Yeah, He bought an industrial vacuum former previously used in the automotive industry at Volvo(which incidently is where I perform my dayjob).
New Martian helmet model and build
- Thread starter Empiricus
- Start date
Yeah, that could work. Probably PETG, don't you think?
So, I felt inspired and went ahead to make a head harness thingy as well for my build. It's made to incorporate into my design without making any changes to the helmet itself and works pretty well I fell. I will make the files available for everybody who's bought my files on my Etsy and also here on my build-thread as soon as I've done one last testprint to iron out some last wrinkles.
Attachments
Yaan
Active Member
I can help you out with a print on a DLP resin printer. Located in Germany.
Thank you so much for the offer. I am in Germany only a few times a year.
A great benefit to blow molding the dome like WETA did, is that you end up with a clearer bubble. When you vacuform into or over a form, you can pick up surface imperfections from the slightest bit of dust to sanding scratches. Your form has to be absolutely perfect and clean. It's do-able, but inherently less clear.
I am building the setup to try. Only problem is find to 3-4mm (0.118-0.177in) PETG sheet 24x18 inches at a decent price? There will be quite a few trials I am sure. Can't efford to spend hundreds of dollars on this. The resellers seem to mark things up 50-100 fold from it cost to get the stuff from china.
You could also use acrylic sheet.
It's a bit more brittle than PETG, but the clarity is better. PETG has an ever-so-slight blue color to it, but it does vacuform really well.
So they both have their pros and cons.
It's a bit more brittle than PETG, but the clarity is better. PETG has an ever-so-slight blue color to it, but it does vacuform really well.
So they both have their pros and cons.
Thanks will try it is half the price much more common in that size as picture frames. Maybe I get away with 3mm thickness
I hope it works! I'm loving watching your build come together.
Looks really clean, great print quality I have to say!
Had to increase the Chinese characters a little but otherwise the 0.2mm nozzle worked out nicely for this.
Very cool. That is a heavy duty machine. Don't think it thinned out much. Barely made it at the bottom. Do you know what material was used for the buck?Finally got my dome formed yesterday, Took a good amount of time to get it done but it's finally on it's way
There's a short clip of it forming on my Instagram
View attachment 1021711
As it turns out, the most tricky part I find, is the Emergency oxygen-text. It's really hard to keep the detail while adding primer/filler/paint and try to make the print-layers invisible. I'd had to redo my latest build a couple of times by removing the paint by airbrushing acetone locally over the text. Quite a messAnyway, my advice is not add any radii to text-edge I guess.
What about printing the text area separately, placing it onto the helmet in a recessed area modeled into the main helmet and then just blending in the seams?
