...well, actually 1.5 pairs of steampunk goggles. But stay with me, the second pair is going to be epic.
(By the way, you can click on any of the images below for much larger versions. Enjoy!)
The first pair (Mark I) I made were "quickies" because I have so little time for my magnum opus goggles that I was afraid I wouldn't have them done before Maker Faire KC (where I plan to unveil to the public my DIY arduino sous vide cooker). Which may very well still happen. The first pair is basically a modified version of welding goggles, part number 5444T6 available for a piddly $7.62 at McMaster-Carr. These arrived and are actually really comfortable and cool as hell looking, though a bit too post-industrial to just wear. So I've got this brass Krylon which i just doused 'em in and gave em a real nice color and I like them. The fronts of the goggles unscrew and you can remove the clear protective lens and the shaded welding lens to make painting easier. However, the threads will bind if you get too much paint on them, so just put some scotch tape or better yet, silicon tape over the threads that you can peel off after you do a few coats of paint.
Back when I was in high school, I had the hide of a deer I shot cleaned up at a tannery and then bleached. I decided to use that for the strap, replacing the black stretchy strap that was provided with the goggles.
Once I'd cut the strap to length and size I airbrushed it to a more "standard" leather color, but the strap still retains that sweet leather texture.
That was really it for those goggles. They look pretty snazzy. Nothing spectacular, but they'll do in a pinch.
On to the Mark II goggles. At work I have Solidworks and an Objet 3D printer basically at my disposal, which I decided to take total advantage of. The first step was to model and then print the goggle mains. I happened to have a couple 50 mm iris diaphragms lying around that we'd used for a project but then discarded, so I decided to integrate them, having seen amazing steampunk goggles somewhere that used a similar set up.
However that goggle set used machined titanium which seemed like it would be uncomfortably heavy to me, compared to printed plastic. I read somewhere that the guy claimed they took him ages to make, and he ended up selling them for a couple thousand. I can print a new pair of my goggles in about 25 minutes, and then once I have the leatherwork decided, I can imagine making two pairs a night, if I wanted.
So I designed and printed my 3D resin/plastic frames.
They are that semi-opaque color because we use a "di-clear" material at work that is really cheap. In the image above you can see the slot for the diaphragm slider. The various vertical risers around the diameter are artifacts caused by the 3D printer and just are different transparency levels due to support material going up to the screw holes, not actually physical features.
In order to mount the diaphragms, I needed keeper rings.
These attach to the frames via brass (obviously) #0-80 screws.
The assembly requires six of these screws; you can sort of see the holes for the screws (I had to do #0-80 taps...super tedious) in the image if you click on it to blow it up.
Before I assembled this stuff, I got that trusty brass Krylon out and gave everything a few coats. It took a while because the paint didn't bond to the Di-Clear material real well and dried unusually slowly. But once dry the paint was pretty well bonded. Here's the frames before I put the diaphragms in.
Here's a look at the diaphram mounted and open.
And here's the diaphragm closed.
And here's just another image of the two frames with diaphragms mounted.
You can see the screw holes that aren't filled. These are for the leather. Each frame will get a ring of leather around the end for wearer comfort. Also clearly visible is the rings in the frames to mount the leather nosepiece and the rings for the strap. The reason I said it was only half finished is because I have yet to do the leather work. Hopefully by Maker Faire in June I can get around to it.
In any case, that's it for now. I'll update with more pictures when the Mark II goggles are done. In case the questions start coming to me, and I suspect they will:
1. Yes, I can provide you with the solidworks files for my goggles.
2. Yes, I can print the Di-Clear models and ship them to you (for a fee). If there is enough interest in this I might just get aluminum blocks made at Protomold and just injection mold them for people.
3. The part # for the brass #0-80 screws is McMaster-Carr part #92482A264, you'll need two packs per pair of goggles.
4. No, I won't sell you a completed pair. DIY, dummy.
5. Get your own buckskin. Or leather. Or something cooler. Unicorn hide would be nice. I'll trade you a pair of printed frames for some unicorn hide.
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