Vinyl for football helmets?

[Luke Lockridge]

Ok. I'm am thinking about adventuring into another project. I want to do some vinyl work for the local high school football team that I help coach, but I don't know what to use. What are the recommendations on type of vinyl and how do I keep it protected from all of the abuse? Do I use a laminating film, if so, what do I use and how does it work?

[Joe Pelonio]

Football helmets are problematic for two reasons. The first you mentioned, it can be scratched by contact with other helmets and objects. The other is application over compound curves. Like doing a vehicle wrap, it takes heat
and working from the right angles to apply. The trick is to minimize this in the design and placement. I have a few, but have done many construction hardhats with similar issues.

Normal "premium" 2 mil cast vinyl will hold up the best. If a hard clear finish is done, similar to automotive clearcoat, it must be tested to make sure it doesn't soften the vinyl. You would have to do the whole helmet to have a uniform finish. On the other hand, without the clear, any damaged graphics could be peeled and replaced so I'd recommend just the vinyl.

I'd recommend laminating film only if the graphics are printed on vinyl, to protect the ink. Otherwise it's not needed and will not look as good as just the vinyl.

[Luke Lockridge]

There wouldn't be much of a curve. These would go on the side of the helmet, so there wouldn't be any huge curves to deal with.

[Brian Stoddard]

helmets are hard to keep vinyl on - this stuff is the ticket - http://www.convexvinyl.com/

[Doug Bergstrom]

We wrap helmets from hockey to motorcycle. Like Joe said use a premium cast vinyl like you would use on a car. Its thinner and will not shrink as much as a cast vinyl. Apply heat to the entire piece after you are finished to release any memory to the vinyl. There are no real ways to protect vinyl from the abuse a helmet sees. Every year we redo the worst helmets with new graphics.

[Luke Lockridge]

Thanks for the info. I thought about cutting enough logos for each player to put two new logos on their helmets before Friday night's game. I did the math and came out with about 900 logos that I would have to cut. I then thought about cutting enough to provide the team with new logos for the helmets that need them for the game on Friday. This seems to be a lot of work, or I may need to make way less than I think. I'm sure that not every player is going to need a new logo every Friday night.

I took into consideration that the kids would put on new logos Thursday nights so that they would be ready for Friday. They would leave those on for the week after the game and then put on another set of logos if needed after practice on Thursday. I guess that I need to talk to the coaches and possibly test this during the summer during two-a-day practices and see if it works.

Has anybody tried doing this?