pointystuff

I do vacuum forming with abs plastic sheets; I also make urethane and silicone molds. Perhaps those two hobbies can help solve this problem. Maybe a mold (positive and negative) made of cement/concrete would do the trick...along with a hydraulic press of 2 tons or so.

My goal is to make a seamless helmet dome from a single piece of 3 mm vegetable-tanned leather. I've experimented with wet leather and a wood hat dome form. With the wet leather draped over the dome, the edge of the leather secured via metal toggles to some eye hooks mounted around a thick board beneath the dome, and the dome perched on top of a hydraulic bottle jack, I've been able to pull a very shallow dome. However, the bottom half of the dome shape there were a lot of folds of excess leather. It may require a very tall hydraulic ram jack to get the folds of excess material to stretch out. Any suggestions?