Helmet padding material?

[FakeBritishAccent]

I'm working on a helmet that's gonna need serious padding. I'm thinking forehead, ears and top of the head, just to keep it from scooching around and allow me to whip my head to the left and right without it spinning out of control. I was initially going to tear out the padding from a hard plastic batting helmet, but does anyone have a cheaper and more reliable alternative? Thanks i advance!

-Jonaas

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

I'm working on a helmet that's gonna need serious padding. I'm thinking forehead, ears and top of the head, just to keep it from scooching around and allow me to whip my head to the left and right without it spinning out of control. I was initially going to tear out the padding from a hard plastic batting helmet, but does anyone have a cheaper and more reliable alternative? Thanks i advance!

-Jonaas

I´d hit a local DIY market to see what they have in their insulation aisle. Any foam that´s soft should work and it´s cheap, you can cut it to size.
Have a look at the various WIP´s of helmets, especially the X-Wing helmets go the foam route quite often.


Michael

 

[Chiok]

Could find a cushion made of a single piece of foam and cut that up into strips, like cushions for garden furniture and the like. I bought a load of kneeling mats (as in the kind you kneel on when working in the garden or scrubbing the floors) from a Wilkinsons which are a hardish foam that I've used for padding, but it might be too firm for the head. A slice of firm foam under softer foam gives a sort of half-and-half.

 

[Darth Lars]

A hard hat helmet liner makes the helmet sit sturdy and gives good airflow. Attach the clips with self-adhesive velcro, but make sure that the liner you get doesn't have wierd clips without enough surface.
Some people find it to be too uncomfortable, though. There are replacement sweat bands available that has padding that makes it easier for some to wear.

If there is not much room inside the helmet, then you could use cut-up foam knee pads. This is common among those trooping in Stormtrooper/Clonetrooper/Boba Fett helmets.

If you use foam, with open pores, then I suggest that you clad them with (fake) leather so that they can not get soggy with sweat.
I agree with using both soft and hard foam!
I did not pay a penny for the foam in my helmets. All of it had been used to line boxes of equipment at work. The tiny amount of fake leather I used to clad it with cost less than the tube of contact cement that I used to put it together.

 

[UKscout]

I'm using these knee pad inserts, in black to line my helmet

 

[Funky]

I'm using these knee pad inserts, in black to line my helmet

Hey, those even look like padding you would use on a space helmet! Would you share what name brand they are?

 

[Raffles]

For most helmets I use strips and squares cut from 1.5" upholstery foam I got for about $4 a square yard. I just glue some cheap black cotton around it with a hot gluegun and plonk some velcro on the back. It lets you adjust the padding for a perfect fit and When it gets manky you can pop it in the wash.

 

[KevVader]

I'm working on a helmet that's gonna need serious padding. I'm thinking forehead, ears and top of the head, just to keep it from scooching around and allow me to whip my head to the left and right without it spinning out of control. I was initially going to tear out the padding from a hard plastic batting helmet, but does anyone have a cheaper and more reliable alternative? Thanks i advance!

-Jonaas

This is what I did for an early Vader helmet that I had. Lengths of pipe insulation cut to fit and felt lined foam for the cheek pads....worked well & inexpensive.

 

[Loess]

For a really nice fitting helm, add a chinstrap to your padding method of choice. Once the padding is snug and comfy, the chinstrap will make sure that it stays put on your head, no coming off or rotating around at all.

 

[FakeBritishAccent]

Awesome advice guys. I'm going for a combination of everyone's input and I'm sure it'll work out.

It's times like these I'm happy I waited so long for membership to open up.

-Jonaas

 

[UKscout]

here's the web site that I found these knee pads from
you can get them on ebay also

http://cpc.farnell.com/dewalt-workwear/dwc15/knee-pad-inserts/dp/HE30908?_requestid=264819

 

[AMP]

I found a camping mat at Wal Mart, cut pads out of that and used E-6000 to glue them in.

 

[Trap Joe]

Very cool thread. I did this with some of my early Vaders:

 

[Ham Salad]

I´d hit a local DIY market to see what they have in their insulation aisle. Michael

Uh, that's likely to be fiberglass. bad idea: terminal skin irritation.

 

[Chiok]

Uh, that's likely to be fiberglass. bad idea: terminal skin irritation.

Not always, there has been a change in direction of using recycled plastics for insulation foam instead of fibreglass, alot of the stuff I'm seeing in B&Q and such is plastic and poses none of the problems fibreglass has. I always remember being seriously scared of touching the loft insulation incase of a glass splinter.

Goes without saying, check carefully what you're buying. Incidently, big sale on insulation, big old roll for £3.

 

[stormtrooperguy]

at work, we order large storage arrays somewhat regularly. so i'll get a pallet of hard drives, usually shipped with a dozen or so in a box.

this is a goldmine of high density grey foam. like a chair cushion, but more firm.

i'm almost out now though... gotta order another case of drives

 

[Judge Palmer]

I'm working on a helmet that's gonna need serious padding. I'm thinking forehead, ears and top of the head, just to keep it from scooching around and allow me to whip my head to the left and right without it spinning out of control. I was initially going to tear out the padding from a hard plastic batting helmet, but does anyone have a cheaper and more reliable alternative? Thanks i advance!

-Jonaas

Hi, I highly recommend using plastazote foam, ebay sell this in small/large sheets and in various thicknesses, 9mm, 11mm etc and it's cheap. I used some 9mm to line the Judge Dredd helmet I made and found it gave me a snug, comfortable fit with no movement of the helmet on my head whatsoever. Hope this helps you out and good luck on your build!

 

[Trooper_trent]

If you want full head coverage minus the face, you can get the interior padding from a motorcycle helmet. Here's what my brother (BlueRealm) did with his Halo Master Chief helmet

 

[runnriottt]

I have used Mouse pads and Wrist pads for the desk as well. A dollar store is your friend. I get lost in them looking for stupid things to build costumes with.
:lol

 

[tadams]

If anyone is interested I have some foam padding for sale that can be used for helmet interiors.

Here you go:
http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?p=852033#post852033