Elumusic

Ok so besides finishing doing an eye pull with the new eye molds I'm about done. It has been a crazy experience. Here are some photos of my trimming job and fitting of the pieces. I am almost there with the ear buds but my eyes started crossing and I was just too tired to finish it up last night. I will start a new thread here fairly soon with the build of the helmet. I hope you all enjoyed the torture that was this project. In the end I am very satisfied with the results. This is a really nice helmet with great lines and symmetry. Again, thank you all for the help.

No progress this weekend. I am waiting for my supplies to come in. I ordered the rubber trim from Seals Direct. I have the paint coming and I still need to finish up the eye molds.

More on the eye molds. I smoothed the edges. I still need to work them a little more. They were a little fragile so I glued them down to cardboard. The goal here is to get a negative mold because I need a whole table full of these to make it worth while. So I will make the negative out of the HIPS and pour plaster into the molds and make multiple eyes and use some smoked acrylic on the vacuum table. Anything I should know about the acrylic????

Can you tell me the part numbers? I'll have them imported...lol.

I have a finish question.... Where do I find the rubber trim extrusion material? Any good sources here in the US?

Ok...Success!!! I want to thank every one of you guys for your support and guidance on this. So here is what I did this weekend. I created a way to attache the molds to the table via long screws and bracing in the molds. I also modified the vacuum system to include a compressed air connection to blow air back into the mold to help release it. And it worked. I still had to wrestle the helmet off the mold with constant air pressure, but what I got was perfect. I also started molding the eyes. I purchased some smoke colored acrylic and as soon as I finish the eye molds I will get these done next. Here are the bolts and cross bracing. I used the same holes in the table for both molds. The holes go all the way through and tighten with a wing nut underneath. When not in use I pull the bolts and use some duct tape below to seal the holes underneath. This is my modification to the vacuum lines and compressed air system. I used pvc valves to control the different systems. A little bit of webbing but nothing inside the usable areas. Face off the mold.....The detail is excellent. Ready for assembly. And last but not least...Here is the beginning of the eye molds to be done in smoked acrylic. I poured some sculpt-able plaster into the eye socket of the finished pull. Cooking spray to keep it from bonding to the plastic. I pulled the plaster when it was done and created a base out of plaster that was contoured like the back of the eye. I will still need to dremel the eye portion to make is smooth like a bubble and take into account that the thickness of the acrylic will need to fit into the eye socket.

Great plan...I will get the molds cross braced and screwed to the table. I'm also wondering if I am heating the plastic too long? and what thickness of plastic should I be using on the helmet? I am using .093 currently. In the next couple of days I will make another attempt after the modifications and then also try the heat gun for the face detail. And I am going to modify the vacuum lines to incorporate few valves to shut down the vacuum and allow compressed air to blow air back into the mold after the vacuum goes off. Should be fairly simple.

Nothing is attached to the board. The molds just sit on top of the vacuum table. Someone told me to add a ridge line across the front of the helmet that can be cut away and used as a gripping point. I'll try that with the talc next and also the suction cup.

They don't feel tacky at all. And no paint on the surfaces. I ordered a dent pulling suction cup 4.5" diameter, 110 lbs to get a grip on the top of the helmet. I don't know if it will work or not. But between that the talc I hope for the best. I just hope the top of the helmet is smooth enough to get a good grip with the suction cup.

I wonder if a glass workers suction cup would work? The front of the cap is the worst part. It is stuck down like glue. I'll try the talc powder. Everything is working perfectly and I am totally bummed out about not being able to pull the helmet off the mold. Talcum powder is next.

I use an older Dremel tool for sculpting my molds as well as trimming the plastic. I have almost worn it out. But for precision sculpting it works best in my opinion.

But how do I get it off the mold? puhlease help!!!

Good tips guys...I especially like the wood blocking idea. But as much as I agree with the heater on top, I am definitely not re-working my table at this time. That would have required a complete re-design of the table and the vacuum frame. Although the more I do this, the more I am thinking about that...ugh...errrrrr....... Ok so that being said, here is what I did to modify the heater. This worked wonderful and I got really great plastic sag. About 6 minutes of bake time on the plastic and then whipped the arm of the table over quickly to keep air into the sagging HIPS. It hit perfectly and I got no bad webbing. The face part came out great. Comes off the mold no problem. Great lines. But the helmet....guys I need help with this. I can't get the plastic off the helmet no matter if I blow air into the mold or not. I need to know how to get this off without destroying it. Here are the pictures. The oven is now 9" deep. I can get a really deep sag on the plastic without burning it. The face....a little webbing at the corner of the head but that was my fault. I didn't move quick enough and I let the plastic get a little too soft. The helmet...webbing only in the front where it gets cut off anyway.. No big deal here. The detail is great...but I can't get the damn thing off the mold. Disaster!

Update...This coming Friday I will be revamping the oven to allow a deeper sag in the plastic. And then I will do a new pull. I am expecting 100% success in the helmets....but then again crap happens.

I did a few more modifications to the face. I drilled a crap ton of holes in the problem areas and i noticed after I cut the eyes on the test pull that they were not close enough together. I also modified the eyes on the mold so someone can actually see out of the helmet. ha! I'm also making the oven a little deeper this weekend, probably about 4 inches. Thanks for all the help guys. This has turned into a chore. And I got some HIPS coming in today for a decent price. Round 3 this weekend?

You said it man...lol.

That totally helps.

Here is what I did last night. The pulls came out pretty good. I have decent detail, but the detail is still not getting pulled into the teeth and inside corners of the eyes. I am pretty sure it's because the plastic is not getting soft enough to go into the smaller places. And to add to this I added additional holes in between the teeth to try to get more suction, but it just won't do it. I have a five holes in each tooth and still no detail. This is why I am thinking the plastic is not getting soft enough. My next problem to solve will be the depth of the oven. the oven is only about 6" deep before the heating coils are on the plastic. I'm certain the depth needs to be much greater to allow the plastic to sag further down. So I will be re-doing the hardi-backer sides to get a deeper sag. At that point I am fairly certain this will be the final tweak.

Here is my progress for the weekend. I've cut down the face and helmet portions of the mold. I took just over two inches off the bottom of the face mold and increased the angle just a little. Face before: Face After: Helmet Before: Helmet After: I'm hoping to try my luck again in the next day or two depending on my schedule.

I failed to recognize that the surface of the plastic needs to meet the object parallel to each other. That will definitely change the angle of the mold.

Well by slop I assume you mean slope and logner....I'm not sure. lol. I think you are saying that the chin/mic tip areas should point straight up giving a steeper slope to the mold. I'm guessing about a 45 degree angle along the nose? That will cause me to have to cut the bottom giving less surface/height to the mold. Sounds like a plan to me. And then the helmet I was going to make slope at about 45 degrees as well.

What is a run off? The HIPS is .093. Oh...and the face locked onto the mold. I think I let it cool too long before pulling it off. Here is the face mold.

Weather conditions were great yesterday after work so I did a pull with the HIPS. And now I need some help troubleshooting the issues. As you can see by the photos there are really thin spots in the HIPS. Look at the last picture. This is a picture of the inside of the face with light shining through the thin spots. So my questions are was it too hot? not hot enough? I'm guessing too hot. And the last issue was the teeth detail. It didn't pull into the teeth all the way. That could be a vacuum issue and I need to make the holes a little bigger? And I think the draw on the mold was too deep meaning maybe I should cut about two inches off the bottom of the mold so I can have more material available. What do you guys think?? And here is the helmet portion. The draw over the helmet was good, but thin in the front and so thin on the one side toward the picture that it blew out and lost the vacuum. And the last question....is the Hips plastic really that lumpy? My molds are smooth but the plastic looks a little bumpy after it comes off the mold.

So...here's an update. I am doing all my pulls outside and the wind gusts were around 50 mph on Saturday. Sunday wind gusts were around 30 mph. The wind wicks into the oven and keeps the heater from heating evenly. This weekend was a no go. I did get the sheet cut down to 24"x24". I swear this will happen as soon as the weather and my life decides to cooperate. haha.