I've been working on budget holsters for the group of Judges in my area (8 and counting!)
A sheet of Kydex isn't that expensive, but the time that goes into hand forming them is a bit much for my tastes. My mission: Vacuum form them!
I've been doing some prototypes in white styrene because it's cheap and I have lots of it. The exact shape of the pattern isn't down 100% just yet, but I'm getting close. Here's where I'm at:
The method is basically the same as people have been doing by hand, with a couple of advantages:
I need to refine the shape of the holster (add the curve to the top, so that it's not so square), but in general I'm pretty happy.
If we decide to wrap them in leather like the hero holsters I'll just stick to styrene over kydex... no need to use a specialty plastic when I've got a couple hundred sheets of the white stuff on hand.
A sheet of Kydex isn't that expensive, but the time that goes into hand forming them is a bit much for my tastes. My mission: Vacuum form them!
I've been doing some prototypes in white styrene because it's cheap and I have lots of it. The exact shape of the pattern isn't down 100% just yet, but I'm getting close. Here's where I'm at:
The method is basically the same as people have been doing by hand, with a couple of advantages:
- Easily reproducible with no particular skill / effort. Drop the plastic and a holster comes out.
- Fast. The vac forming part takes about 3 minutes.
- Cheap. Material cost for the holster shown was $7.
- Cut lines are scribed into the form and transfer to the pulled plastic. So, you have trim lines right in your piece.
I need to refine the shape of the holster (add the curve to the top, so that it's not so square), but in general I'm pretty happy.
If we decide to wrap them in leather like the hero holsters I'll just stick to styrene over kydex... no need to use a specialty plastic when I've got a couple hundred sheets of the white stuff on hand.
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