NOOB question: inner fiberglass spikes in helmet

[godaking]

Whats the best tool (or way) to get rid of the sharp fiberglass spikes on the inside of the helmet? I just recently bought me a helmet that has them and it's really course and and comfortable.

Any pointers?

-Joe

 

[superjedi]

Is it raw fiberglass? Or does it have any kind of coating on the inside?
Some helmet makers (may they be slowly digested over a thousand years) just leave the interiors of their helmets with jaggedy coarse fiberglass strands exposed.
I'd look for some kind of 2-part resin you could mix and brush onto the interior to cover most of it. Look in the "Propbuilding Methods and Materials" section for tips on how to do it.
A picture of what you're talking about would be helpful too.

 

[SaxeCoburg]

It depends on how "bad" the fiberglass is... do not leave as-is. That stuff will get in your hair and itch like made, or it can get in your eyes (trust me, had it happen)

My advice would be to sand the fiber glass down by hand. I'd than use an aircompressor to blow it off real good and coat of something like "PLasti-dip" (you can buy it at home depot), the rubber stuff you dip tool handles in.

 

[godaking]

Damn, I guess I've my work cut out for me on the inside. We'll see what I can do.

Thanks for the tips guys!

-Joe

 

[Warlord]

I'd go sanding drum on the end of my dremel's flex attachment. Low speed of course.

 

[Rich D]

CSMacLaren went through this in a recent thread, and has before and after pics here:

http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/showthread.php?t=17845

 

[GCNgamer128]

I wouldn't use a dremel. I'd sand it by hand WEARING GLOVES, and then mix some resin and brush it in.

 

[godaking]

I wouldn't use a dremel. I'd sand it by hand WEARING GLOVES, and then mix some resin and brush it in.

Actually, I've been using a razor blade to scrape the hard/sharp pieces and then wet sanding with a sanding sponge.

Tedious work, but coming out good!

-Joe

 

[pennywise]

I wouldn't use a dremel. I'd sand it by hand WEARING GLOVES, and then mix some resin and brush it in.

What Andy said

 

[CSMacLaren]

It depends where you're sanding and what kind of threads you are referring to. I used a combination of Dremeling and a sander.

Certain sanding can be done by hand.

The kind of fiberglass I was dealing with may not be the same as what you're dealing with. Mine were short and very course, and simple manual sanding would have taken days. A hand sander took minutes.

This may be helpful. I will be adding more content to the article:

http://www.aokforums.com/thepropden/thepropden-about567.html

If you can post a picture of what area you're dealing with and the type of fiberglass it's made of, perhaps we can advise better.

 

[Ronin677]

Be careful if you decide to sand it using a machine. I used my drill to do mine and it caught on a bad bit in the helmet, leapt out of my hands and tried to take several layers of skin off my hands and arms.

sand it by hand buddy

 

[CSMacLaren]

Be careful if you decide to sand it using a machine. I used my drill to do mine and it caught on a bad bit in the helmet, leapt out of my hands and tried to take several layers of skin off my hands and arms.

sand it by hand buddy

Very good advice, but you're using a drill. Have you ever used a Black and Decker "Mouse" hand sander? It's a different animal and what I used to clean out the interior of that helmet on reader was most kind to link. A drill is a rotary tool, where a sander is a vibrational tool. Both remove material differently. With a drill, there is a risk of drag -- as you pointed out. With a vibrational sander like the "Mouse" you have no such danger except just letting it go and letting it eat away at the inside of your helmet without control. But it won't eat through it like acid. Just pick it back up. There is a huge difference in danger to your hands unless you are purposely sanding your hands.

I'm not saying the "Mouse" is the holy grail tool to use, but there are other makes and shapes of handheld sanders depending on your needs. I've worked on five Vader kits so far, and the "Mouse" has been extremely helpful to me though I do wish I had something a bit more specialized.

But I do also need to point out that until godaking shows us a photo of what kind of FG he is dealing with, the advice we're giving is a guess in the dark. If he's dealing with the swirly random pattern FG mat, then simple hand sanding with a certain grit level of sand paper would be fine. If he's dealing with what I dealt with in the Golden Armor product (the cottage cheese chunky stuff with very thick pokey FG) then I would suggest reconsidering using an electic sander or Dremel properly.

So, godaking, what are you actually dealing with?