Make Your Own Eye Covers!!!

[JawCrusher]

Hey Everyone.

To start off... I have an ACE'd 2k LCD. It had the classic JB Weld eyes from Warped Sportz on it. The eyes worked fine but I wanted to get creative and use "laser eyes". I made the eyes (link) (http://angelowners.com/showthread.php?t=68502) myself and decided I wanted to have eyes that weren't quite as permanent. Meaning I didn't wanted them glued on and instead I wanted them to be removable by removing a screw. I heard the Eclipse eblade covers worked well but they are REALLY hard to find now days. So, I took a trip down to my local hardware store to see what I could find. Here's what I found that seemed like it could work...

There's a rubber edging that exists for use on doors and whatnot. The edging is made of a thick rubber compound that seemed like it would work great as an eye cover.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/cover1.jpg

The trick with the rubber edging is that it comes in two layers with a slice down the middle. You only need one half so... I cut away.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/cover2.jpg

After that, it's more cutting to get it to a size that will fit on the side of the gun.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/cover3.jpg

There is already a small groove in the rubber that helps keep the eye wires in place.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/cover4.jpg

Next was trying to figure out a way to attach the bottom end. What I did was used some thin wire. I pushed each end into the rubber so that it would connect the two in the middle. I used the length of the eye path on my LCD (milled by WS). This way the eye covers would complement each other and stay put. The thin wire also makes it possible for the eye wires to utilize the space.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/cover5.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/cover6.jpg

The next step is pretty standard. Drilled and tapped a spot on my gun so the top part of the cover could attach securely.

You'll notice in the next few pictures that the eye wires are covered for the most part in a front view and not as much in the back. The siding tapers off and I wanted the thicker part up front where balls may hit. It's obviously not as flush as it could be mainly because of the way my custom eyes are made. I bent the leads on the eyes to have a pretty decent size elbow. With the covers in place, it makes it so the eyes are secured nice and tight.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/cover11.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/cover10.jpg

Front of Gun
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/cover8.jpg

Back of Gun
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a112/Phunkadilic/Angel/Eye/cover9.jpg

All-in-all, it turned out decent IMHO. It's a fairly easy and cheap alternative to eblade eye covers.

I hope someone finds this useful.

[newball]

It looks ok but I would try to make them one piece and with some cutting get them to fit. That way you could make them tight to avoid the gap between the marker and covers.

[Shibbykins]

Great work man. With what you told me b4 this is how i imagined it. Keep up the great work

J

[JawCrusher]

It looks ok but I would try to make them one piece and with some cutting get them to fit. That way you could make them tight to avoid the gap between the marker and covers.

I definitely toyed with that idea but it seemed shaving all that rubber would get too messy and wouldn't leave enough room for the eyes. Honestly, I thought the covers would turn out better but because my eyes are kinda "beefy", the cover doesn't fit flush against the gun. If it were ribbon eyes these covers would work perfectly. I mainly wanted to do this to cover my eyes and put pressure on them to keep the eyes stable. I hope this idea gives others better ideas on making new eye covers. It seems as if the eblade cover was the exclusive cover for non-angel eye conversions on older Angels. With them being very rare, it would be cool to see other eye cover ideas brought to the front.

[newball]

I think it is a good idea. I might try to make some myself sometime.