Ear Hole Help

[mickeymark34]

I started trimming my ear holes. They aren’t quite done yet, but I was looking for some feedback on mine.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

 

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[Chopper]

You have a good start, but you should open the outer rounded edge up more.

Try using this photo from the sw costume exhibit as a guide. 

[mickeymark34]

Thank you.

[mickeymark34]

I took your advice and tried opening them up a bit more.

I’m going to sand them down a little to see if I can shape them better.


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[mickeymark34]

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[Retrofire]

Chopper gave you a good pic to go by. Depending on the maker you can use a #2 pencil and carefully go around the inside of the ear hole and trace out the impression from the molding process. Give it a shot and post up a pic before you cut and let us take a gander at it.

[mickeymark34]

Here are some pictures of the inside of the helmet. It appears to be smooth on both sides.


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[Chopper]

Here's my take on it using your photos and paint. Feel free to give it a sketch with a pencil before cutting though and we'll take a look.

 

[mickeymark34]

Thanks Chopper. I will use a pencil and try to emulate what you’ve done in the pictures.

[mickeymark34]

How would this look?


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[Stroker]

You got it! Just take your time with the trimming. 

[Chopper]

Looks great dude!

[mickeymark34]

I got this one out to the edges of my pencil line. Now I’m going to sand it down to fine tune it.


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[CRex75]

Looking good! When I got to this point I used micro files and fine sandpaper to smooth it out. Just take your time.

[mickeymark34]

I borrowed a friends microfiles and have been trying to shape the earholes using the picture Chopper gave me. I’m wondering if I can call them good.


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[CRex75]

35 minutes ago, mickeymark34 said:

I borrowed a friends microfiles and have been trying to shape the earholes using the picture Chopper gave me. I’m wondering if I can call them good.


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Those are looking pretty good.  The right side is slightly broader than the left but they look clean to me. 

[Chopper]

Those look good, bud. Great work. 

[TexasTrooper]

I was thinking of staring the holes with a hot soldering iron.  It will stink for a bit, but may give nice smooth edges. Any thoughts on this approach?

[mickeymark34]

It may be overkill in my opinion. I used a small drill bit and drilled a bunch of holes around the area that needed to come out. After, I used an X-Acto knife to cut along the holes and remove the middle. I went back and filed and sanded the edges to smooth them out.

[mickeymark34]

2 hours ago, TexasTrooper said:

I was thinking of staring the holes with a hot soldering iron.  It will stink for a bit, but may give nice smooth edges. Any thoughts on this approach?

It may be overkill in my opinion. I used a small drill bit and drilled a bunch of holes around the area that needed to come out. After, I used an X-Acto knife to cut along the holes and remove the middle. I went back and filed and sanded the edges to smooth them out.

[Chopper]

15 hours ago, TexasTrooper said:

I was thinking of staring the holes with a hot soldering iron.  It will stink for a bit, but may give nice smooth edges. Any thoughts on this approach?

I would highly recommend against trying that method. As Mark mentioned: draw your outline in pencil, drill it out with a small bit, and then do some cleanup and refining with needle files.