Hi I have a visor mold that is ready to be vacuformed for a cosplay helmet. I saw the Feb 10 class is full, as I havent taken the class yet, and just need a few visors made from this mold by Feb 13 for an event. Can anyone help? Also what type of clear plastic would I need?
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Since you’re not concerned with structural issues, or lubricity, or anything technical (I’m assuming here) - just cosmetics - you could use whatever plastic forms the easiest.
The Formech Vacuum Forming Guide is a great detailed resource for vacuum forming. There is a useful section on plastics starting on page 13.
It recommends first choices as being ABS or polystyrene, due to a wider range of forming temperature. Second choices are polyethylene or polypropylene.
Stay away from polycarbonate because we don’t have the means to “dry it” to prevent the bubbles. Similarly acrylic requires drying, is prone to shattering, and only extruded acrylic can be reliably vacuum formed
I’ve uploaded that guide and linked to it from the tools page on the wiki. There is also a table with forming times/temperatures for different sheet thicknesses.
If this is a clear visor, then you’ll need to give some serious thought to how to get the mold smooth enough to retain optical clarity in the formed plastic - or more likely, how to polish it afterwards to achieve that.
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I just asked Tim (Capt) and he says it’s okay for you to come to the 2/10/22 class anyway, since you’ve got such a short time frame.
John (really Chris) has given you some sound advice on clear plastic. Allied Plastic on Shady Trail is where we usually buy plastic. They are usually very helpful folks, and may have a recommendation. I believe that there are a couple of other vendors that are listed on our wiki.
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Thank you so much! Ill look into the plastics listed.
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