Motorcycle Face Mask Made From EVA Foam

Riding my motorcycle on my weekend commute to and from work means I have to deal with a lot of air pollution. I usually wear a face mask to ward off the smoke and dust. In this instructable I made a cover for my face mask to make it look like it is integrated with my helmet.

So here goes.

Step 1: Get Parts, Design & Cut (just Do It)

Parts list:

1. EVA foam 2mm (one 12" x 12" sheet)

2. Mechanical pencil

3. Pair of scissors

4. Instant glue

5. X-acto knife

6. Acrylic Emulsion

7. White Spray paint

8. Small screws or anything to accessorize (optional)

Googling around for images, I found a futuristic robot style helmet. That's the gorgeous black thing above. The pattern seems easy enough to make so I drew and traced the cut outs on eva foam. Mechanical pencil marks the foam very well so I recommend using one. The pattern made was freehand so I just drew one side of the cheeks to the jaw. I just flipped and trace to create the other side.

Cut it up either using an X-acto knife or scissors.

Step 2: Assemble-fit-adjust-fit-assemble

This is the fun part, I assembled the foams together then fitted it to my face. I saw that it did not fit the way I wanted it to, so I trimmed and made some temporary holders to see how it should fit. The pictures show the changes I made from the initial design to the final form.

Step 3: Coat-Coat-Coat & Coat

I brushed on 4 coats of acrylic emulsion to smooth out the foam and make it less porous. Paint also looks smoother with more coats. 4-5 is a good start.

Step 4: Bring on the White Paint

Spray painted the thing white since my helmet is white. Coated this 3 times.

Step 5: Accessorize

I put some small screws just for accent, then glued on my old face mask.

Step 6: Wear It

This build took me a day to finish that includes trips to the local hardware to get paint and emulsion. mush of the time was spent on googling :D

Comments

[Wrrr 10-G]

Looks: 7 points
Effort: 9 points
Sharing bonus: 10 points
Filtering: err...?

[riocruz]

No filters just a freaking cheap camera phone :) although I had to increase the brightness as the pictures were taken on a dimly lit room. Thanks for the comment :)

[Wrrr 10-G]

Hi RioCruz, me again: I did not mean any photo-filtering, I meant air-filtering, which seems to be non-existing in your finalized 'product', yet you mention air-quality (lack thereof) in your preface.
So... did you put some air-filtering in the mask?

[riocruz]

Sorry for misinterpreting :) the filter is in my old face mask which i attached behind the eva foam. There are unglued seams along the front side of the cover to let air through the old mask. thanks for asking :)

[rwilliams8]

I'd be a little nervous about the ends of those screws in the event of an accident.

Instead, consider grinding off the actual screw part so that you are left with the head, then gluing those on.

[riocruz]

that got me thinking, I may replace the screws or remove them because of this issue. Safety is always a priority. Thanks for pointing that out, :)

[Wrrr 10-G]

Which reminds me; there exist actual nylon screws, even Allen..

[riocruz]

Thanks :) I'll look for those.

[silvertinkerer]

I would just have purchased a full face helmet. But I will totally be making 1 for a steampunk cosplay. Nicely done.

[riocruz]

I would too :) thanks

[joshcube]

Does the acrylic emulsion make the mask hard like plastic, or is it still pliable like foam?

[riocruz]

The emulsion adds a bit of stiffness to the foam but it will still be flexible to a certain degree. Bending the foam or stretching it too much may damage the paint work done on it. The primary purpose the emulsion is to seal the foam making it less porous and for the paint to have a nice, even and smooth surface to adhere to.

[Lorddrake]

you went from looking like a motorcycle rider to looking like a gundam pilot. well done.

[riocruz]

Thanks :)