Molding chest protectors

[BLWizzRanger]

Anyone have a link or instructions on how to mold a chest protector? What really needs to be accomplished when doing so?

 

Thanks!

[wolfe_man]

I'll let others go into more detail, but the main idea is to heat the plastic to where it's pliable and then reshape it to fit your body and hold it there, or restrict it in place somehow, while it cools and re-hardens.  You are re-forming the hard plates to fit your shoulders and arms mostly.  If you do it a few times; heating, shaping and then keeping in place while it cools - then you'll end up with a CP that fits tighter to you than one out of the box could ever fit.

You can use a heat gun (preferred) or hair dryer (same results, but takes longer).   Don't overheat or you'll lose the shape entirely, no puddling here please.  The best method is slow and steady. 

Remember to remove the padding first so that you are only heating the plates. 

I've seen guys use hard objects (i.e. a basketball) to reform the chest plate and then tape the plate to it or maybe they would rubber band the shoulder parts around a football or something of the sort to get the plates to form better to their shoulders or arms. 

Some do heating, restricting and then put the CP into a freezer to 'flash-freeze' the cooling and do several cycles.  There really is no right or wrong way as long as you end up with a CP that fits you better than you started with, but I recommend exercising patience and take it slow.  It's easier to add more heat to make a CP more pliable, than it is to reshape a melted plastic plate.

[834k3r]

I'm sure @MadMax has thoughts.

[BLWizzRanger]

Yeah, I casted a wide net and already got a large fish.  I know there are more in this school....

[MadMax]

Here's what you're going to need: 

Haha... I'll post something later, when I'm off-duty. 

[TheLovejoy]

Max, and others, will be give you infinitely more valuable information and steps, but I'll let you know what I did. 
I grabbed a heat gun, 4 woodworking clamps, 4 lashing straps, a bucket of iced water, and a cup.

These pics are just examples of how I had it set up once heated.

Remove all of the padding for anything that you're going to heat.
I started by heating up all of the shoulder pauldrons, on both sides, top, bottom, inside, out, and edges. Somebody mentioned earlier that it's easier to under-heat it, and have to do it again than to over-heat it and have melted plastic. Just slow circular motion all over all of the shoulder pieces.

Then I took the clamps and straps and basically bent the plastic to the shape I wanted it, on all of the shoulder pieces, then set the chest protector up in the driveway, laying chest up. The first time I did this, the shoulders didn't hold form very well. The 2nd time I did this, I used the iced water and cup to pour iced water all over the shoulders, inside and out. The 2nd time it's held the shape very well. 

The limited edition CP seems to be much more 'stiff' padding, so the padding worked the shoulders a little more flat. Like, it presses back on the shaping once you re-install the padding.
The OG CP is much more flexible and the shoulders haven't moved at all.