N8TEBB
Sr Member
- Member DIN
- S410
It seems that the 405th is in need of a visor dying and chroming tutorial so I shall volunteer be the first to step up to the plate!
In this tutorial we will be covering how I dye my visors any particular colour, and how I use spray chrome to block others from seeing my face while allowing me to still see out! I prefer this method of making visors as I believe it gives me a very accurate visor while still being quite economical. Below are a few examples of the visor I have made with this method:
I have made a video tutorial on my complete visor making process that you can watch below. This written tutorial, however, will focus only on the dying and chrome process. I will assume you are starting with a clear visor. I vacuum form my visors out of 0.03" (0.762mm) PETG. If you want to know more about vacuum forming you can watch my video, or I believe there are also some written tutorials on the 405th on that topic, so I will not discuss it here.
This tutorial is spit into two parts: dying, and chrome. I will be following the same build in this written tutorial as I did in the video above, starting from the point where I have a clear visor to dye. At this stage the visor looks like this:
In my experience I've had lots of luck using iDye Poly to dye my visors. This dye works well with plastic. Regular iDye will not work! You can buy iDye at JoAnne's Craft Store in the USA. In Australia, you can buy it at Spotlight stores. For those outside of those places, you can purchase it online, however, it will cost you triple and take weeks to come it (sorry, I don't make the rules). As a Canadian, I cross the border to make the purchase. It runs me about $6/pack.
If you choose to follow the directions on the dye you will need to sacrifice a pot to be dedicated to dying as you will no longer be able to cook food in it. If you are like me and do not want to let a good pot die, you can do the dying outside in buckets. This will prevent you from having a constant temperature while your are dying, but in my experience this does not have a detrimental effect on the outcome of the visor.
For Dying you will need:
-Clear visors for dying (3-4)
-2 10L buckets (2-gallon buckets also work)
-2 packs of iDye poly (I find 2 packs gives me good colour for a 10L bucket of water)
-2 packs of colour intensifier (comes in the iDye packets)
-Rubber gloves
-Stir stick
-Thermometer
-Clean, soft, dry towels
-Plastic ploish
-microfibre towels or shop towels
Step 1: Fill a big pot with water and heat it to 150F (~65C). Pour this hot water into one of your 2 Gal or 10L buckets. Fill it 3/4 full. Add lukewarm water to cool the temperature to 145F (~62C). Fill another 2 Gal or 10L bucket with lukewarm water.
Step 2: Open the iDye packet and set the colour intensifier to the side. Place the packs of dye in the hot water. It is not necessary to remove the plastic as it dissolves in the hot water. Use the stir stick to mix the dye in thoroughly. Open the colour intensifier pack and pour the contents into the dye. Mix thoroughly.
Adding the dye/Adding colour intensifier
Step 3: Now you are ready to place the visors into the dye! I just place the visors in the bucket and try to make sure they are not sitting on their face. Some people have recommended that I suspend them with a wire. I think this is a good idea! You can probably fit 3-4 regular sized visors in a 2 Gal / 10 L bucket.
Step 4: After the visors have soaked for 5 minutes, take them out and rinse them in the lukewarm water. This allows you to see how the dying process in coming along and to get a more even colour. Place the visors back in the dye. The visors should soak for about 25 minutes total, rinsing ever 5-10 minutes.
Step 5: After 25 minutes you can rinse the visors for the last time and dry them with a clean, dry, soft towel. Congratulations! You have successfully dyed your visor.
Step 6: Before applying the chrome, use plastic polish to polish you visor. Plastic polish that they sell at automotive stores for headlights works just fine. Buff the visors with a microfibre cloth or a shop towel.
Now we are ready to move on to applying the chrome! This is what will prevent other people from seeing our face, but still allow us to see out. The reason this works is because it is very dark on the inside of the helmet, and presumably brighter on the outside. The chrome uses this fact to its advantage to reflect the bright light back out like a one way window! You will need some sort of spray chrome. I've used "Spaz Stix Mirror chrome" and "alclad II chrome" before with similar results. Just use whatever you can get your hands on. They are identical in terms of quality in this application.
To apply it, we will be using an airbrush. If you do not have an airbrush, FEAR NOT! If you can borrow a compressor from a neighbor (and don't tell me you don't know anyone with a compressor because someone you know HAS to have a compressor), you can buy a cheap $30 airbrush from Canadian tire that will do the trick. This is the airbrush that I've used for all my visors with lots of success. Link!
PerniciousDuke has another method for non-airbrush users: Link!
-compressor and airbrush
-"Spaz Stix mirror chrome" or "Alclad II chrome"
Step 1: Set your compressor to ~25psi and fill your airbrush with spray chrome.
Step 2: Apply an even coat of chrome to the inside of the visor. Go back and fourth slowly making sure to get a uniform covering. You do not need to use as much as you think! Start on the lighter side. Remember you will not be able to see the full effect unless the visor is in the helmet.
Be careful! The chrome is really easy to rub off. Never touch the inside of your visor. If you ever do remove too much chrome from the visor by touching it you can wipe all the chrome off with a wet paper towel and Windex and then re-apply the chrome.
Do not apply any clear spray paint to protect it, this will likely ruin your visibility. I believe I've tried "Spaz Stix clear coat" and it didn't affect visibility too much, but it certainly did not prevent the chrome from being rubbed off, so it's not necessary.
When under light you will still be able to see through the visors a bit. You can see black paint smudges on the paper towel through the visors in this picture for example. When these visors are in the helmet this will not be the case.
You are now done making your visor! It's now time to carefully glue it into your helmet and admire your hard work! Please leave any question or comments in this thread and I will do my best to answer them. Thanks for reading and good luck working on your visor!
Edit 2024-09-05
I've written some notes for member that may be useful to you if you are not getting the clarity you're looking for! See them here:
www.405th.com
In this tutorial we will be covering how I dye my visors any particular colour, and how I use spray chrome to block others from seeing my face while allowing me to still see out! I prefer this method of making visors as I believe it gives me a very accurate visor while still being quite economical. Below are a few examples of the visor I have made with this method:
This tutorial is spit into two parts: dying, and chrome. I will be following the same build in this written tutorial as I did in the video above, starting from the point where I have a clear visor to dye. At this stage the visor looks like this:
If you choose to follow the directions on the dye you will need to sacrifice a pot to be dedicated to dying as you will no longer be able to cook food in it. If you are like me and do not want to let a good pot die, you can do the dying outside in buckets. This will prevent you from having a constant temperature while your are dying, but in my experience this does not have a detrimental effect on the outcome of the visor.
For Dying you will need:
-Clear visors for dying (3-4)
-2 10L buckets (2-gallon buckets also work)
-2 packs of iDye poly (I find 2 packs gives me good colour for a 10L bucket of water)
-2 packs of colour intensifier (comes in the iDye packets)
-Rubber gloves
-Stir stick
-Thermometer
-Clean, soft, dry towels
-Plastic ploish
-microfibre towels or shop towels
Step 1: Fill a big pot with water and heat it to 150F (~65C). Pour this hot water into one of your 2 Gal or 10L buckets. Fill it 3/4 full. Add lukewarm water to cool the temperature to 145F (~62C). Fill another 2 Gal or 10L bucket with lukewarm water.
Step 2: Open the iDye packet and set the colour intensifier to the side. Place the packs of dye in the hot water. It is not necessary to remove the plastic as it dissolves in the hot water. Use the stir stick to mix the dye in thoroughly. Open the colour intensifier pack and pour the contents into the dye. Mix thoroughly.
Adding the dye/Adding colour intensifier
Step 3: Now you are ready to place the visors into the dye! I just place the visors in the bucket and try to make sure they are not sitting on their face. Some people have recommended that I suspend them with a wire. I think this is a good idea! You can probably fit 3-4 regular sized visors in a 2 Gal / 10 L bucket.
Step 4: After the visors have soaked for 5 minutes, take them out and rinse them in the lukewarm water. This allows you to see how the dying process in coming along and to get a more even colour. Place the visors back in the dye. The visors should soak for about 25 minutes total, rinsing ever 5-10 minutes.
Step 5: After 25 minutes you can rinse the visors for the last time and dry them with a clean, dry, soft towel. Congratulations! You have successfully dyed your visor.
Step 6: Before applying the chrome, use plastic polish to polish you visor. Plastic polish that they sell at automotive stores for headlights works just fine. Buff the visors with a microfibre cloth or a shop towel.
Now we are ready to move on to applying the chrome! This is what will prevent other people from seeing our face, but still allow us to see out. The reason this works is because it is very dark on the inside of the helmet, and presumably brighter on the outside. The chrome uses this fact to its advantage to reflect the bright light back out like a one way window! You will need some sort of spray chrome. I've used "Spaz Stix Mirror chrome" and "alclad II chrome" before with similar results. Just use whatever you can get your hands on. They are identical in terms of quality in this application.
To apply it, we will be using an airbrush. If you do not have an airbrush, FEAR NOT! If you can borrow a compressor from a neighbor (and don't tell me you don't know anyone with a compressor because someone you know HAS to have a compressor), you can buy a cheap $30 airbrush from Canadian tire that will do the trick. This is the airbrush that I've used for all my visors with lots of success. Link!
To apply chrome you you'll need:-compressor and airbrush
-"Spaz Stix mirror chrome" or "Alclad II chrome"
Step 1: Set your compressor to ~25psi and fill your airbrush with spray chrome.
Step 2: Apply an even coat of chrome to the inside of the visor. Go back and fourth slowly making sure to get a uniform covering. You do not need to use as much as you think! Start on the lighter side. Remember you will not be able to see the full effect unless the visor is in the helmet.
Be careful! The chrome is really easy to rub off. Never touch the inside of your visor. If you ever do remove too much chrome from the visor by touching it you can wipe all the chrome off with a wet paper towel and Windex and then re-apply the chrome.
Do not apply any clear spray paint to protect it, this will likely ruin your visibility. I believe I've tried "Spaz Stix clear coat" and it didn't affect visibility too much, but it certainly did not prevent the chrome from being rubbed off, so it's not necessary.
When under light you will still be able to see through the visors a bit. You can see black paint smudges on the paper towel through the visors in this picture for example. When these visors are in the helmet this will not be the case.
You are now done making your visor! It's now time to carefully glue it into your helmet and admire your hard work! Please leave any question or comments in this thread and I will do my best to answer them. Thanks for reading and good luck working on your visor!
Edit 2024-09-05
I've written some notes for member that may be useful to you if you are not getting the clarity you're looking for! See them here:
Any recommendations of headlight polish for plastic visors?
Since I want to ask about polishing plastic visor for improvement of visibility, any brand of headlight polish you would recommend for buffing plastic visors of cosplay helmets? Also I may use hand buffing with microfibre cloth, I know it may sounds longer compared to machine buffing.
www.405th.com
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