Tydirium1 - Armor making from scratch.

[tydirium1[TK]]

Starting this thread to document my progress. Also to help others that are thinking about making armor. Hopefully pick up some advice from those who have gone before me.

[tydirium1[TK]]

homemade vacuum forming machine. Early going. Lots of modifications to be made. 24" ×24" with 6hp shop vac. Works good , but going for a vaccum pump probably around a 8 to 10 cfm. That will help to make deeper pulls with the thicker material. Also to add another mold or so and save on material.<br><br>

I'll be posting some pics of molds soon. They are very time consuming, but I will try to post some step by step mold making pics.

[tydirium1[TK]]

<br>

Just a little easy experience on making molds. Not final mold.

[tydirium1[TK]]

<br>

Some more experimental molds. Found out that the wrist end of the forearm needs to be bigger. Need to get a hand through that end . Great learning experience. Also, these were taken before the risers were added to the bottom of the molds. Very important to add risers if you want to get straight edges on your armor. Without them you end up with curved edges. A little thinking ahead. If using a shop vac you may have to use 1 inch or better risers.

[tydirium1[TK]]

Ok. So , using a 6hp shop vac worked pretty good. Still not giving the detail that I would like to see. So I'm switching over to 8 cfm vacuum pump and a 11 gal tank. I may have to add another tank as not to lose vacuum in the middle of a pull. Especially if I want to use a thicker material or when I get into some of the bigger pieces that require pulling out a bit more air. I would recommend using a vaccum pump type system to anyone that is serious about building nice looking armor. <br><br>

The added vacuum pressure may cause me to build a new platen , this time from 1/4 " aluminum. Let's see how that pans out.

Edited March 5, 2017 by tydirium1

[tydirium1[TK]]

Example of the lack of detail on the forearm. I even have holes drilled in the mold to assist in pulling the plastic into those detailed areas. The plastic is cooling before the vac can attain the detail. Stronger vacuum will pull faster , before the material cools past the point needed to get the detail.<br>

Also, these are still some practice molds and I may have to make these detailed areas a little deeper to get the proper look. Once I get the new vac system up and running then I'll be able to tell. Either way the shop vac is not strong enough to do what is required.

[Xinx[TK]]

Looking good. Nice progress.

Warming up your molds might help as well. This will slow down the cooling of the plastic and might give you some extra time for the details.

[Slayer6769[501st]]

Looks good!<br>

You might ask Walt or some of the other makers for some tips to help you.

Edited March 5, 2017 by Slayer6769

[tydirium1[TK]]

Thanks for the input guys. Much appreciated.

[tydirium1[TK]]

Ok. The vacuum forming machine works pretty good with the shop vac. I tried to replace the shop vac with a vaccum pump. I think in order to do that I'm going to have to build a new platen. The problem is, the platen that I have now has too much air volume. When I open the valve the system first has to evacuate the large volume of air before start to evacuate from around the mold. I would probably need 30 gal. worth of tank to do that and make a large pull. I think I'm going to hook the shop vac up to it and keep it that way. I'll build a whole new machine specifically for the pump and tank system. I wanted to upgrade the heating system anyway. Another good learning experience. When building a vacuum system , you have to be mindful of the volume of air that you are evacuating. It will save on time and extra equipment. I'll post later on that as I get started on it. I hope this keeps others from making similar mistakes.

Edited March 10, 2017 by tydirium1

[tydirium1[TK]]

Armor making has came to a halt for now. Gonna have to get a set of armor to get a better idea on how to make these molds. I just can't seem to get it to look right. A closer inspection of the real thing and some hands on is needed. Entirely too impossible to do simply by looking at pics. Hopefully by the end of the summer I'll have some armor to go ofF of and I can start carving some molds that are the proper size and shape. In the meantime I'll be working on some weapons. Perhaps I'll put together some short threads on those over in the weapons area. Or maybe just some pics. Let's face it . Every trooper should have a weapons locker full of cool fire power. Can't wait to get started on the armor again. For now I wait on BBB day. For more than one reason.

[TS280]

Just a few tips that work for me, are using risers under the molds to lift them up higher off the platen, and actually raising the platen helped a ton. I raised my platen up an extra 1 1/2 in from where it used to.  It seems to help the plastic seal, it stretches almost 2 in above the edge of the clamping frame.  I also use a 60 gal storage tank.  hope that might help, happy pulling...

[Briareous117]

Very cool!  I'm in the same boat as you.  Although I have not as of yet started on my molds.  Did you use MDF?

[Briareous117]

Which specific pump did you use for your build?

[tydirium1[TK]]

I have used MDF. Not too hard to use but you some times have to use some Bondo on the mold to keep it from looking wavy. When sanding the MDF sands more easily than the glue does. Most times you have more than one piece of MDF glued together. After sanding you end up with small ridges where the glue is. So you have to use bondo then more sanding to smooth it out.

[walt[501st]]

Hi  

first. Take your time   Go slow and really enjoy the ride 

your done when your done ( gino told me that )

anyway.  You will need a tank for the pump.  A pump alone won’t work all that well unless your CFM is way higher    And as you  probably  Know now. The higher the CFM the higher the cost on the pump    So with a tank added you will take care of that problem 

 I don’t use wood molds just because where I live.  Way to much moisture and the the heat from the plastic just splits them 

but what I did. Is instarted with plaster    It’s cheap  and you can form a few pulls off it before it brakes.  But enough to get your sized up correctly    You can add and sand down  form that and try it  till it fits.  Then go in for your details    And best advice I got from troooer master is go for  accuracy  Right off the bat   Or you will find your self later on just redoing it to make it right 

most of all ..... don’t give up.  It’s a lot harder to do then most people think 

 

oh.  Also make sure your venting that area real good     I run 2 to 3 fans to move fresh air in 

 

let me know now if you have any other questions along your way

 

Walt

[tydirium1[TK]]

22 hours ago, walt said:

Hi  

first. Take your time   Go slow and really enjoy the ride 

your done when your done ( gino told me that )

anyway.  You will need a tank for the pump.  A pump alone won’t work all that well unless your CFM is way higher    And as you  probably  Know now. The higher the CFM the higher the cost on the pump    So with a tank added you will take care of that problem 

 I don’t use wood molds just because where I live.  Way to much moisture and the the heat from the plastic just splits them 

but what I did. Is instarted with plaster    It’s cheap  and you can form a few pulls off it before it brakes.  But enough to get your sized up correctly    You can add and sand down  form that and try it  till it fits.  Then go in for your details    And best advice I got from troooer master is go for  accuracy  Right off the bat   Or you will find your self later on just redoing it to make it right 

most of all ..... don’t give up.  It’s a lot harder to do then most people think 

 

oh.  Also make sure your venting that area real good     I run 2 to 3 fans to move fresh air in 

 

let me know now if you have any other questions along your way

 

Walt

Thanks for the advice Walt. And by the way , I just got approved for the 501st with one of your ANH TKs. 

[walt[501st]]

Oh.  Look at that!