SUPERprops
Sr Member
I think the reflective is good because, unless your looking real close to the visor, you won't be able to see through it.
Daft Punk Thomas Helmet -- Skipped a few chapters
- Thread starter tekparasite
- Start date
tekparasite
Member
I'm using 1/32" PETG Thermoform Plastic Sheets
At the moment, I'm leaving it as-is until I can get some lights inside the helmet and my head in it.
I'll be as detailed as possible while capturing my successes and failures. :cool
Rabid Irish
Active Member
Great job! You seem to be getting the same results as I have with the RIT dye. It is definitly my preffered method for tinting with flawless results, and yes temperature is absolutly critical. I always use a test peice reguardless of what the thermometer says. I would be willing to bet that Daft Punk's helmet builders use this method for their visors as well.
Can't wait to see more progress, keep it up!
Can't wait to see more progress, keep it up!
tekparasite
Member
So now let's take a look at the sub-visor.
As I had stated before, this is what I plan on using for subvisor
Unlike the visor piece, the unit above only covers a portion of the visor area.
I bought this 4" x 10" bare prototype (peg) board as a template. I marked with a Sharpie the first panel of LEDs (8x8).
Here is the same template with all panels marked (8x32)
..and here's my fancy "workbench"
The setup consisted of a piece of foam underneath the visor to prevent scratches and save drill bits.
The nice thing about the subvisor material is that I can flatten it, and it will bounce back to its original form. So, I taped the subvisor to the foam and sawhorse to prevent movement.
Then, I clamped the template prototype board as such
The drill bit I used was #67 (I believe). I sourced this drill bit from a local hobby store that has a train department. I just took a piece of prototype board and tried different drill bits thicknesses until I found one that worked.
I used my dremel for this task, but I had to use a special collet for grasping the smaller drill bit. Any hardware supply store should have a 5-piece collet kit for around $6.
It was time for some drilling. First panel went without flaws.
Moving at a slow steady pace just letting the weight of the dremel do the push down force and at the lowest speed all the panels were drilled. The foam underneath was excellent as it provided enough room to 'catch' the drill before the drill bit hit any of the harder wood underneath.
I had bought 3 bits (at $1 each) anticipating some drill breakage, but I'm glad to say, one drill bit was enough for the job. :thumbsup
Here's a picture of the finished product.
Now, I realize there is more room on top than the bottom, and this was done on purpose as I still needed to make room for the headers.
Here's a picture of the sub-visor with the header holes already drilled and extra material trimmed.
I'm NOT doing multiple pieces, so I'll move forward with the project with this piece. If something goes wrong, I'll revert back to this step.
Happy so far with the sub-visor.
As I had stated before, this is what I plan on using for subvisor
Unlike the visor piece, the unit above only covers a portion of the visor area.
I bought this 4" x 10" bare prototype (peg) board as a template. I marked with a Sharpie the first panel of LEDs (8x8).
Here is the same template with all panels marked (8x32)
..and here's my fancy "workbench"
The setup consisted of a piece of foam underneath the visor to prevent scratches and save drill bits.
The nice thing about the subvisor material is that I can flatten it, and it will bounce back to its original form. So, I taped the subvisor to the foam and sawhorse to prevent movement.
Then, I clamped the template prototype board as such
The drill bit I used was #67 (I believe). I sourced this drill bit from a local hobby store that has a train department. I just took a piece of prototype board and tried different drill bits thicknesses until I found one that worked.
I used my dremel for this task, but I had to use a special collet for grasping the smaller drill bit. Any hardware supply store should have a 5-piece collet kit for around $6.
It was time for some drilling. First panel went without flaws.
Moving at a slow steady pace just letting the weight of the dremel do the push down force and at the lowest speed all the panels were drilled. The foam underneath was excellent as it provided enough room to 'catch' the drill before the drill bit hit any of the harder wood underneath.
I had bought 3 bits (at $1 each) anticipating some drill breakage, but I'm glad to say, one drill bit was enough for the job. :thumbsup
Here's a picture of the finished product.
Now, I realize there is more room on top than the bottom, and this was done on purpose as I still needed to make room for the headers.
Here's a picture of the sub-visor with the header holes already drilled and extra material trimmed.
I'm NOT doing multiple pieces, so I'll move forward with the project with this piece. If something goes wrong, I'll revert back to this step.
Happy so far with the sub-visor.
Thermistor
Active Member
Brilliant! I was wondering how I was going to put one of those in my Tron Guy-Man helmet. The way you did the holes is perfect.
FIREWIRE
Member
hey tekparasite. I spoke to you on youtube yesterday. This is looking awesome. i can tell this thread is going to be a lifesaver when the time comes to do this myself...
did you ever consider cutting 5mm holes in your sub visor and mounting the leds through the plastic from the rear? its just that this is the way i had planned tackling the led matrix and wondered if you had opted for this way due to issues etc.
i suppose that the if you require a clear sub visor, and mount it my way, the light from the leds may travel along the plastic and create a red band of light.
also, does the 32/8 led matrix you bought from sure 3 or 5mm leds?
did you ever consider cutting 5mm holes in your sub visor and mounting the leds through the plastic from the rear? its just that this is the way i had planned tackling the led matrix and wondered if you had opted for this way due to issues etc.
i suppose that the if you require a clear sub visor, and mount it my way, the light from the leds may travel along the plastic and create a red band of light.
also, does the 32/8 led matrix you bought from sure 3 or 5mm leds?
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SUPERprops
Sr Member
LOL...I'm glad I(as of right now) do not have to drill all of those holes. Now I know to buy a drill press before I try this project!!! haha well done!
tekparasite
Member
The more tools you have the better. However, drilling these holes was a 15 min operation. It took me longer to mark the holes in the template, than the actual drilling. The template pretty much guided where the holes needed to be. The key to all of this is preventing the template + visor from moving. Again, the visor was so thin that just the weight of the dremel was enough to puncture the visor (even at the lowest speed), so before you know it, you'll be ready to move to the next hole.
In my opinion, ""painful and tedious" :sick are the steps to follow which are installing all those LEDs and finalizing the matrix. :confused
tekparasite
Member
After doing the holes in the sub-visor, I couldn't wait to start on the matrix build. However, I had to stop myself from jumping into things without giving it some thought.
My main concerns were:
Took a piece of black foam sheet and punched a hole big enough to insert an LED through it. I used this foam sheet because it blocks light 100%
SAMPLE A) Untouched LED
SAMPLE B) LED with black paint in the back of it.
SAMPLE C) LED with a piece of prototype perf board
Results:
Sample A) Yes. There is enough light that shines back to the subject. It may not look like a lot but think about 250+ LEDs shinning this light back.. will be NO BUENO. :confused
Sample B) Even though this LED had black paint for blockage, light still escaped even with a second coat! :angry
Sample C) Not a chance. Perf board just diffuses the light but it still gets through. :angry
Then it occurred to me. I'm using black foam as this material blocks light 100%, so why not use the punched out material to block this light?
Whoa!!! It worked. This material is awesome for blocking light. So I just took a standard hole puncher and got me 256 holes!!!
This is how the holes are being used:
So automagically, all my LEDs lined up for their Tuxedo. :love
Now, for the second problem:
How can I prevent damage to the sub-visor and now this foam from my HOT iron? For this, I opted to use perf board. So, I had to cut 1x2 soldering pads out of this perf board material.
It may not look like much but a lot of time was spent here:
I also had to cut some 1x8 for the headers as you may see in the picture above.
While at it, I created a base to prevent movement in the sub-visor. Just some plastic provided enough rigidness for this. I called this base.. "frog legs"
Mounted + Painted
... more to come
My main concerns were:
- How can I attach the LEDs without destroying the subvisor considering that I will have a HOT iron and plastic visor?
- Should I be concerned about light reflected back into the helmet (my eyes)?
Took a piece of black foam sheet and punched a hole big enough to insert an LED through it. I used this foam sheet because it blocks light 100%
SAMPLE A) Untouched LED
SAMPLE B) LED with black paint in the back of it.
SAMPLE C) LED with a piece of prototype perf board
Results:
Sample A) Yes. There is enough light that shines back to the subject. It may not look like a lot but think about 250+ LEDs shinning this light back.. will be NO BUENO. :confused
Sample B) Even though this LED had black paint for blockage, light still escaped even with a second coat! :angry
Sample C) Not a chance. Perf board just diffuses the light but it still gets through. :angry
Then it occurred to me. I'm using black foam as this material blocks light 100%, so why not use the punched out material to block this light?
Whoa!!! It worked. This material is awesome for blocking light. So I just took a standard hole puncher and got me 256 holes!!!
This is how the holes are being used:
So automagically, all my LEDs lined up for their Tuxedo. :love
Now, for the second problem:
How can I prevent damage to the sub-visor and now this foam from my HOT iron? For this, I opted to use perf board. So, I had to cut 1x2 soldering pads out of this perf board material.
It may not look like much but a lot of time was spent here:
I also had to cut some 1x8 for the headers as you may see in the picture above.
While at it, I created a base to prevent movement in the sub-visor. Just some plastic provided enough rigidness for this. I called this base.. "frog legs"
Mounted + Painted
... more to come
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tekparasite
Member
All LEDs were lining up to take their position:
So, the first column was quickly filled. From the picture below you can see how the layers are mounted. From the outside in: LED, Foam, Subvisor, Soldering Pad.
After the second column, I realized I was going to have my soldering iron ON for a long time. In order to speed up the process, I decided to install (glue) the soldering pads first, then bring the LEDs later. I used the header you see at the bottom of the pic as a guide. Even though the solder pads may look a bit crooked, this is not so important as the holes do line up perfectly AND the solder pad is smaller than the LED footprint. So the LED will hide this solder pad anyway.
Headers and the first set of traces were NEXT
First Panel - 1 Trace
I'm using 26 gauge wire for the traces above.
All my headers are installed
I have never done a matrix like this, so we'll see how it turns out.
Finally, a view from inside looking out.
More to come..
So, the first column was quickly filled. From the picture below you can see how the layers are mounted. From the outside in: LED, Foam, Subvisor, Soldering Pad.
After the second column, I realized I was going to have my soldering iron ON for a long time. In order to speed up the process, I decided to install (glue) the soldering pads first, then bring the LEDs later. I used the header you see at the bottom of the pic as a guide. Even though the solder pads may look a bit crooked, this is not so important as the holes do line up perfectly AND the solder pad is smaller than the LED footprint. So the LED will hide this solder pad anyway.
Headers and the first set of traces were NEXT
First Panel - 1 Trace
I'm using 26 gauge wire for the traces above.
All my headers are installed
I have never done a matrix like this, so we'll see how it turns out.
Finally, a view from inside looking out.
More to come..
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tekparasite
Member
:love
Oh yeah.. as you can see, I have fixed the dimple on the cheek.
Oh yeah.. as you can see, I have fixed the dimple on the cheek.
tekparasite
Member
Hmmm.... I actually did not consider doing the 5mm holes not because I saw flaws in that, but because it didn't occur to me. :lol
I'm sure that's a good option however, I still would have gone with my approach for the following reasons:
1) I don't have a precise drill with laser markings.
2) With my approach, there is no measuring as the template dictates where the holes need to go.
3) I always like to keep as much of the visor 'meat' material as possible.
I'm using 3mm LEDs from Sure Electronics.
I was wondering why mine seemed so much more crowded than yours! I'm using 5mm, and I honestly think that 3mm is the way to go for this instead. The 5's will look pretty bulky, but I don't think they'll provide much more light than the 3's
Beautiful work man, glad to see one of my buckets being treated so well! I may have to steal your foam idea...
tekparasite
Member
Volpin...
Let me clarify something. The LEDs that are mounted on my sub-visor are 5mm. The answer I gave FIREWIRE regarding 3mm has to do with the pre-fab LED board from SureElectronics.net as seen below.
The boards come with 5mm or 3mm LEDs, but it doesn't matter because I won't be using the LED matrix panels from the sure electronics board. I'm using that board for 'brains' only.
In my opinion, the reason why mine looks more spaced out is becuase I went with 8x32 and yours is 8x40. That's 64 more than mine.
Thanks for the comments.:thumbsup
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FIREWIRE
Member
looking fantastic :O for some reason i want to touch it lol
Thanks for answering my Qs, Just bought the board off ebay for $10 so im all set haha
i just pray to god you are going to do a wiring schematic for this
-
Its interesting that you chose this back mounting method for your leds and volpin chose the way i had mentioned... itl be interesting to see if this has any effect once fitted...
keep up the good work
Thanks for answering my Qs, Just bought the board off ebay for $10 so im all set haha
i just pray to god you are going to do a wiring schematic for this
-
Its interesting that you chose this back mounting method for your leds and volpin chose the way i had mentioned... itl be interesting to see if this has any effect once fitted...
keep up the good work
Risu
Master Member
I'm not sure if you answered this already, but how are you planning on fitting the Sure Electronics board inside the helmet? I finally checked the thing out and was blown away by how inexpensive it is. That sealed the deal on which method I'm going to follow for my build, but I can't bring myself to invest any more until I know for sure there's a way to fit the thing in there with my head.
tekparasite
Member
No, I haven't answered that question because I simply don't know, but it does seem to fit in the back. I will tackle that later and let you guys know. I don't blame you for holding off on the investment.
I think both methods will provide the same end results. It's just a difference on what holds the LED to the visor.i just pray to god you are going to do a wiring schematic for this
Its interesting that you chose this back mounting method for your leds and volpin chose the way i had mentioned... itl be interesting to see if this has any effect once fitted...
As I stated in the beginning, I will try to disclose everything including my failures..:lol
So, if you have a question -- ask away.
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