but that's subjective I suppose . I guess it's a trade off. A person could work through forming the worbla every time they wanted to make a plastic copy or make a vacuum table once and form plastic around an object in less time. Either way, it seems that both of those options would work.

Well, for me such things like forming Worbla are way less difficult. xD Also, visors aren't detailed or don't have hard shapes... So it should work very easy.

An Interesting Visor Situation

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