Vacu-Formed Odst Visors

[B1ahh]

Hey 405th

I found out that my school had a vacuum-forming machine so I decided to try and make some ODST visors.

We had this plastic already on had (Not sure what it was called but I can ask) and it seemed good enough to use.

I tried 4 times and I got 2 decent visors and 2 that got "folded" as they were vacuumed. Out of the 4, only 1 came out nice and clear enough to look through without difficulty. Does anyone know how I could make the quality more consistent?

First pull. Ignore the AstroTurf it's part of a project that covers the whole table

The 4 visors and the mold cut from the Med. def version of rundowns ODST pep.

The clearer visor.

aaand.. the less clear visor.

The other 2 visors have these folds that formed when the plastic was being vacuumed. This is the largest fold. The last visor's folds are smaller and less noticeable.



The less clear visor is thicker and stronger while the clearer visor is really thin and easy to bend. I'm guessing the vacuum stretched the plastic out more when the clearer one was made.

 

[Indigo Cow]

They look great, for your problem it is probably the plastic you are using and the only thing you could do to find which works best is experiment. Good luck.

 

[this is haji]

One thing i noticed, try not to over heat the plastic . i read A very thin thin thin coat of vasaline also works but im gonna give soapy water a try too

 

[Flyerfye]

I'd agree with Indigo Cow that it's probably the plastic you're using. I know we have some members around here who do a lot of ODST visors (Sean Bradley is probably your best bet), maybe you could ask them about what type/thickness of plastic they prefer?

 

[Akademee]

I wish my school had a vaccu-former...

 

[B1ahh]

Thanks for the info guys
I'll give it another shot when the school year starts up again.
I think I'll re work the visor mold so it'll fit better and maybe sand it and seal it with a clearcoat to keep it smooth.
I was pressed for time to use the machine so I literally spent a few hours sanding and bondo-ing the night before LOL
I primed it, painted it chrome (for the hell of it ;D) and then gave it a clear coat, but for some reason the paint.. dissolved?
So yeah.. Had to sand it all back down with some 60grit..

A plus is that my tech-design teacher happens to be the tech-construction teacher as well so maybe we'll be bringing the CNC machine back!
Gonna see if I can get some weapons and/or armor pieces cnc'd/built out of wood

Anthony

 

[MikyVengeance]

Hey! I'm look for an ODST visor!, are you willing to sell me one?

 

[B1ahh]

Hey! I'm look for an ODST visor!, are you willing to sell me one?

Aha, yeaaah sure!
Won't be able to make any 'till September-ish though
I gotta make them at school, and I still need to figure out tinting. I bought a can of spray on tail light tint but it FAILS.. Waste of 30 bucks
I'll hit you up when I get some done

 

[link4044]

dont clear coat it, the paint will come off on to your plastic. wet sand your buck with 400 grit sand paper to get a nice smooth area and it will give your visor a nice clear look.

 

[samuel murray]

Can you buy tinted vacuum forming plastic? Just a thought

 

[kupokitty]

Get some Rit dye and use it on the visors. I think the dye has to be hot, but I'm not sure. Try asking Sean Bradley!

 

[c00ki3monster]

do u think i could trade something for that kind of visor, cause i need one really bad

 

[slawrence]

where can i find polystyrene?

 

[slawrence]

SO WOULD YOU RECOMMEND USING THE CLEAR VERSION, AND WHAT POLYSTRENE DID YOU USE, .40/.50?

AND YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN

 

[Scar405th]

nice i am gunna use this as referance

 

[Katsu]

Please don't necro post. This thread is over a year old.

 

[Scar405th]

its that old???? well thanks for telling me

 

[Katsu]

Yeah, if you look at the posts, they have a timestamp above the poster's name:

"01-20-2011 07:18 PM" was slawrence's post, the last one before yours.