Starting My Jorge Helmet

[itsmeitspb]

Hey all, I’m starting my Jorge helmet. I’ve had it for over 3 years and was put off with how rough it looked when it arrived. I have gave it a sand and now started filling. How do you all deal with rivits ect on the prints. There’s some on Jorges helmet near the visor but I don’t want to fill them in with filler. Any tips would be great!

 

[SgtSaint]

Personally - I don't do much sanding other that spot filling for defects/pits. I don't do that whole 'magic shell' of coating the entire thing approach. Some do and that's cool-just a different approach.

In the case of those rivets: Sand carefully. If you need to, you may end up sanding more than planned then have to re-engrave the rivet. Its just a circle so heating a circle punch or small diameter pipe and pressing it into the plastic will give you a new circle.

 

[itsmeitspb]

Personally - I don't do much sanding other that spot filling for defects/pits. I don't do that whole 'magic shell' of coating the entire thing approach. Some do and that's cool-just a different approach.

In the case of those rivets: Sand carefully. If you need to, you may end up sanding more than planned then have to re-engrave the rivet. Its just a circle so heating a circle punch or small diameter pipe and pressing it into the plastic will give you a new circle.

View attachment 361662

Awesome work mate!
That’s a great idea about heating a pipe. I bought the helmet from someone selling prints on eBay before I had a 3D printer, I think he had his settings to rough as I had to sand at with a mouse sander with 60 grit to help smooth it abit lol. I’ve had to pretty much coat the helmet and even abit inside. I’ll have to get a good playlist going when I start sanding to help pass the time lol.
Really appreciate the help matey

 

[itsmeitspb]

All fillered up. Do I start the dreaded sanding or leave it as is and call it Winter Camo

 

[Worainu]

Hey all, I’m starting my Jorge helmet. I’ve had it for over 3 years and was put off with how rough it looked when it arrived. I have gave it a sand and now started filling. How do you all deal with rivits ect on the prints. There’s some on Jorges helmet near the visor but I don’t want to fill them in with filler. Any tips would be great!

A good way I've found to sand out those little details and bolts is by using dental/model scrapers. They are a cheap
godsend for those pesky sunken lines and bolts but take some care with them as you can easily slip and scratch unwanted spots. They can also be used to bevel sharp and inconsistent edges pretty well. Another way to do it is to cut them out of the model pre print using software and glue or fasten real hardware in their places during the finishing steps. That's how I did my custom helmet attachments and it looks pretty sick plus has the added bonus of being removable.

 

[tahu505]

Awesome work mate!
That’s a great idea about heating a pipe. I bought the helmet from someone selling prints on eBay before I had a 3D printer, I think he had his settings to rough as I had to sand at with a mouse sander with 60 grit to help smooth it abit lol. I’ve had to pretty much coat the helmet and even abit inside. I’ll have to get a good playlist going when I start sanding to help pass the time lol.
Really appreciate the help matey

A good tip for future builds is to sand to a higher grit prior to filling. Knocking down those layer lines creates less work for the filler and you don't need to add as much, which reduces the weight for the helmet.

I personally sand up to 150 (starting grit can vary on print quality), do a light coat of UV resin, sand that at ~300, and then spray a light/medium coat of filler primer. Or you can skip the UV resin step, go straight to 300 grit, and spray on a heavier coat of filler primer. With either method, you'd just need to do a light pass of wet sanding of about 600 on the filler primer and you should be left with maybe a few spots that just need to be filled in and wet sanded with spot putty. The results come out incredibly smooth and if your print quality is really good, you can start at the UV resin step and only have to do 2 full passes of sanding.

 

[itsmeitspb]

A good way I've found to sand out those little details and bolts is by using dental/model scrapers. They are a cheap
godsend for those pesky sunken lines and bolts but take some care with them as you can easily slip and scratch unwanted spots. They can also be used to bevel sharp and inconsistent edges pretty well. Another way to do it is to cut them out of the model pre print using software and glue or fasten real hardware in their places during the finishing steps. That's how I did my custom helmet attachments and it looks pretty sick plus has the added bonus of being removable.
View attachment 361674View attachment 361675

Thank you, I bought it about 3 years ago before I got my printer so I don’t have the original file. Great tips about the pick set. I think I’ve got some when when I did model kits. Really appreciate the help and helmet looks awesome

 

[itsmeitspb]

A good tip for future builds is to sand to a higher grit prior to filling. Knocking down those layer lines creates less work for the filler and you don't need to add as much, which reduces the weight for the helmet.

I personally sand up to 150 (starting grit can vary on print quality), do a light coat of UV resin, sand that at ~300, and then spray a light/medium coat of filler primer. Or you can skip the UV resin step, go straight to 300 grit, and spray on a heavier coat of filler primer. With either method, you'd just need to do a light pass of wet sanding of about 600 on the filler primer and you should be left with maybe a few spots that just need to be filled in and wet sanded with spot putty. The results come out incredibly smooth and if your print quality is really good, you can start at the UV resin step and only have to do 2 full passes of sanding.

Thank you, ive seen about resin but I don’t fancy working with it, I know the results are great but the health part puts me off, I will be sanding outside and have the dog for company so don’t want to risk that. Thank you for your help, good to know about sandpaper grits required

 

[SgtSaint]

All fillered up. Do I start the dreaded sanding or leave it as is and call it Winter Camo

I will be sanding outside and have the dog for company so don’t want to risk that.

Those 3 photos of the helmet totally covered in white... What is that you used?
It looks thick as anything. Its going to be loads of sanding dust/particulate and you say you're concerned about the health of you and your dog (and I'm happy to read you're thinking about that).
Before you attack that with your sander PLEASE get a good respirator and not just a 50 cent dust mask. I mean, for 30 bucks why wouldn't you get good PPE, am I right?

And maybe consider leaving the fur baby inside for the first couple rounds of sanding because its going to look like a desert dust storm until you get through all that.

 

[tahu505]

I will be sanding outside and have the dog for company so don’t want to risk that.

In that case, that makes sense. You can work your way up in grits sanding the raw print and still get the same results. Just don't go up by more than about double the grit with each pass and work your way up.

For safety concerns, dry sanding any material produces dust that you do not want to breath in. I personally use a respirator whenever I dry sand. Wet sanding though, is safe to do without a respirator since the water catches all the dust particles before they can go in the air. Wet sanding is usually reserved for higher grits like 600 and up and is used to wash away fine dust particles as you sand to get more detail and polish. You can probably still wet sand at lower than 600 just to avoid particles going in the air. I'm not sure if that will make knocking down those first layers easier, harder, or just the same since it isn't typically done, but it doesn't hurt to try and find out.