Petg thickness advisement for Reach pilot helmet

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Dat1Darkrai

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I plan on making a pilot helmet and would like to use petg and vac form it, but i am having trouble choosing which thickness would be the best. Any helps/ tips?
 
What thickness of plastic were you looking at? I've seen people use 1/16" and 1/32". I'm personally going to use 1/32"x18"x18" sheets of plastic for my Mark VI visor. I always get intrigued when people use vacuum forming to make visors. I certainly would like to see your results when it comes to that point. Do you have a vac table already or do you still have to make one?
 
What thickness of plastic were you looking at? I've seen people use 1/16" (0.030") and 1/32" (0.020"). I'm personally going to use 1/32"x18"x18" sheets of plastic for my Mark VI visor. I always get intrigued when people use vacuum forming to make visors. I certainly would like to see your results when it comes to that point. Do you have a vac table already or do you still have to make one?

I was looking more towards probably .30 and another person said .60 would work, so probably either those two. I do not have a vacuum forming table at the moment and i havent decided if i would make one. what i thought i could do is just press the heated plastic in the frame down on the pilot visor, let it sit for like 10 seconds, and then go in with the heat gun to get all the edges. I am mainly going off a youtube video where it looks like he used a thicker plastic

 
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Yep, either one of those thicknesses will work. From the looks of the video, he had a vac table but didn't use it. If you wanted to make your visor like he did, I don't even think you would need a vac table. Just have the buck on a stable surface, have the heated plastic form around the visor, and use a heat gun to form the rest of the visor. If he had used his vac table and heated the plastic correctly, then he wouldn't need to use a heat gun. Since he used a heat gun, bubbles formed on his plastic visor which he mentions. (I hope this doesn't look like I'm harping on him :unsure. I just think the visor could have came out better had he used his vac table.) From what I hear, vacuum forming isn't exactly easy. Experience really plays a huge part.

Regardless, I really think you should make a table. Having a vac table will achieve a more crisp looking visor. As long as you have some carpentry skills, making a vac table is not very difficult. Plus, whenever you make another helmet you can always get nicely formed visors. I'm basing my vac table off of XRobots Vacuum Forming Table. I'm hoping to get similar results to Justinian117.

Best of luck on your visor!
 
Yep, either one of those thicknesses will work. From the looks of the video, he had a vac table but didn't use it. If you wanted to make your visor like he did, I don't even think you would need a vac table. Just have the buck on a stable surface, have the heated plastic form around the visor, and use a heat gun to form the rest of the visor. If he had used his vac table and heated the plastic correctly, then he wouldn't need to use a heat gun. Since he used a heat gun, bubbles formed on his plastic visor which he mentions. (I hope this doesn't look like I'm harping on him :unsure. I just think the visor could have came out better had he used his vac table.) From what I hear, vacuum forming isn't exactly easy. Experience really plays a huge part.

Regardless, I really think you should make a table. Having a vac table will achieve a more crisp looking visor. As long as you have some carpentry skills, making a vac table is not very difficult. Plus, whenever you make another helmet you can always get nicely formed visors. I'm basing my vac table off of XRobots Vacuum Forming Table. I'm hoping to get similar results to Justinian117.

Best of luck on your visor!

Dude thank you so much for showing me that video. it really helped and showed me what to do. I may end up building something like that to make the visor for pilot helmet. thanks for the help!
 
That video really got me pumped for vacuum forming. I've seen a few videos on vacuum forming but that one seems to shine for me :). I'm glad I was able to help!
 
That video really got me pumped for vacuum forming. I've seen a few videos on vacuum forming but that one seems to shine for me :). I'm glad I was able to help!

hopefully last question, i want the visor to be sturdy and not flimsy, would .60 be the better option for that then?
 
When you say ".60" are you referring to 1/16 of an inch (which is 0.0625 of an inch)? If you are then yes, I think that would be thick enough but I would think no more thicker than 1/16" or 0.06" (although I really can't say because I haven't tried it myself). From what I have read, certain vacuum formed suits are made from 1/16" plastic so that should be good :). Here's the thread I'm referencing.
 
When you say ".60" are you referring to 1/16 of an inch (which is 0.0625 of an inch)? If you are then yes, I think that would be thick enough but I would think no more thicker than 1/16" or 0.06" (although I really can't say because I haven't tried it myself). From what I have read, certain vacuum formed suits are made from 1/16" plastic so that should be good :). Here's the thread I'm referencing.

im saying .60 because that is what is described on ebay. i dont have a local store that sells the petg

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PETG-CLEAR-...E-SIZE-/281337367197?var=&hash=item4181038a9d
 
I certainly don't see asking questions as an annoyance :). Vacuum Forming isn't exactly a topic that is discussed as often and some of the information is not easy to find. If you have any other questions, I'll do what I can to help out. (even if my experience is limited :p)

EDIT: Have you thought about what size of plastic you want? What about the color of the visor?
 
I certainly don't see asking questions as an annoyance :). Vacuum Forming isn't exactly a topic that is discussed as often and some of the information is not easy to find. If you have any other questions, I'll do what I can to help out. (even if my experience is limited :p)

EDIT: Have you thought about what size of plastic you want? What about the color of the visor?

i was going to go with 12 in by 24 inch size and use the vht/ nightshade to tint the visor black
 
Speaking of sizing.. does anyone have any input on how much bigger than your project the plastic sheet should be? I'm trying to decide between a CQB or JFO, and I'm sure 12" tall would work well, but not too sure about width..
 
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