Anyone have suggestions for a CLEAN mesh install?

[Toothdoc]

Anyone have ideas and photos of their nice clean mesh (behind the teeth) installation?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

I've seen quite a lot of different ways to add mesh. I use a metal flywire mesh, cut larger than the teeth area so I can fold over, tape in place and add a couple of dabs of black silicon to hold it, normally in both corners then top and bottom in the middle.

 

 

I've seen tape used, velcro, silicon, hot glue, tabs and screws the list is endless  

 

Here are a few examples

 

 

Even gaffa tape

 

[Toothdoc]

Wow, Glen!  Several nice ones in that group.  That gives me some ideas.  Thanks for all the pics.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

My pleasure, troopers helping troopers

[TheRascalKing[TK]]

Here's my ESB bucket - a little strip of black 3M VHB-type tape between each tooth also works well!

 

Edited October 16, 2020 by TheRascalKing

[Quinquer[TK]]

Here's my ESB bucket - a little strip of black 3M VHB-type tape between each tooth also works well!
 

What are you using to cover all the inside surface of your helmet? It looks amazing!!!


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[TheRascalKing[TK]]

1 minute ago, Quinquer said:

What are you using to cover all the inside surface of your helmet? It looks amazing!!!

 

I'd like to believe that it gives my thin-ish Anovos buckets just a tiny bit of extra strength and impact resistance without going too crazy. Plus, yea I like the texture and finish (it doesn't scratch, peel, or chip), and velcro/etc. still stick to it just fine. Been using it for several years with positive results.  

[Quinquer[TK]]

 
I'd like to believe that it gives my thin-ish Anovos buckets just a tiny bit of extra strength and impact resistance without going too crazy. Plus, yea I like the texture and finish (it doesn't scratch, peel, or chip), and velcro/etc. still stick to it just fine. Been using it for several years with positive results.  

Thank you...It would be a good option to improve my helmet


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[Harder[TK]]

And where would an aspiring Trooper acquire said black steel mesh?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

49 minutes ago, Harder said:

And where would an aspiring Trooper acquire said black steel mesh?

Not sure what you guys use in the US but down under this mesh is used on windows, flywire we call it, so you can have your windows open to let air in but not bugs.

 

It also comes in non plastic which works just the same.

[TheRascalKing[TK]]

1 hour ago, Harder said:

And where would an aspiring Trooper acquire said black steel mesh?

Probably cheaper to go find it, but if you just wanna click...

 

https://trooperbay.com/trooper-helmet-frown-screen

[MaskedVengeance[Staff]]

And where would an aspiring Trooper acquire said black steel mesh?

If you’re in the contiguous US and PM me your mailing address I’ll send you some.


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[Ericnathan811[TK]]

On 10/16/2020 at 4:26 PM, TheRascalKing said:

 

I'd like to believe that it gives my thin-ish Anovos buckets just a tiny bit of extra strength and impact resistance without going too crazy. Plus, yea I like the texture and finish (it doesn't scratch, peel, or chip), and velcro/etc. still stick to it just fine. Been using it for several years with positive results.  

Oh it definitely gives the armor extra strength. Makes it  100% crack-proof! I can’t recommend people to spray the inside of their armor with it enough!!! Plus it looks really nice with the texture.

[TheRascalKing[TK]]

54 minutes ago, Ericnathan811 said:

Oh it definitely gives the armor extra strength. Makes it  100% crack-proof! I can’t recommend people to spray the inside of their armor with it enough!!! Plus it looks really nice with the texture.

PICS.

 

You forreal? I never thought about doing the whole suit and it probably does add some weight... but tell me more!?

[Sly11[Admin]]

It's piqued my curiosity!

[MaskedVengeance[Staff]]

I must know now myself as well, as I had planned on doing only the helmet with the bed liner. Any chance the darkened interior might affect the appearance of the white exterior from the outside, particularly in thinner areas? As Justin said, pics (or it didn’t happen). Lol. Jk.


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[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

I'd be really interested to see over time if there was any bleed through, some paint and thinners can react with ABS and colors can bleed.

 

I don't use the same paint/covering I normally just use enamel satin spray paint, doesn't reflect light having a dull finish and also doesn't affect the ABS, I made sure I tested that before using it.

 

Just for interests sake I saw this on a recent EIB request, looks like a material not a paint/coating but still very cool, I'm not sure how it will go with sweat though, can get pretty wet in there, I know I've removed my armor after a hot troop to find a waterfall of sweat inside the backplate and chest

 

 

 

[Harder[TK]]

 

16 hours ago, MaskedVengeance said:

If you’re in the contiguous US and PM me your mailing address I’ll send you some.


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Sent!

 

13 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

I'd be really interested to see over time if there was any bleed through, some paint and thinners can react with ABS and colors can bleed.

 

I don't use the same paint/covering I normally just use enamel satin spray paint, doesn't reflect light having a dull finish and also doesn't affect the ABS, I made sure I tested that before using it.

 

Just for interests sake I saw this on a recent EIB request, looks like a material not a paint/coating but still very cool, I'm not sure how it will go with sweat though, can get pretty wet in there, I know I've removed my armor after a hot troop to find a waterfall of sweat inside the backplate and chest

 

 

 

 

I like this!!  I want to offer some of my professional experience.  I am a degreed BS in ME specific to Polymer Science of Plastics.  Yes, most all plastics can experience some level of chemical reaction to paint.  There's "a way" to do it.  Example is all the plastic parts in the automotive industry.  I won't go into all the chemical formulas about how certain types of alcohol or specifically ethanol can render down the polymer chains of ABS from polymers to monomers.  Anyway, a thin coat of either clear or binder to the plastic before applying any color, will prevent any breakdown or bleeding.

 

Krylon brand paint has a couple extra carbon elements in the paint which help it grip and bind really good to plastic, especially ABS since it has a Carbon, Nitrogen, Hydrogen backbone.  You "can" use an acrylic paint if you like, however, I strongly suggest using an oil de-binder first, like Dawn dish soap, rinse, and let dry for at least 30-45 mins.. followed by light sanding to give it a rougher surface.

[Ericnathan811[TK]]

I think I’ll start a new topic and post pics there, I could also post pics of the crack test I did before I sprayed the armor!

 

However I am not at home for a while so it’ll have to wait a few days before I can show you!

[Toothdoc]

On 10/21/2020 at 3:11 PM, Ericnathan811 said:

I think I’ll start a new topic and post pics there, I could also post pics of the crack test I did before I sprayed the armor!

 

However I am not at home for a while so it’ll have to wait a few days before I can show you!

Thanks!  I’ll be interested in seeing your posts.

[Theeternaljafo]

I'm no expert but I used plasti-dip....$5 a can at home depot.  Its great stuff and I used lacquer thinner to clean the overspray off.  4 coats adds just enough weight to make it feel more substantial and cut out the sound a bit so the mic and hearing electronics don't feedback.

[BigJasoni[TK]]

On 10/20/2020 at 6:05 PM, gmrhodes13 said:

Not sure what you guys use in the US but down under this mesh is used on windows, flywire we call it, so you can have your windows open to let air in but not bugs.

 

It also comes in non plastic which works just the same.

 

Funny, last week this conversation came up on a FB group I follow. I used the technique Glen outlined on my 3d Print ROTK. The mesh fabric found at most hardware stores is a very flexible plastic that can easily be held in place with a few drops of hot glue. This is a very simple install. 

 

Please excuse the sloppy interior and the chips from where I dropped my bucket on the driveway.

The only issues I have with it is that all the window screen mesh I've found stateside appears to be square shaped rather than rectangular if that makes sense. Also, the fabric is not "woven" and seems thinner that what's available overseas. I told people that this mesh will hold you over, it's cheap and easily obtainable, but keep looking for something a little more accurate. One of the German members posted a pic of textilene mesh which is commonly used for outdoor furniture and seems to be a great option. Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I just looked at all the TK CRLs and they all simply say "mesh," but don't really specify the type or details.

 

This looks like some amazing work, but someone definitely needs to explain what's going on inside this bucket. Is this a black series conversion? It appears to have a regulated air system and pretty complex electronics, but I can't tell. 

On 10/10/2020 at 6:04 PM, gmrhodes13 said:

 

 

 

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Man, you guys are all hard core. I think I just used blue painters tape.  These are much nicer ideas.

[Sly11[Admin]]

I simply use black insulation tape so it is easy to remove the mesh and clean the inside of my helmet every now and then. It has never let me down.

[MaskedVengeance[Staff]]

Here's my own frown mesh install offering, with excerpts taken from my build thread.

 

To begin the process I first tried tracing the general shape of the frown onto a portion of clear sheet protector, which I previously used for my eye lens templates. Once I had a profile I was happy with I cut it out and dry fit it into the inside of my frown. After some additional trimming I then transferred the shape onto screen mesh and cut it out. [...] I wanted a clean and presentable solution, so I decided that I would obscure the edges of the mesh with a frame of sorts. Using my mesh template as a base, I cut spare craft foam (also used in my eye lens installation) [...] for the mesh "frame."

 

I then used leftover velcro installed inside my helmet (it seems to stick just fine on my textured truck bed coating surface), on both sides of the mesh, and on the foam frame, and here below you can see the process. The biggest reason I opted for velcro application is because I wanted the mesh to be easily removable, since I may need to work on my teeth paint some more, and to enable me to replace it with other mesh patterns (perhaps tighter) if wanted.

 

 

Though it looked ok, I didn't like that the frown now looked just like the eye lenses, so I decided to tray a different material for the frame. And actually just the mesh with the loop-sided velcro by itself without the frame look ok to me. Note: the foam appears too light in these photos, and is actually quite darker.

 

For my revised outline I use thin black plastic harvested from the bottom of an eco bag [...] Here is my revised template, which can also be found in my Google Drive folder or by clicking the photo below. The PDF can be printed at 100% on US letter size paper, or you can scale the sheet if necessary using the ruler I included in the scan. Note: this was fitted for my ATA kit, but I should also suffice for any TE-derived kit, and possibly any kit at all.