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Football reconditioners or repair places?


mbkcoach
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20 hours ago, MadMax said:

@midtnump, you'll want to consult a hobby store or upholstery shop. A knowledgeable staffer at a hobby store (craft supply) will get you onto a sprayable adhesive that will create a bond without reacting with or affecting the foam and/or technical fabric. There may even be sheets of it as a film... you lay the foam down flat, peel the backing off the adhesive sheet, then lay it down, roll it to press it (with a laminate roller), then pull the other backing off, ready to bond the technical fabric. A sheet will be more consistent and less mess, but it will create a vapor barrier between the fabric and the foam.

I recommend getting two fabrics. On the body contact side, this is where you'll want to concentrate your efforts on finding a technical, wicking fabric that will get heat and moisture off your body, but yet won't chafe (like nylon does). On the outboard side, get an open-lattice (looks like netting) structural mesh. Strong enough to encase the foam, but open enough to provide excellent ventilation.

As far as including the anchor straps (those velcro tabs that insert and fasten the foam vest to the carapace plates), here's where you lean on that lattice mesh. This takes some measuring and mapping. For further advice / ideas, contact me... it's kinda tough to explain in a typed posting.

I have a chunk of D3O arrayed in a layered system, as a cross section, to show you... but I have to find it in my boxes. I'll post it soon.

Max, please PM me the pics. Actually my revised short term thoughts are to simply get some velcro attached to the foam and on my cp plates so I can go test it at a batting cage. If it passes, then proceed to the next step and source out a fabric. If  I don't like the test results than go back and select other products. 

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@midtnump, if you don't mind, I'll post them publicly, so we can all (hopefully) understand how this might be a bit complex, but it isn't rocket science...

... and certainly much better than the premium prices that a company-that-need-not-be-named charges us for open-cell sofa cushion foam!

D3O_foam_diagram.jpg.2e427e5e0729b96276a0345f7e62a712.jpg  D3O_foam_comparison.jpg.936501e767855de0d834cb0f0f68d537.jpg  

So when we break down the layers involved (using the left/top photo), body contact begins at the top of the cross-section with the Open Lattice Mesh. Next is a Moisture Transportation System membrane. After that is the business – the D3O foam itself as a 9mm block with big holes in it. The final outer layer is another sheet of Open Lattice Mesh that has been bonded to a very airy sizing foam.

Schutt really emphasized ventilation with this.

Their previous CP model, the AiR Flex, utilized these foam structures called Brock Beads. They were nowhere as lofty nor as effective as the D3O is, and were arranged in long tubes that look like corrugated cardboard. What I'm showing in the other cross section, for comparison (in the right/bottom photo) is the reliance on CoolMax technical fabric. In this, the CoolMax fabric makes body contact first, then there is open cell foam, then a thin layer of closed-cell foam, then open cell again, then that mesh-bonded-to-sizing-foam outer layer.

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  • 6 months later...

Schutt is all about air flow. My son has an Air Max batting helmet and it's not as hot as his old Rawlings. It has the blue TPU padding that allows the air to move around the inside of the helmet. It also cools off quicker than the foam. It's more than just holes. 

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