Venting the bucket...

[Darth_Nickel]

Has anyone cut vents in their bucket in addition to the nose vents.

 

I was looking at my bucket (after a sweaty mess of a troop last night) and thinking about additional vents to get some of the hot air out of the bucket (no jokes please )

 

I'm thinking of cutting the black lines in the back decals and the cheek traps (with putting the same black mesh behind them like the nose vents). Perhaps adding an additional fan or just letting them breath naturally.

 

Before I venture out into this mod, I thought I would check to see if anyone has tried, and if not why... Am I heading into a disaster?

[Stealth_Trooper_Pablo]

i have seen someone do this to their bucket (not in person mind) and it looked good!

 

they had done like you suggested, the back decals and instead of the cheek traps, they had cut out the tube stripes.

 

might consider doing it on my TX lid

[Eugene[501st]]

I did this for my bucket and it really help. I removed the rear decals and dremeled the vents, then I repainted the area. Inside I put some screen (same as in the frown). I also hot glued fans here so that one takes in air and the other sends it out. Works pretty well, keeps my face dry.

 

Good luck.

 

Eugene

[Trooperdad]

I'm in the process of doing this now. I'm currently building an FX suit and helmet for one of my sons. First, I made a copy of the rear decals and taped on the helmet and cut with my dremel on one of the rear stickers. However, when I put the sticker on, the lines didn't line up--doh! I haven't had time to revisit it yet to see how I can fix it. I put the rear sticker on the other side and am thinking of cutting through the sticker and making the vent holes. If the sticker gets messed up, then I'll mask off the area and paint it gray just like the frown and use my pin-stipe tape to outline it and it'll look fine. I will also put black mesh behind it.

 

I've seen this done on another trooper's helmet in our garrison and it was done so well I couldn't tell they were cut out until I was actually right behind his helmet posing for a photo and he was in front of me! Either way, I think it's a great mod and I'm looking forward to doing it to the back stickers only--I'm not brave enough to do the front cheek vents too.

[TK7903[501st]]

I like the idea of this mod.

 

I'd be intrested in seeing progress pics.

[TK8280]

Personally I like to suffer in my helmet

[Darth_Nickel]

well... I got the tip for the dremel stylus. I'm looking at those tiny thin lines now....

 

I did practice on another piece of ABS. I'm finding that it's melting the ABS and clogging the tip. Am I using the wrong type of cutter? It's a 1/32" Round Tip Cutter/Engraver tip. I need something very small/thin, but I need it to cut the ABS.

 

ideas?

[bobby fletcher]

well... I got the tip for the dremel stylus. I'm looking at those tiny thin lines now....

 

I did practice on another piece of ABS. I'm finding that it's melting the ABS and clogging the tip. Am I using the wrong type of cutter? It's a 1/32" Round Tip Cutter/Engraver tip. I need something very small/thin, but I need it to cut the ABS.

 

ideas?

 

The plastic is going to melt, if you try and power threw so to speak; if you do a little drilling at a low speed, then let it set till the plastic cool's then repeat till you have your vent hole.

[Trooperdad]

I revisited my helmet venting tonight and got some good progress on it. Here's what I did:

 

1) tools I used are the following, dremel with fine cutting blade, thin miniature hacksaw blade, a thin file about 1/16" thick and tapering at the end, and a new blade on a hobby knife

 

 

2) this is definitely a "post assembly" mod since I cut right through the vinyl sticker and it was very helpful as a precise guide. First I drilled small holes at the end of each black line. Then I cut 1 pass with the dremel rotary blade (this takes a very steady hand but is doable). Then I used the small hacksaw blade to cut to the very ends where I drilled the holes. Next came the thin fine file (you could almost use your wife or girlfriend's emery board she uses on her fingernails). Finally, I trimmed the melted and filed overflash with the tip of the new hobby blade (must be very careful here or you will shave off too much).

 

 

The above photos show half of the holes filed out and the other half after I've used the dremel and the hack saw blade. I used the black lines as a guide for how much to file off--when the black is gone you've filed enough. IMPORTANT--you must keep your other hand/fingers behind the vent while you file because it seems very brittle and could easily break (at least it felt that way). I still have to finish all me vent holes and then I want to paint the inside walls black and apply some black screen behind the holes.

 

I like the idea of putting in an exhaust fan--very cool and I think I'll do that with one fan pulling in fresh air in the front. I can see myself modding my first FX helmet the same way. I'll post more photos as I keep going.

 

ENJOY!

[john danter]

Clever boy! Great idea. Black tight behind that, paint the insides black, no one will know

 

I think Darth Nickel asked this on therpf too? There I suggested maybe cutting out behind our ear antenna and using a gap in the gap of them to help with air flow. In/out

 

Loving this mod though. clever stuff

[Darth_Nickel]

I did post this over at the RPF as well (there was not much action on this thread, and I needed to do something) I really need some more air in my bucket.

 

Don,

 

Your bucket looks great. I started mine last night as well. I didn't get nearly as far as you did. I'm using a Dremel Stylus and a 1/32 engraving/cutter on a low setting and hobby knife. I too used the decal as the guide. I used the dremel to score the line (which has to be done multiple times), and the hobby knife to make sure it's clean. It took me about 20-25 mins per line (ouch). A steady hand in VERY important. So I?m estimating this mod to take me 6-8 hours total to complete. <_<

[Sandman[TK]]

It looks fantastic, OMG!! I think I would be too nervous to try this myself. I would likely mess it up.

[Ranger]

All I have done is cut vents in the "frown" and place two fan next to it to circulate air.

[TK-2126_MD[TK]]

Hey Don

Do you have any picture of all the vents done, finished.

That would be nice to see how they look after all the touch ups are done.

And is the area of the vents, did it seem to loose steadyness with all the cuts?

that would be my only consern for this mod.

[Darth_Nickel]

I'll take a picture of mine tonight. I don't think it came out as nice as what Don's was looking, but it's not bad. My vent's don't appear to cause the area to become weak. I was actually out on a troop last Friday and the guys didn't even notice. I asked them about it later, and once I said something about it and showed them they realized what I did.

 

When painting the insides of the vents.... which was in my opinion the hardest part of the mod.... I had to get pretty creative and start looking at all my options. It was VERY difficult to paint the inside of the vents black and NOT get any paint on the decals. So needless to say, I got paint on the decals. The solution..... and it sounds crazy..... paint the decals....(I didn't remove them, just painted them....)

 

I hope the pictures come out well. It really does look pretty good in person. (outside of the initial mistakes I made when building up the bucket and applying the decals originally... )

[Darth_Nickel]

as promised....

 

 

 

 

[Trooperdad]

Here's my finished rear vent photos. I think it turned out well for my first time doing this mod. Yuo can see in the close ups some of the scratches on the vinyl stickers and the fine details of the cuts. However, from a few feet away, most people are not going to even notice it. Another mod I made to the FX bucket was to cut 1/8" - 3/16" off the top of the front and rear helmet pieces to make it a little less tall. I also painted the inside black which I really like the effect contrast from the stark white exterior.

 

Darth Nickel: I painted the inside of my vents by putting blue painters tape over the outside after I had smoothed out the vent sidewalls. I made sure the tape was as tight and smooth as possible and I didn't have any paint leakage. Afterward, there were some spots that didn't get paint that I took my smallest model paint brush and some black paint and did some touch up work--you can even see where some of the paint smeared on the outside of the sticker (I think painting by had was harder than the spray paint). And, my "10 foot rule" nobody will even know except my cool head!

 

Enjoy!

 

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img

[Darth_Nickel]

Don, you are 100% right. I thought about spray paint (actually it's what I used, I just didn't spray it). I'm glad to see that you had some of the same issues I had (it was REALLY tough to get all the insides of the vents covered)

 

The 10 foot rule is great. Actually the 6 inch rule in person is great. The flash on the camera is VERY unforgiving (you can see so much more close-up) In person, honestly if you didn't know it, you would never know those decals were cut. In the flash (if you look close) you can see a slight shade difference in the gray paint vs the decals. You can't see that at all in person.

 

Your vents are much cleaner than mine, you did a great job

 

All in all, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It's not perfect. It really looks different in person, so please don't judge 100% by the photos. I'm installing some fans now to really get my monies worth. I can't wait.

 

I would love to hear some more comments from people viewing this. I tried to give a little more "distance" on a couple of shots to help demonstrate.

[john danter]

Great work

 

I'm tempted I really am. For this to work it needs to be so spot on.

 

I'd suggest a metal stopping bar stuck inside to help you get the cuts all the same length. Stop when it reaches the bar.

 

I have few lids in kit form and can easily make a new top dome so I may give this a go too

 

Summer lid!

 

Can I post these pics up on the UKG board to gauge an opinion dude?

[Dargas[501st]]

I?ll do it myself this weekend... here goes nothing!!!

 

Wish me luck...i?m not that good with dremmels.

 

 

We?ll see what happens.

 

Dargas

[Trooperdad]

Thank you all for the comments.

 

John:

A stop bar is a great idea! I like it because that was a really hard part just using the vinyl sticker as a guide. I also have to say you have to control your strokes very carefully--you can see where I slipped and made a scratch.

 

Also, I made this mod BEFORE helmet assembly so I only had to work with the dome and it was much easier. However, I am seriously thinking of doing this to my already assembled FX helmet. One of the key things to getting paint to stick evenly to the sidewalls of the vents you cut is to use fine sandpaper to smooth them out after filing and cutting (I mean 400 grit and finer). Sometimes all you can stick in the vent is a piece of folded up sandpaper, but it makes a difference.

 

Good luck to all cool headed troopers!

[john danter]

Thank you all for the comments.

 

John:

A stop bar is a great idea! I like it because that was a really hard part just using the vinyl sticker as a guide. I also have to say you have to control your strokes very carefully--you can see where I slipped and made a scratch.

 

Thinking about it further you could actually use a cloth and flat rare earth magnets to help you as a guide too?

I own ones that that 2 inches long, so perfect!

 

These could just be placed on either side and use the sticker as your guide for the magnet edge and away you go

 

I may try this myself now

[Darth_Nickel]

Great work

 

I'm tempted I really am. For this to work it needs to be so spot on.

 

I'd suggest a metal stopping bar stuck inside to help you get the cuts all the same length. Stop when it reaches the bar.

 

I have few lids in kit form and can easily make a new top dome so I may give this a go too

 

Summer lid!

 

Can I post these pics up on the UKG board to gauge an opinion dude?

 

Perhaps a link to this board (drive some mebership????)

 

I'm fine with you sharing my photos. It's all about spreading ideas and helping people.

[TK4205]

Exelent work there.

[1226[501st]]

I can definitely confirm that extra vents really do work. I made my custom sculpted helmet with real vents from the start - and they work just fine. I only did the back of the dome, not the cheeks, though. Hot air always goes up, and that means there's always air circulation inside my bucket.

 

I think the pics in my 'custom sculpt' thread should still be up...