EVA helmet visor perfect solution?

[Lockon13]

So this just occurs to me. Has any one tried to cast an EVA visor, not like vacuum for the thing i mean you make a mold of just the visor and cast that with a clear resin of some kind. Any thoughts?

 

[FlyinPhil]

It's a good thought, but unless you have a way to maintain uniform thickness of the cast, your vision is going to be super distorted. I've seen a couple very nice looking vacuformed ones, and I'd have to say that's the best route to take.

 

[Lockon13]

hadn't thought of that as you can tell the idea of casting is kind of a new one to me.
And i had heard that people had had a hard time vacuforming the visor?

 

[GrimCitizen4]

Wow. I am so grateful I found this post. I am working on an EVA helmet and was going to cast the visor until I found this post. Thanks, I will be Vacuforming is guess.

 

[FlyinPhil]

hadn't thought of that as you can tell the idea of casting is kind of a new one to me.
And i had heard that people had had a hard time vacuforming the visor?

All good man!

I'm not sure if he is on the 405th, but I'm following a guy named roshprops on instagram, and his eva helmet casts and vacuformed visors are absolutely stunning.

I don't have any personal experience with vacuforming, but I believe getting a good result is a combination of having a very precise buck, an adequately powered vacuum table, the proper material thickness, and correct temperature of the material to be formed around the buck.

 

[Lockon13]

Well if anyone has a detailed buck or can make one and is willing to help i am working on what may be the most over-engineered vacuum table east of the Mississippi

 

[Chernobyl]

If you're skilled enough to create a system for injection or blow moulding, it's possible you could create a cast piece. Otherwise, I'd stick with vacuum forming your work - it's cheaper and there's far less to go wrong, which leads to arguably more reliable results.

 

[Rosh]

That could be done, but the process is ultimately much more difficult than just vacuforming. I did it with a cheap homemade vac table, if you have a shop vac already you could do it for less than 200 dollars in materials. Follow the link in my signature to see the process and the results.

 

[Bob Rosland]

As long as the buck is solid you really shouldn't have any problems with vacuum forming. You can back a glassed visor with plaster and it will work just fine.