This was adapted from what I wrote elsewhere, hence the weird tenses etc. Also, my web host appears to be acting funny lately...
Yeah, it needs to be replaced.
Looking at the CB Kydex, I'd assume they're using a vacuum forming machine. I'll just be going the foam route. The back of their Kydex shows some identification markings and stuff, too:
Tooling for my initial outset were:
* couple 2 foot lengths of 2x8's as the press top and bottom
* some foam play mat things ($9)
* some eggshell / bed padding foam ($9?)
* fabric markeng pencil ($1)
* cutting mat ($10, fabric area)
* razor blade knife
* non contact thermometer ($15)
* some 2" masking tape
* a flat head screw driver
* toaster oven used only for "shop" things (never food)
* hair dryer (leery of heat gun + firearm)
* gloves (don't have to be real thick)
* Kydex itself (I bought 0.080, the CB might be 0.060)
All of the above can be bought locally. The thermometer might cost ya $35 instead. And the Kydex is available at Tandy Leather, as well.
Most Kydex forming presses / foam is a closed cell stiffer foam. I didn't have any on hand and my first attempt at finding anything failed. So I decided that maybe stacking up a lot of layers of bedding foam would work.
I had the foam play mat things for a different project - they're a great source of some stiff protective foam, but are too stiff to form around the pistol. They could, however, act as a protective barrier to help not damage the firearm with the pressure I was about to submit it to... because, since I lacked a press, I was going to be standing on my firearm.
The sandwich would look like:
Me Standing
wood
playmat
6-8 layers bedding foam
Kydex
pistol
playmat
wood
ground
If ya look at the CB Kydex, you'll see it has an angled channel for the front sight and stuff:
In order to approximate this, I decided to tape a flat head screw driver to my pistol:
The steps were as laid out in the video. Slowly heat the Kydex in the toaster oven, bumping the temperature knob up 50 degrees every 5min until it hit 250F. At that point, started hitting the firearm and foams with the hair dryer. At 350F, placed the kydex on the firearm, covered with foam and wood, stand on it for 10min.
Standing on a firearm sandwiched between wood is an interesting experience. I don't really suggest it. Oh, and do make sure the firearm is unloaded, but do have an empty magazine in the mag well to add support to it and not crush it.
This worked surprisingly well even if a bit crude. Sadly, the bedding foam wasn't really rigid enough to force the Kydex around the edge of the firearm. The CB Kydex clings to the firearm, and the attaching rivets are placed relatively close to the firearm.
Here's the CB Kydex looking at it head on, note the sharp edges where it flattens out to rest against the leather:
Here's what my initial attempt looked like, also note how the sight channel wasn't really a channel:
To address this, I figure'd try cutting out the form of my pistol in the thicker play mat foam and use it to "force" the Kydex the shape to the pistol better. The bottom / trigger guard portion of the firearm was just a straight forward template / stencil cut out.
The slide / sight side of the firearm posed a a bit more of a challenge in that I appeared to need to really get a proper "channel" for retention strength as well as the rivet holes in the leather. Simply butting the play mat foam up against the firearm would not accomplish.
I figured out I could lay my razor blade knife on it's side and run the play mat along the cutting edge to fillet the play mat to a much thinner thickness. This thickness seemed about right for "jamming" the play mat against the hot Kydex to slide it under the screwdriver. I also cut the corners away to avoid alignment problems.
Process this time around was:
* heated up a piece of Kydex
* slapped it on the gun
* pressed down the trigger guard foam
* pulled the Kydex a bit to take out some of the slack
* jammed the slide / sight foam on top of the kydex but under the screw driver
* put on the bedding foam / play mat / wood
* stood for another 10 min
The results were pretty good:
And the edges were better:
The trigger guard area aint perfect, but it's not too bad. It's also a bit further beyond the mag well than the markings for the CB was.
The problem that soon became apparent was that because I had the firearm resting on some of the play mat foam - the Kydex formed to the elevated level of the play mat.
As seen here, it's lifted off the flat survace a bit on each side:
The CB Kydex on the other hand, is flush:
I appeared to have a new Kydex piece!
Appeared to have it, but I still can't quite get the rivet holes to line up.
I'll be making the press over this weekend and hopefully attempting again Sunday or Monday night.
