galactica Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Hi, Want to make some protective shields for my taclights and eoTech...where can I obtain a small sheet of the appropriate material? Also, i'll be new to dremelling, assuming this is what I'll need to cut it with? Any tips appreciated! Link to post Share on other sites
Shard Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 A store by the name of plasticsonline on ebay sells a decent range of acrylic in various thicknesses and colours. The prices are really reasonable too. I think I got a sheet of clear 5mm acrylic approx the size of an A3 sheet of paper for about £4. If not, give me a shout as I've got some offcuts in the garage that might be enough for you to use for what you want. Cutting wise, you are best using a fine tooth junior hacksaw or similar to get the rough shape of the item and remove the bulk of excess material. Then a dremel + sanding drum at low speed in combination with hand files and a fine grade of sand paper should do you alright. Link to post Share on other sites
Xsjado Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Or do it my way and nick some time on a laser cutter (that might be a bit excessive for most people though) I've always sourced my acrylic from ebay. That particular shop has very quick service and a lot of my orders came the next day. They also do a wide range of thickness. Link to post Share on other sites
galactica Posted January 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 thanks both...will see what I can pick up tomorrow! Link to post Share on other sites
RSP1 Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Little tidbit - I took some 3/32" acrylic I had lying around and considered it for a lense protector. Shot lense-sized pieces at close range, about 1 foot or 1/3m with guns right around 1J and it shattered to bits on the first shot with each gun, rather spectacularly with a KJW M700. So I'd go for Lexan, or thicker sheets if acrylic. Link to post Share on other sites
galactica Posted January 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 My eotech protector is about 6mm so I was going to look at that. Ta. Link to post Share on other sites
Xsjado Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 I don't know what thickness 3/38" is in metric but I just fired some shots from roughly 50cm at 3mm acrylic and there were a few marks but nothing close to shattering. Well the bbs shattered all right but the acrylic certainly wasn't Link to post Share on other sites
Stealthbomber Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Go into a DIY or hardware store and buy a polycarbonate grinding visor for about £2. Remove the aluminium edging and you're left with a big sheet of polycarbonate idea for making lens protectors. I reckon you're better off using polycarbonate rather than acrylic cos it's more flexible and easier to work with. all you need to do to cut polycarbonate is to score it with a stanley knife then bend it a few times and it'll snap. Even so, it'll stop a .22 air rifle pellet without much damage. The trick, IMO, is to leave a few mm air gap between the lens and the protector. For an Eotech, for example, all you need is a square with a couple of postage-stamp sized tabs on the sides. Bend the tabs backwards and slide them either side of the lens inside the metal cover. The protector will simply wedge in place. Job done. Link to post Share on other sites
matt.wu Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Stealth, you got a picture of this "polycarbonate grinding visor"? I'm wondering what it's called in the US so I can find it's equivalent. Link to post Share on other sites
Stealthbomber Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Stealth, you got a picture of this "polycarbonate grinding visor"? I'm wondering what it's called in the US so I can find it's equivalent. You can pick em up at hardware stores, builders yards, DIY shops. You don't need to buy the whole thing. You just need the polycarbonate sheet. Wherever sells the actual visors will also sell the replacements. Link to post Share on other sites
BigAl Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Funnily enough it's called a "polycarbonate grinding visor" Google is your friend Link to post Share on other sites
galactica Posted January 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Go into a DIY or hardware store and buy a polycarbonate grinding visor for about £2. Remove the aluminium edging and you're left with a big sheet of polycarbonate idea for making lens protectors. I reckon you're better off using polycarbonate rather than acrylic cos it's more flexible and easier to work with. all you need to do to cut polycarbonate is to score it with a stanley knife then bend it a few times and it'll snap. Even so, it'll stop a .22 air rifle pellet without much damage. The trick, IMO, is to leave a few mm air gap between the lens and the protector. For an Eotech, for example, all you need is a square with a couple of postage-stamp sized tabs on the sides. Bend the tabs backwards and slide them either side of the lens inside the metal cover. The protector will simply wedge in place. Job done. Nice one, thanks. Link to post Share on other sites
Stealthbomber Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 In case anybody thinks I'm over-simplifying, I'm not. A square of polycarbonate with a couple of tabs on the side is all you need to protect your EoTech. I whipped the shroud off my Eotech then used a couple of sticky-pads to secure the shield (before replacing the shroud) but, TBH, I don't think I needed to. If anybody's interested I could do a bit of a tutorial for anybody who can't grasp the finer points of cutting out a square with a stanley knife () but polycarbonate (1mm-2mm thick) is dead easy to work with and will EASILY stop any BB. You just don't need a 5mm thick lump of acrylic and, tbh, the bendy properties of polycarbonate make it a better idea than the hardness of acrylic, which can shatter when a BB hits it. Anecdotally, I've shot a bit of 2mm thick polycarbonate with an FAC air rifle shooting at around 40ft/lbs and it made a neat little crater in it about 5mm deep that was just starting to split very slightly. The pellet didn't go through. We were looking for something to protect laptop screens in a hazardous environment. The laptops were built into pelican cases and the shields were designed to stop the screens getting damaged when the laptops were in use. We started off looking at thicker plastic but we realised that something like a grinding visor and a 10mm air gap to the screen was enough to stop anything that wouldn't put the person using the laptop in hospital as well. Link to post Share on other sites
galactica Posted January 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 shurely 0.5mm? A 5mm gouge in a 2 mm thick sheet is quite a hole! Link to post Share on other sites
Stealthbomber Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 shurely 0.5mm? A 5mm gouge in a 2 mm thick sheet is quite a hole! Nope. What I mean is that a 40ft/lb rifle put a dimple 5mm deep in a grinding visor about 2mm thick. The polycarbonate didn't break. It stretched and absorbed the entire impact. From that you can see that there's no way a BB is EVER going to break through the polycarbonate. It WILL flex as a BB hits it though. That's why I'd suggest leaving a small air gap between the shield and the lens. Just to no shock is transmitted straight through the shield to the lens. TBH, even with a 5mm think lump of, well.. anything really, I'd still leave an air gap. I'd never place place the shield right up against the lens. I'd be concerned that the shock would go straight through the shield and still damage the lens. Link to post Share on other sites
galactica Posted January 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 aaaah....*lightbulb* I see. Thanks! Link to post Share on other sites
w00k1e Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 I used the clear plastic outer cover of a DVD sleeve. Removed the shroud from my Eotech clone and taped a square of the plastic tightly across the lense (with a gap between the plastic and the lense), then put the shroud back on and you can hardly notice it. I've done similar with my aimpoints using the flip up cover to hold it in place and have yet to suffer a broken lense. (I did when I had no protection at!) Link to post Share on other sites
galactica Posted January 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 yeah i've used that plastic before. Taclights tend to melt/discolour it though, so i'm after a "one size fits all" plastic Link to post Share on other sites
Semtex Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Bend the tabs backwards and slide them either side of the lens inside the metal cover. The protector will simply wedge in place. Job done. What would be the best way to bend the poly 90 degrees without it breaking ? Link to post Share on other sites
galactica Posted January 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Well, just back from quite a mission to find one...eventually screwfix direct had one, everywhere else was useless. No replacement shields, had to get a whole one. While i'm on the subject - PROPANE AT B&Q! £10.48 now! it was £7 a couple of months ago. Bunch of bustards. Link to post Share on other sites
galactica Posted February 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 What would be the best way to bend the poly 90 degrees without it breaking ? Rich, i've just made a lamp protector and it was a piece of pish. It bends really easily 90deg after a little heating from a ciggy lighter. I drew a circle(ish) with 4 tabs at N E S W, scored the edges with a stanley and it broke really easily around the scoring. Applied a little heat to the tabs and they bent nicely. Popped on front of light and taped around the edge. Works like a dream. Took 5 mins. I will make a retainer for my FranShield tomorrow, probably. Link to post Share on other sites
freq88 Posted February 5, 2008 Report Share Posted February 5, 2008 find a local hobby store that sells R/C airplanes & heli's. They will have them there Link to post Share on other sites
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