Making my first Kydex holster

[wittmeba]

Defiantly get a heat gun or a powerful hairdryer. They are useful in fine tuning and also if it gets too much definition and the retention is to tight (common) you can use the heat gun to loosen it up a bit.

Yes, I thought I could heat around the trigger guard if needed to tweak the retention.

Have you considered an assortment of clamps? Might save you from having to stand on your press.

They make quick set/ quick release clamps. Were it I, I might use a large one to get the middle, one on each corner, and maybe place another in between each corner.

Unless, of course, it's just a matter of closing it tightly, then reopening it immediately. Then it probably wouldn't be worth the effort of all the clamps. If that's the case, I'd be more inclined to temporarily repurpose a drill press for clamping purposes, assuming that I had one.

Yes, only problem with clamps is I need to stand on it to flatten then can't get a clamp under the piece on the floor. Might have to use two 2X4 runners and clamp between my feet.

But I'm going to try something different. The thickest side of the gun is the barrel. I'm going to turn the gun around and put the thinner side toward the hinge hoping too improve and equalize the compression. It seemed the press was slightly open (about 1/4" inch) during compression. The barrel side of the gun was pretty good but the area under the trigger is a bit wavey. After looking more closely there was a wrinkle at one end of the flat area ahead of the trigger. About 1/8" curled slightly.

[wittmeba]

Images of my first Kydex Holster for an S&W M&P .40 in the Kydex Highlander Color and Pattern. My first pretty much complete.

I don't have much new to add but I did end up with a couple hairline fractures in the Kydex. I suspect these happened when I tried to cut some rough shaping with a table saw. The table saw works well when the material is well supported near the point of contact with the blade. However when I was trying to shape-cut I held it off the table to avoid cutting through both sides and it wanted to splinter and shatter. Not good. The Dremel with the wafer thin disk cuts much better and cleaner.

The sight channel ended up a bit larger than I wanted but really isn't too bad. I heated it to fix the symmetry over the sight line and it didn't return to the same size. Oh well...

To make the space for the binding post heads for the clip it was much easier to add that after the final shaping rather than try to make a raised area during the press molding process. I just used a think piece of wood the width of the clip and slid it under the Kydex and reheated that area with a heat gun. As soon as it was hot, I used a smaller piece of left over foam and pressed it over the area - it worked very well.

The heat gun works great - Wagner - $22.00 at Lowes - I believe it was the least expensive they offered.

Left bottom view:


Right bottom view:


Left rear view:


Right rear view:


Right upright view:


It has been a great learning experience and fun project. Doing anything with guns is fun I do believe I have a new hobby and it isn't too expensive to play.

[wittmeba]

It's that time again. Son wants a Carbon Fiber IWB for his Ruger P95. Just received the Kydex today so we will start likely this weekend.

My biggest mistake on my first was trying to cut the Kydex on a table saw while holding the Kydex suspended in the air. It wanted to shatter into pieces. No more of that for me. I found the cleanest and safest cutting was a Dremel with a thin wafer like disk. Nice clean cuts.

I did add another 1" of foam (1/2" top and 1/2" bottom) to my press. I just felt the gun was almost the thickness of the space between the boards with only a little room for foam.

I really like wearing my first. It hugs tightly against my hip area and the Kydex is very thin and light weight -works great!

[SHMIV]

Following this thread has put another DIY project on my list... now I want to play with Kydex, lol.

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[cwfunrider]

It's that time again. Son wants a Carbon Fiber IWB for his Ruger P95. Just received the Kydex today so we will start likely this weekend.

My biggest mistake on my first was trying to cut the Kydex on a table saw while holding the Kydex suspended in the air. It wanted to shatter into pieces. No more of that for me. I found the cleanest and safest cutting was a Dremel with a thin wafer like disk. Nice clean cuts.

I did add another 1" of foam (1/2" top and 1/2" bottom) to my press. I just felt the gun was almost the thickness of the space between the boards with only a little room for foam.

I really like wearing my first. It hugs tightly against my hip area and the Kydex is very thin and light weight -works great!

Glad to hear the extra foam helped. For cutting i use multiple implements, the dremel is one. Tin snips, a band saw, and a sharp razor knife rounds out the rest.

Mobile Clicky Device

[wittmeba]

Following this thread has put another DIY project on my list... now I want to play with Kydex, lol.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

It's really fun and quite easy. Not much expensive or specialized tooling required. I don't even have a drill press. I need to invest in a low budget table top model just to get clean straight holes in the Kydex.


The Dremel with the fiber wafer really does the best and cleanest job for me.

[wittmeba]

Time to make another holster.

This is my sons Ruger P95DC and he thinks he wants to obtain his CWP. I will make a Black Carbon Fiber Kydex IWB holster for him.

[wittmeba]

I have to limit my tools used as I do this on the kitchen counter at this time. Until I invest in a small toaster oven I use mama's stove. Right now I just heat the Kydex (pretty hot), quickly remove to the pizza pan with the Kydex and throw it into the mold/foam and hold it together for 3-5 min. I usually have to reheat to remove some of the retention as I over-due that a bit - just apply a bit of heat from a heat gun.

Completed the second holster. I keep learning - this was a bit different due to the depth and thickness of the ambidextrous de-cocker lever, slide release and overall pistol. I need better gloves. That darn stuff gets hot!

Ruger P95DC with a Kydex Black Carbon Fiber holster.





By the way what I found to work very well for spacers or shims between the Kydex and gun for molding around bulging parts is the wooden wedges/batons used for installing doors and windows. You can buy them in packs of about 30 for little money. They are tapered, thin and can be cut with a knife for customizing. Long enough to slide into place without having to remove the gun.