Anyone Have Successfully "vacuum-formed" Some Armor?

[bluelotus82]

All the vacuumformed pieces I see people post was just the hand part, has anyone else tried to vacuum-form a helmet or other parts? Post some pictures if you have. I wanna know if its a good or bad idea so I can decide on making a table or not to vacuum-form, I sent emails to my local plastic stores. One of them have a prototype machine, I sent them email to see how much they charge for using it to prototype some stuff. If they reply to me by Monday with an affordable price and good responses from you guys I will go ahead with the project.

 

[ninjaspartan]

the idea of vacum forming helmets has crossed my mind, and making your own vacuum former is cheaper, probable

 

[bluelotus82]

True, it is cheap to build but what I worry about is the detailed parts, will you lose alot of details vacuum-forming?

 

[Enrisan]

yes, some people have vacuformed armor. Detail isn't too great though, and it's not too strong either from what I've heard.

 

[Slimguy379]

http://halo.bungie.org/misc/cb_mcsuit.html not sure but isn't the helmet vac formed? correct me if i am wrong

 

[bluelotus82]

http://halo.bungie.org/misc/cb_mcsuit.html not sure but isn't the helmet vac formed? correct me if i am wrong

No I don't think its vacuum-formed but it doesn't have much details like the HD pep so it looks like it could be a vacuum-formed armor.

yes, some people have vacuformed armor. Detail isn't too great though, and it's not too strong either from what I've heard.

Alot of people vacuum-form their Storm Trooper armor and its pretty sturdy, you just gotta use a thicker sheet of plastic.
I was thinking of about 1/16-1/8 thickness which I dunno how to convert that to what people use. 1/16 is the usual but 1/8 is pretty thick, that could make armor stronger.

BTW you guys see how the EVA visor is split up into sections but all 1 piece? I think its possible to tint that, but first I need a completed copy of the visor then form and try it out, or that new SPARTAN - III

 

[Slimguy379]

u want sintra or styrene in .008 thickness. i have looked into stormtrooping

 

[Veritech017]

Vacuum forming armor works great for troopers because trooper armor, and clone armor, don't have a lot of detail in them. They all still slush cast their helmets, vacuum forming helmets just doesn't work so great.

Halo costumes on the other hand have a lot of detail, less sleek and more utilitarian.

 

[Slimguy379]

lol didn't adam make reference in a comparison between stormtroopers and halo gear, in that halo stuff is more masculine? maybe with detail there comes masculinity? lol

 

[bluelotus82]

Hmm then in the end molding is alot better then. I will try and make a HD quality visor for EVA or any custom ones I want and probably bondo and make it look nice for molding then. I guess I have to no choice. But then again if I use a thick enough sheet of clear plastic and form it over a basic shape of a visor then dremel the detail lines in that might work.

 

[Cadet]

They all still slush cast their helmets, vacuum forming helmets just doesn't work so great.

Not necessarily true. While Clone buckets are mostly resin casts, the vast majority of TK buckets are still vacuum formed in several pieces and then assembled:

However, it is true that the high level of detail in the Mark VI armor is not very conducive to vacuum forming, unless you have a very strong vacuum source, and use thinner plastic, and of course thinner plastic is obviously weaker. I still think that since the Mark V has less details, and more flat surfaces it might be able to be vacuum formed successfully and still look good.

 

[Keegan]

Rob Westerfield has made vaccuformed armor, and its pretty good for its price. Although the service is slow, its a nice suit.

 

[Sigma LS]

Thanks Keegan. I was like "How are there that many responses and no mention of Rob Westerfield?"

Briar's Armor aka Richie's Armor is a really nice vac suit as well with a great paint job on the finished version and Vos made a really nice one-of-a-kind CQB vac suit.

 

[Carpathia]

Rube used vacuforming to make the visor for his ODST helmet. He's got a thread on here, just look for his profile and you can find it from there.

 

[Laserath]

Vacumforming sounds a bit complicated to me.

 

[EMOD360]

Well i havent seen no one do it but i want to kno were i can do it so i can take my helmet and get a cast done out of a cacum formed