Venting your bucket...

[Darth_Nickel]

I posted this on another site, but have not received much feedback. Before I did this, I wanted to see if anyone has tried and/or get some thoughts...

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?

 

[robstyle]

I had contemplated the same thing, cutting any other would be vents out on the helmet. Instead, I opted to leave a gap on the flat lenses around the eye's. This way, air is always circulating through the helmet, hot air at the top does not build up...
Its not noticable at all with the flat lenses yet is noght and day when worn.

 

[Darth_Nickel]

That's a good idea Rob. I'm not sure if it will work with me (due to the way I did my liner in my bucket). I wish I would have thought of that before.

Still looking for the pros and cons on the back decal vents. I figure I would use a Dremel® Stylus and a 1/32" Round Tip Cutter. That should make some pretty small precise cuts. I can't find anything smaller, so I assume it would work on the width of the decal lines.

 

[tk8456]

yeah dude, I agree.

My lenses have a gap and I have a HUUGGGE PC cooling fan on one side angled upwards.

Works a treat. Don't cut the lid. ooooohh

OR.....
Actually, somwhere you could cut it if you're that despreate is behind our ear antenna. Leave a gap on the backside of them and make sure you can't see the cut line from the side.
what I'm trying to say is you'ld cover the helmet cut with you ear antenna. These then have a gap on the back. Fans can use that gap to suck or blow?

 

[The Manlet]

I'm not a big on the idea of cutting your lid but the Tour ROTJ trooper suits had holes in them.

 

[Geniepants]

Well, if you do cut your bucket, make it good. I know a guy that did it kinda half-assed, (not saying you would) and it looked horrible. I think he's since gotten a new bucket.

 

[robstyle]

fyi, those holes on the tour suits didnt do squat. was an honorable attempt though.

 

[Goldenrod]

I did this on past TK buckets with great success. BUT it is nerve racking. You have to have steady hand. I worked as dental tech for 12 years and that helped. If you do it be sure and practice on scrap plastic of the same thickness first. I did venting 2 different ways.

One way- I penciled my vent lines and then i dremeled out each slit and painted the gray tear shape and glued mesh inside with fans mounted to circulate air through the helmet.

The other way- i cut out the tear shape leaving just an edge all the way around to lay a custom made thin,tear shaped aluminum plate i premade/with vent slits to glue down. It was also already painted gray before attaching.

Unfortunately i don't have pics on hand to describe it better.

Both ways worked great. But it takes practice and a steady hand.
I like the ones i plan to wear as functional as possible without taking away from the look of the helmet.

 

[Darth_Nickel]

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

I did practice on another piece. 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?

 

[cheech9898]

I cut the slots out in the top rear dome indents as well as the nose vents. I painted the black/grey detals with automotive touch-up paint after cutting the slots.

I only put mesh behind the nose vents & just mounted the fans direct to the back of the helmet with a little weatherstrip adhesive black silicone. Here's a pic of the inside.

I have 2 slim computer cpu fans in the back of the dome set so the airflow is out of the bucket to draw a draft & move the hot air out. Its worked for me the few times I've worn my armor.... I usually have my hair short length, otherwise the fans tend to catch hair if I haven't had a recent hair cut. I have velcro to hold 3 9v batteries (1 is a spare) in the 'neck tube' area at the back to power the fans, radio shack amp/mic w/ train speakers in the aerator tips, and 2 toggle switches on the left & right side of the neck tube to turn them on & off.

 

[Weazel1]

What kind of Dremel are you using? Does it have variable speed settings? For what your trying to do, you need a very slow speed or you will continue to melt the plastic, not cut it.
For something this precise, you might want to consider scribing the plastic with a sharp #11 blade and popping out the vents. Then you can sand out the slots to clean up the edges.
If you absolutly have to use the Dremel, I would suggest using either a Mini-Might cordless, or getting a dimmer switch for your regular tool and setting it on as low as you can without melting the ABS.

Brian

 

[chris08234]

Just came across these pictures of the 501st Southern California Garrison......the vents look awesome.:

http://www.southerncaliforniagarrison.com/...hoto_height=480

 

[jackdoud]

I've seen it done on scouts before. I've never had a problem with overheating in my TK though so I've never tried it.

 

[Raffles]

You can cut slots in the "nose" section between the ridges, this helps get rid of a lot of the hot air you breathe out.

 

[Darth_Nickel]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(raffles @ Apr 7 2007, 02:45 AM) [snapback]1457216[/snapback]</div>

You can cut slots in the "nose" section between the ridges, this helps get rid of a lot of the hot air you breathe out.
[/b]

Yep. I cut and painted the nose vents. that does help a ton. I get pretty warm, so I was looking for additional vents.

I've started my back traps. It's coming along, but it's slow. I'll have to do some touch up work once I get everything cut, filed, and trimmed. This is not an easy mod. I would say I've put about 6 hours already into it, and I'm not even done cutting....