Making The Security Helmet's Visor?

[ponchato]

I'd like to build a security helmet. We've seen every variant except EVA and Security, probably due to the visors. If you had a gold-tinted (as most Mk. VI helmets have) sheet of plastic, could you put that over a mold of the Security visor and melt it (soften it) into shape with a heat gun? If not, what other options do we have for those large visors?



My signature has a picture of the Security helmet. It might be easier to understand with a picture:

I know little about plastics. You can get them in different thicknesses, and... well, that's all I know. Thinner plastic would be able to fit the shape more easily, but not be as strong as thicker plastic, correct? Even if this does work, though, I don't know if the EVA helmet would be possible (but I'll try it even if it's close to impossible). I love the bug helmets.

 

[Adam Anderson]

what your saying is that you want to vacuum form it'? that will work.

 

[link4044]

you'll need to tint it after you forumed the visor

 

[ponchato]

you'll need to tint it after you forumed the visor

So tint won't melt? Is there any way to tint a surface curved in two directions?



I found some acrylic plastics at this website. At the bottom of the page is a 2-way mirror (mirror outside, window inside, like a visor.) The thing is, it's silver. I don't know if you could put gold tint on the outside to make a gold, mirrored, see-through (from the inside), sheet of plastic. Further, I don't know if you could then melt that sheet into the shape of the visor without losing the mirror, the tint, or both.



Let me rephrase my original post. Making the piece of plastic that goes in front of my face isn't going to be a problem. Like Adam said, I could vacuum form it, or I could ghetto-form it with a heat gun and gravity (not sure if that will work). The problem is getting the visor to be see-through from my side but mirrored on the other, and be gold-tinted, at the same time.

 

[kupokitty]

Check out DerKraken's Daft Punk helmet thread. Just do what he's doing, and you should be fine. I'm going to attempt an EVA using his methods this December when I get home.



Edit: Thorssoli has been working on the mirrored visor problem, but he's out to sea right now.

 

[Belakor]

So tint won't melt? Is there any way to tint a surface curved in two directions?



I found some acrylic plastics at this website. At the bottom of the page is a 2-way mirror (mirror outside, window inside, like a visor.) The thing is, it's silver. I don't know if you could put gold tint on the outside to make a gold, mirrored, see-through (from the inside), sheet of plastic. Further, I don't know if you could then melt that sheet into the shape of the visor without losing the mirror, the tint, or both.



Let me rephrase my original post. Making the piece of plastic that goes in front of my face isn't going to be a problem. Like Adam said, I could vacuum form it, or I could ghetto-form it with a heat gun and gravity (not sure if that will work). The problem is getting the visor to be see-through from my side but mirrored on the other, and be gold-tinted, at the same time.

You wont be able to use tint film on anything curved in two directions like the Security visor, at least not without it looking awful. Best bet is probably to either have it metallized or try the spray painting methods some people have posted on here.



Also, I don't think pre-tinted plastics (the metallic reflective ones) can be vacc'ed though I haven't tried it so don't quote me on that.

 

[ponchato]

Check out DerKraken's Daft Punk helmet thread. Just do what he's doing, and you should be fine. I'm going to attempt an EVA using his methods this December when I get home.



Edit: Thorssoli has been working on the mirrored visor problem, but he's out to sea right now.

Thanks, but Kraken's visor is just a formed PETG sheet with black head/taillight tint sprayed inside, and Thorssoli's is bronze acrylic with silvery metallic spray inside (giving the wearer a really blurry view). Thanks for mentioning Thorsolli, though, his build thread had quite a bit of information. Edit: that sounded a lot harsher than I intended it to, please don't take it the wrong way.



I found a better site for the mirrored acrylic sheet. K-mac Plastics has a 12"x12" in 1/16" thickness 2-way mirrored acrylic sheet for only like $8. I'm gonna shoot them an email to see if the mirrored sheets can be heat-formed or if they'll lose their mirrored finish. If they can, I need to find out if gold tint can be heat formed onto acrylic. If all of that works, fantastic. Sort of. The bottom of the security helmet curves up, dramatically, and I don't know if acrylic is willing to bend that far without breaking. Guess that bridge will be crossed soon enough.



Edit: thanks for the input, Belakor. I'm still hoping for a positive email back from K-mac Plastics, though. I really want to build this helmet.



Edit 2: Queen, I take that back. Your mentioning of Thorssoli's thread gave me an idea. Instead of using tint, I could use an amber acrylic sheet from this page and form that over the mirrored sheet, almost exactly like Thorssoli's except with the mirror on a sheet instead of sprayed on. Assuming the mirrored acrylic can be vacuum formed, I think I might actually be able to do this. Plus, the two sheets are only going to cost like $20. Considering a 'normal' dual-layer visor will cost $60, minimum, this is really cost effective.



Assuming it works, of course.

 

[GremlinLord]

You might want to take a really hard look at Alclad 2 Chrome (Not chrome 4 lexan). It gives a mirror finish but it may take you a few tries to get it just right. You also need to do a candy coat of yellow/orange, again it needs to be very thin. Lastly coat it with Tamyia Clear and you should be good. I tried it out in my thread and it works pretty good but I made so many errors along the way :sleep . Also Redshirt has a tutorial that is very similar to mine but it is buried somewhere I linked to it at the bottom of one of my posts.



I would use the widest airbrush spray you can get and take your time between steps (lightly polish paint with microfiber to remove dust/over-spray) also since my vac broke I pressed my visor onto the buck so it is really rough on the outside from my gloves which is bad, very bad. I probably wont be able to update my progress for a while do to winter coming and I'm not ready for it (freezing alive is bad). One more thing make sure your air supply is extremely dry, my compressor is like a supersoaker so I had to use a 20lb co2 tank. I have one more test piece I can upload to my post that came out awesome. One thing to remember with this type of 2 way mirror is any light on the inside can make you be visible from the outside so no laser hud or the glowing mp3 by your head. With wide angle lenses like the EVA and Security I would make some parts opaque by spraying more chrome to prevent some beside you from seeing your face.





http://405th.com/forums/index.php?s...991&hl=domed helemt&fromsearch=1&#entry351991

 

[sierra092]

Heres a thread you should read: http://405th.com/forums/index.php?s...isor paint tutorial&fromsearch=1&#entry292152

 

[GremlinLord]

Heres a thread you should read: http://405th.com/forums/index.php?s...isor paint tutorial&fromsearch=1&#entry292152

Ditto, I'm not sure how Redshirt's post isn't a sticky but man that would have saved me some time. One thing I would change is instead of Model Master use Alclad 2 since it is way shiner and doesn't need to be polished other than to remove the over spray (very Little). Also instead of an aerosol spray used Tamyia Clear. I did a lot of testing (10 chromes, 20 different candy coats, and 7 different clear coats). Tamyia is the only one that didn't dull the chrome under it and it seems to make it a little clearer.



Edit: (The 20 different candys different shades of color)

 

[NZTK]

Using a heat gun and hand forming a visor may lead to a pretty wobbly result (what you are talking about is called "drape-forming", its how they make curved windows on cars and buses etc). The problem with tint, is that it shrinks with heat whereas your substrate will stretch, causing the tint to delaminate. This is true of pre-tinted/mirrored acrylics too, as they are tinted with film, not flow coated like a motorcycle visor. Also, there is very little chance you'll get a compound curve from acrylic by drape-forming, you'll get a small one but, nothing like the type of curve on the security helmet. For that, you'd need to blow the acrylic into a vacuum assisted female mould, this requires quite specialised equipment. In my opinion the best way to do a large custom shaped visor is by vacuum-forming PETg and painting it using the method outlined by Redshirt. Vacuum-forming a PETg visor is a very simple process.

Or, you could hunt for a big gold visor and sculpt your helmet around it. There are a few "aviation" style scooter helmets that have large gold compound curved visors similar to the Security visor or, for even more money you could try to find an actual pilots visor. They are pretty expensive though.

 

[Spartan 051]

i think you might be able to heat form window tint



check it out looks like there using a heat gun to form the tint to the rear window



[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq-R16eHZEU[/media]



edit: video below is gloss black an using a heat gun using window tint



[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NX-INVrQ6s&NR=1&feature=fvwp[/media]

 

[NZTK]

You can heat shrink tint onto a window but, the problem is the size of the curve. A window is a large soft curve compared to a visor. By all means give it a go, I've tried and failed but, that's not to say its impossible.

 

[FROCKLIFFE]

I'd like to build a security helmet. We've seen every variant except EVA and Security, probably due to the visors. If you had a gold-tinted (as most Mk. VI helmets have) sheet of plastic, could you put that over a mold of the Security visor and melt it (soften it) into shape with a heat gun? If not, what other options do we have for those large visors?



My signature has a picture of the Security helmet. It might be easier to understand with a picture:

I know little about plastics. You can get them in different thicknesses, and... well, that's all I know. Thinner plastic would be able to fit the shape more easily, but not be as strong as thicker plastic, correct? Even if this does work, though, I don't know if the EVA helmet would be possible (but I'll try it even if it's close to impossible). I love the bug helmets.

I don't know if you already have the visor made but, you may want to look into a clear hockey visor some of them are the exact shape I've noticed. may be a little pricey though but, I believe you can by them Prostock and with a gold tint

 

[ponchato]

I don't know if you already have the visor made but, you may want to look into a clear hockey visor some of them are the exact shape I've noticed. may be a little pricey though but, I believe you can by them Prostock and with a gold tint

Yeah, but those only cover half of the face, not the entire 'fishbowl' area.

 

[S15Costuming]

Using a heat gun and hand forming a visor may lead to a pretty wobbly result (what you are talking about is called "drape-forming", its how they make curved windows on cars and buses etc). The problem with tint, is that it shrinks with heat whereas your substrate will stretch, causing the tint to delaminate. This is true of pre-tinted/mirrored acrylics too, as they are tinted with film, not flow coated like a motorcycle visor. Also, there is very little chance you'll get a compound curve from acrylic by drape-forming, you'll get a small one but, nothing like the type of curve on the security helmet. For that, you'd need to blow the acrylic into a vacuum assisted female mould, this requires quite specialised equipment. In my opinion the best way to do a large custom shaped visor is by vacuum-forming PETg and painting it using the method outlined by Redshirt. Vacuum-forming a PETg visor is a very simple process.

Or, you could hunt for a big gold visor and sculpt your helmet around it. There are a few "aviation" style scooter helmets that have large gold compound curved visors similar to the Security visor or, for even more money you could try to find an actual pilots visor. They are pretty expensive though.

the E.V.A visor is hard to make...right?

 

[Boba Fett]

Unless that plastic is REALLY hot, there's not WAY that it'll conform to EVA without vac. TRy searching the internet for tips on how to make a DIY vac for chamber.

 

[NZTK]

the E.V.A visor is hard to make...right?

No, I posted the example becasue it was easy.

 

[LastSpartan]

You can't really heat the tint, it'll just burn.



"We're not doing it because it's easy, but because it's hard."