so I’m making a mask for a Swiss festival, where I will be marching and drumming for 3 days, day and night with breaks. given the extreme nature of the event, I am building a CF mask to keep things light, and really cool looking!! I will be vacuum bagging, and have enough twill CF for 4 layers, with extra for strategic placement. I have Nomex, but I really don’t think that it will conform well to my sealed positive plaster mold that I made. since this is a non load bearing part, would adding a random fiberglass cloth, or woven cloth in the middle of the sandwich benefit me for rigidity? thanks in advance!
It would add rigidity, but at the cost of weight.
The 4 layers might be enough especially on a curved design.
A lighter weight choice might be something like Soric for a core, though you probably will get some print-thru with just 2 layers on top of it.
This is a mask that you wear on your face? I would think (just my imagination here) that anything that is shaped like a face, and wasn’t carrying a load, would be plenty stiff with just a couple of layers. I am thinking of those cheap Halloween masks that are made of super thin plastic and they hold shape so…
yes, this is a face mask. durability on this is a bit more important than one of those cheap halloween masks, as I will be wearing it for years and years (hopefully!)
here are pics of my progress so far. The forms were sculpted from plaster of paris. The head for was interesting, as I put a thick beanie on my head, and used painters tape, fibatape, and duct tape to create a “shell” of my head for a plaster mold. I think it worked well, and just needs some sanding and sealing before CF. it’s nice that if my release technique doesn’t work out, that baking soda will dissolve the plaster out of the mask.
Need a few more layers of reenforcing in certain areas, and some sanding before the finish top layer of carbon on the mask. I did not use fiberglass at this point, until I know how sturdy it will be.
next, I will be installing micro fans into the nose, a bicycle helmet adjustable suspension system with padding, and the whole thing will be built into a custom wool costume similar to the one pictured. So far, this is a super fun project!
