Props Liquid-plastic molded visor: Feasible? Please help

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The BorosBoss

Jr Member

Pacific Regiment

• Sep 28, 2015

• #1

Hi everyone, I don't have pep or a vacformer, so when it comes to visors my options are pretty limited, especially domed ones such as EVA and Pilot variants. I recently did a pretty rough visor for an Emile build but I'm not too happy with it, so I was wondering: Is it possible to use clear moldable plastic, the kind that starts liquid and then hardens, to make a domed visor over a mold? Also, if I did make a visor from such an epoxy or plastic or resin visor, would it be toxic inside the helmet even if I let the visor off-gas first? Please help!
-TBB

 

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peterthethinker

Well-Known Member

Pacific Regiment

Member DIN

S386

• Sep 28, 2015

• #2

Its doable . you can get optical clear resin but its gonna be spendy.
I recon you can use 2 part epoxy!( no poly resin!) IF you have a darn fine mold( metal)...... And some release.
Then Buff it with a Headlamp polish kit .

 

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The BorosBoss

Jr Member

Pacific Regiment

• Sep 28, 2015

• #3

Cool! Did you see a tutorial or attempt it yourself? Also, how spendy per cast are we talking?

 

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Bob Rosland

Jr Member

Southern Regiment

• Sep 28, 2015

• #4

Unless you have absolutely no access to any kind of tool, I'd say building a simple vacuum form set up would be easier and more cost effective.

Yes, it could be done, but you'll need a master that's polished to a glass finish so that the piece actually comes out mostly transparent, a two-part silicone mold, and a big ol' pressure pot to degas the clear resin because the bubbles on something like that are going to be horrific.

 

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The BorosBoss

Jr Member

Pacific Regiment

• Sep 28, 2015

• #5

Considering making my own, finding a tutorial and whatnot, but I'm not sure. I may update this later. Thank you guys!

 

FlyinPhil

Well-Known Member

Canadian Regiment

Snow Burner

• Sep 28, 2015

• #6

Hey BorosBoss! I think I saw a similar thread a while back, and here are my thoughts.

To make a wearable visor using clear resin, you will need to build/have access to an injection molding system with a positive and negative mold to keep the cast perfectly even in thickness. Otherwise your view will be quite distorted.... think about looking through a non-uniform piece of glass. I'm not very familiar with how to build these setups, but I believe a vacuforming rig would be far more suitable for what you need, and there are many resources online to help you build one!

 

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peterthethinker

Well-Known Member

Pacific Regiment

Member DIN

S386

• Sep 28, 2015

• #7

Phil I suspect TBB was thinkng of a real casting mold where there is a inside and outtter part that is sealed .
ya just pour in the mixed stuff and let t flow in the mold. a visor is flow-able.

Bob you brought up a good point with bubbles . Ive got rotary vac pump that would do . they are under 100 bucks from harbor fright .


Ive yet to cast with my spare epoxy...... perhaps a small scale test with a mini visor is in order.
I really believe that a headlight polish kit would do well for the optical issues . Its not gonna be NASA grade but I suspect it can be plenty good for a helmet.


My worry's is fracture resistance . epoxy stuff is brittle . Vac formed polycarb is not.

 

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The BorosBoss

Jr Member

Pacific Regiment

• Sep 29, 2015

• #8

Brittle, huh? That's definitely a concern..

 

Redshirt

RXO

Southwest Regiment

405th Regiment Officer

Community Staff

Member DIN

S980

• Sep 29, 2015

• #9

I'm going to have to go with Bob Rosland and FlyinPhil as well as PeterThinker's last comments. There are more cost/labor effective methods out there. I made jewels for a League of Legends Azir Staff out of clear casting resin. The surface never gets rock hard, yet setting it down wrong chipped the edges. I slow-cured mine in a cool environment and still had bubbles. What that means is that you would never be able to get a perfect polish to it after sanding imperfections. You would get variations in the thickness that would obscure your view. Vacu-forming or thermoforming (pulling a melted sheet over a mold) are easier choices. I think the resin was around $25-30. Add in the cleaning materials and lots an lots of labor to get it right and suddenly you are ahead in time and money building a vacu-former. Bubbles and brittleness are a fact, not a possibility.

Visit local sign shops, they may have a vacuformer to make reasonable-priced pulls for you.

Redshirt

 

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The BorosBoss

Jr Member

Pacific Regiment

• Sep 29, 2015

• #10

That's interesting, I'll consider that.