When you glue the pieces up they should naturally bend into place. If using chip board, you shouldn't have to bend the sides at all. Bend them all towards the inside of the top. For the Helmet Top, bend a hard crease into the tabs where they meet the curved top. You don't want a hard crease or angle, you just want to bend or 'break the flat' of the cardboard. Work your way from one side to the next staying perpendicular to the rounded bottom of the piece until you have a gentle curve in each piece. This will allow you to curve the helmet better in the next step.Ĭurve the Front and Back pieces by laying them along the edge of a sharp edged table and gently creasing the cardboard from top to bottom with the flat of your hand. If possible, try and layout the pattern with the corrugated lines running from top to bottom on the Front and Back pieces. Once you've fitted your pattern to the cardboard, trace the pattern and cut out the pieces. Cereal boxes are easier to cut but will not be as sturdy when you finish. If you don't have large enough pieces laying around the house, you can use a cardboard 3-section display board or a large storage box you can buy from an office supply or home improvement store. Cut out the patterns and match them to your cardboard. Print 2 each of these or just flip the one over when tracing to form both sides of the piece. The back and front files are just half of the pattern. There are 3 files: Helmet Top, Helmet Back, and Helmet Front. I also will include the original drawing files if someone wants to modify them or if you have access to a laser cutter. I've redrawn the design to print on a standard home printer. The main requirements are the same I just needed to adjust the process of making the parts. I'm lucky enough to have a laser cutter at work so it was pretty easy to laser all the helmets I needed for camp.įor this Instructable though, I wanted to redesign/modify my design so anyone could make these great helmets, even if you don't have a laser cutter. And oh yeah, they wanted 100 of them! Well after some serious engineering and research I developed a great looking helmet made from my favorite cheap building material, cardboard. I needed to create a wearable helmet for kids of multiple ages that they could put together easily and didn't cost too much. I figured swords were out of the question, so what's the next best thing a plethora of young spunky campers would most enjoy.helmets! We were having a medieval camp and I was asked to come up with a few fun projects for the campers. I develop and make projects for camps and other public programs. I am the Resident Maker at the Perot Museum of Nature & Science. Before we get started, I think a little background info is needed. Need a great project for restless kids or just a way to recycle all those Amazon boxes that are stacking up? This is a perfect rainy day project and can easily be customized for a unique build. Prepare thy selves for a master class in helmet making! Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Calling all ye Knights of the Realm.

Pictures of medieval helmets