MK VI Foam Build

[Nhat Phan]

What about a Dremel and a cutting wheel? wouldn't that work? would it give smooth line and stuff?

 

[drack]

No it scufs and tears too much. Your best tool is an exacto knife with as fresher blades as you can use with out throwing out too many of course

 

[vargatom]

I am so tempted to get a wood burning tool with blade attachment but not sure if it will give that crisp cut a new blade can. I assume the heat will slightly pull the foams edge ack a bit.

That's exactly the case. I tried the hot knife approach first and it disappointed me. It was better than the torn cut of a simple hobby knife, but it still had a soft beveled edge.

 

[vargatom]

An xacto knife and a 100 blades are about $35. And you can keep and use the "dull" blades for cutting the templates printed on cardboard, and a lot of other household tasks

 

[Nhat Phan]

exacto knife doesn't even help me at all cutting foam. i did the same shape 3 times but it didn't help.

 

[lordzoabar]

I just use scissors to cut my templates. Faster, easier, and since they are templates, they don't nessicerily have to be "perfect". I use a dremal with a stone wheel attachment to actually sharpen my blades. It's not pretty, but it works well enough in a pinch.

 

[drack]

exacto knife doesn't even help me at all cutting foam. i did the same shape 3 times but it didn't help.

Not sure what to recommend as the exacto knife is normally the preferred tool for foam work. HERE is a link on one of my other builds with a pic of the knife I use, are your blades the same as mine?

 

[Nhat Phan]

Not sure what to recommend as the exacto knife is normally the preferred tool for foam work. HERE is a link on one of my other builds with a pic of the knife I use, are your blades the same as mine?

Yes the blade is the same

 

[Nhat Phan]

the foam is 1/2 inch. i think thats too thick

 

[drack]

Maybe that's it. You might find it easier working with thinner foam.

 

[Nhat Phan]

Does anyone know how thick the foam mat is at Harbor Freight?? is it easy to cut and give u straight line? is it soft? cause the 1/2 i bought at wal mart was horrible pretty hard to cut. i cant seem to find any eva foam that is less than 10mm.

 

[drack]

Nhat this isn't really the place to ask the whole forum a question. There are threads in the forum for this kind of inquiry. If every one starts the answer here my thread will be clogged up with chatter. Not that we don't want to help just make sure that if you are asking everyone something to do it in the right place. I can however can answer part of your question . For foam less than 10mm try camping or yoga mats as they are made from Eva foam too and are very easy to cut. They are normaly 6mm thick.

The 2-3mm foam is craft foam and if you check out roxyroo or liltyrants threads you can see how they make amazing work with it.

 

[vargatom]

Well I've started cutting today and it goes well enough with the 10mm foam and Xacto knife combo. Though I have to admit, my index finger is a little hurting - may have to look into a different handle for the blade.

Craft foam - at least the 2mm I have some of - is too weak to model anything. Even the 10mm is soft enough that pieces are very difficult to trim once they're cut out from the board. The foam tends to bend before it splits if it's only a few centimeters wide.


But enough with the off topic, let's hear about Drack's build

 

[drack]

Ok let it be so . I have started on lighting this bad boy now it's all painted. Ok paint job not completely complete but enough to wear it . Will update when I get every piece lit. Been fun learning about electronics. Hard one will be my voice changer, hope it works the way I want it to. We will see once I get it built this week. Going to try and have a mini console on the under rim of the helmet for all the controls. Main issue I am having in my mind is where to put the speaker to avoid feedback or echo. I am sure though once its all wired up I can experiment till its perfect. I would have posted pics of me suited up today but I wanted the lights in to give it that extra punch so you will have to wait now.

 

[Nhat Phan]

I'm sorry but that was my last question anyway. So i went to Harbor Freight today and i got the foam and it was... u know it! excellent! and the cut from the X-acto knife was awesome. so i gonna start my master chief build and maybe post a thread. Yea i saw roxyroo and liltyrants thread and it was awesome specially roxyroo with all the details. .....wating for ur udate

 

[drack]

So glad to hear that man I really didn't want to see you be defeated. Looking forward to seeing your project. If you have any questions then don't hesitate to ask I will always help where I can

 

[vargatom]

Drack, if I can have a request for your future video tutorial, can you please share some tricks on how to cut small pieces?

I'm thinking about something like a U shape where the piece is about 1-2 cm thick and the inner radius is like 3 cm. I find it very hard to make clean cuts because of the short distances, you can't pull the blade with enough strength.
I've tried cutting in two steps with the first pass only a few millimeters deep, but it didn't help either...

 

[drack]

Drack, if I can have a request for your future video tutorial, can you please share some tricks on how to cut small pieces?

I'm thinking about something like a U shape where the piece is about 1-2 cm thick and the inner radius is like 3 cm. I find it very hard to make clean cuts because of the short distances, you can't pull the blade with enough strength.
I've tried cutting in two steps with the first pass only a few millimeters deep, but it didn't help either...

Yeah sure man I can pop that in. In fact I hadn't thought of including those kind of things in the tutorials. Your request has made me rethink on what I will be covering now.

 

[drack]

Didn't want to post yet but I couldn't help myself. I've been working on the paint job and lighting this passed week so here it is.


Base coat finished, battle damage to come.

The lights so far.

 

[Toja]

Wow! applause please