Hi there,
I've been asked by a few people how to install my RF kit, so since my best mate's birthday was yesterday and he's had a bit of a keen interest in my helmet building, I built him a helmet and used it as an excuse to give you a photo step tutorial on how to build your RF.
A little bit of a disclaimer first though, this is for my RF kits, the RF kit you have purchased may have a different way of going together than mine, but the principle *should* be the same.
So here we go:
Items I used:
Dremel with:
Cutting tool
Etching tool
Glue gun
Ruler
Pencil
Permanent marker
Bondo/car body filler can also be used for filling gaps.
Step 1: Making a hole
Take your RF stalk and, using a rule find the biggest distance from end to end. Use a pencil to mark a line where the diameter is at its greatest point. Where the circular part of the RF meets the body of the stalk, draw a line to cut it off and then measure the distance from this line to the edge of the circular part, draw a line where the distance is the greatest.
Where the two lines cross is the centre of the circular part of the stalk.
You can use a drill, but I used my etcher for quickness.
[ATTACH=full]110791[/ATTACH]
Note: I add a flat piece of wood during casting to add strength to my stalks, you may find this will take a bit more effort to drill through.
Step 2: Test fitting and marking the drill hole
Once you have your hole in your stalk, you will want to make a corresponding hole in the helmet, but how do you ensure that the RF will work when you drill your hole? Here's a little trick:
I push a screw through the hole in the RF stalk, the following picture is for example, the point shouldn't be that far out, in fact it should just stick out the bottom of the hole in the stalk.
[ATTACH=full]110792[/ATTACH]
Holding the screw firmly ( but not pushing down on it) place the RF where you think it should be lying:
[ATTACH=full]110793[/ATTACH]
Then, using the screw as the fulcrum, rotate the RF stalk until it touches the bottom half, if it doesn''t do this square, return the RF to the "upright" position and move the RF slightly till it does, it may take a bit of trial and error until you get it landing flush against both edges:
[ATTACH=full]110794[/ATTACH]
Once you are 100% happy, push down on the screw and rotate it a couple of times whilst pushing down. It should make a small indent. I generally tend to mark the indent with a permanent marker, just incase I have to leave the project or do something else, immediately after I have removed the screw from the ear piece like so:
[ATTACH=full]110795[/ATTACH]
I used my dremel etching tool again to cut the hole out, but you can use a drill if you are careful:
[ATTACH=full]110796[/ATTACH]
You can then test fit with your bolt to ensure that the fit is ok:
[ATTACH=full]110797[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]110798[/ATTACH]
Step 3: Prepping the earcap
When the bolt is in, use a bit of paint to paint the end and guide the ear cap onto it, it will leave a mark, where the centre of the bolt will be. As I use a flat square bolt head to cover it, I can then put the bolt head where the paint centre is and draw around it to know where I need to cut into the earcap.
[ATTACH=full]110799[/ATTACH]
Now, I generally tend to like having a bit of play between the Earcap and the RF, so what I do is make a line on the stalk where the stalk meets the edge of the ear housing on the helmet in the upright position:
[ATTACH=full]110800[/ATTACH]
I then cut a small section away from the stalk up to that line using the rotary cutter tool on my dremel:
[ATTACH=full]110801[/ATTACH]
Once cut, re-attach to the helmet and test fit thenotch cut, adjust and cut more as necessary:
[ATTACH=full]110802[/ATTACH]
As you can see from the picture, I use the rotary cutting tool to remove the rest of the bolt, leaving it failry flush to the bolt head.
I then use the etching tool to create the dent in the earcap to house the square bolt head:
[ATTACH=full]110803[/ATTACH]
Test fit and adjust until it sits nice and flush:
[ATTACH=full]110804[/ATTACH]
Step 4: The RF box
My boxes are designed to be light, but that also makes them fairly flimsy, you can reinfoce the box with card, or bondo if you wish, but here is the basic way of ensuring the box goes together.
There are two parts to the RF box, the hood:
[ATTACH=full]110805[/ATTACH]
And what I lovingly call the widget:
[ATTACH=full]110806[/ATTACH]
The widget fits inside the hood, ensuring that there is a lip overlapping like so:
[ATTACH=full]110807[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]110808[/ATTACH]
These can be glued together, with any holes filled with bondo, there is a small gap around where the widget fits into the hood and I usually like to fill that in to give the illusion it is one unit.
My RF stalk comes with a small lip and you can either cut it off and do it your way or you can mark up where the lip would lie onto the box:
[ATTACH=full]110809[/ATTACH]
Then use the etching tool to route out a line where the tab can slot into.
[ATTACH=full]110810[/ATTACH]
However, with my kits a little bit of sanding is required to ensure the straight head fits the angular box, it's just a question of you sanding and test fitting.
When you are ready to glue your stalk you can either work it your way or you can do it my way in which I glue the stalk into the hole and onto the side of the lip with hot glue, this makes it a lot more sturdy.
[ATTACH=full]110811[/ATTACH]
You can fill gaps obviously with bondo.
Once you're done you can then attach the RF to the helmet and then attach the earcap. I tend to use a little hot glue, but if you want to use magnets, it's just using the Dremel etching tool.
And so Voila!
[ATTACH=full]110812[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]110813[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]110814[/ATTACH]
