ANH HERO LENS

[keith]

Has nobody thought about offering an accurate hero vac formed lens?

I mean a one piece lens formed from thin shade 3 welders visor stuff with the correct amount of bubble to the lenses (not as bubbled as Jedi lenses).

 

Keith.

[pandatrooper[TK]]

Yes, I have.

 

I was thinking of making green and smoke lenses Hero style, but with the right properties:

 

- a curved, not flat domed shape (most I have seen are somewhat flat around the perimeter, and makes them hard to mount

- bubbled lens, but flatter near the inside corners, to make it easier to see

- I have a pair, but it's waaaay too thick to see through, so I'd use a smoke lens that's dark enough to cover the eyes, but not so dark to make it difficult to see

 

I know not a lot of people want bubble lenses, but no one currently offers a good solution.

 

It probably won't happen for a while, but it's something I've wanted to make for a while. If I can't find something I want that meets my needs, I'll tend to make it.

[Daetrin[Admin]]

My hero lenses were made by Mike A. While perhaps not 100% accurate (not vac formed), they're quality and I can see pretty good out of them.

 

I'd be curious to see what it really means to be "accurate".

[TK-4510[TK]]

I make hero lenses by heating the plastic with a heating gun and pressing them into the eye sockets of the faceplate. The trick is to keep rubbing the hot lens (with a glove) until it cools and also to make both sides match. Vacuum formed lenses that I have seen are very blurry to see through. Also I asked AA if the originals were vacuum formed along time ago and he said yes, but today they use injection molding on his hero lids as they are nice and sharp.

[Verne]

Maybe this picture of an original TIE pilot helmet could help (since it's the same faceplate as for the Hero helmet)

 

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Edited June 3, 2021 by gmrhodes13
link not working, removed gmrhodes13 2021

[troopermaster]

AA told me the bubble lenses were vac formed into a mould so the eyes popped out. This is easy to do if you have a control valve on your vac machine like I do, but I can only form 2' x 2' sheets at the moment. I searched high and low for green acrylic in 1mm but never found anything and gave up on the idea. Now I am forced to use way too thick 3mm perspex. It does the job, but not ideal.

[keith]

Paul,

 

The only green tinted perspex i could ever find is 3mm, but its the wrong shade anyway.

Can you vac form welders visors? I have one set of thin lenses that are shade 3 and they look spot on.

 

Keith.

[pandatrooper[TK]]

The problem is that the frame that holds the plastic for most vacform machines is much bigger than a welders visor. I have a trick for this that I might do, basically involves a custom plastic holding frame that would allow the use of welders visors for 'that perfect shade of green".

 

Either that, or getting a bigger sheet of plastic that's close to the right shade as possible, and making multiple bucks for the lenses, so that sets of 20 can be pulled in 1 shot.

[Verne]

Same problem Paul! 3mm is the less thick that I was able to found! Thus I guess that AA didn't use acrylic when he made the lenses for Hero and TIE pilot helmets.

 

According to the pic of the original TIE helmet, I'm sure that it's a thin material (less than 3mm)

[troopermaster]

I personally cannot pull a welders visor on my machine, though it might be possible on a small version.

[TK6540UKG]

I've used welding visors for bubble lenses before, but not on a vac former.

 

I use a heat gun, over a cutout in foamboard of the eye, and use a spoon to press the visor to the right shape.

 

Can sometimes get it right, sometimes not. A fraction too much heat and the visor looks like a chocolate Aero bar.

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

if you look at ainsworth's video, he used a reducer plate to make the forming area smaller.

then used a clamping frame that is smaller.

 

you can actually watch him form smaller lenses on the formech platen.