UKC

hi was just wandering if there were any disadvantages of putting stickers on to a climbing helmet? will the stick make the plastic weeker?

cheers
nick

In reply to kayakmonkey: Your joking right?

In reply to kayakmonkey:
No one knows. Unless the helmet makers have made and approved the sticker, then the sticker has not been tested on the helmet, so there is always the possibility of the glue damaging the helmet.
My helmet sports 5:10 stickers which are peeling off and to be honest I would not bother in future.

In reply to kayakmonkey: certainly used to be the advice with hard hats at work - how much of it is manufacturers covering their backsides is a different issue. I'd say the risk was very low but not non existent.

What does the manufacturer website/ instructions say? (always agood place to start

In reply to kayakmonkey:

Bad. They look really bad.
jk

In reply to kayakmonkey:
>

Probably. Much safer to leave off the helmet and put the stickers on your head.

In reply to kayakmonkey: ive had this at work and the end result was that if you put stickers on helmets then you modify a piece of ppe and then since it is changed from its original ce or en the said ce's and en's are then void. seems stupid to me but companies will do all they can to not be liable for any accident.

In reply to kayakmonkey:
As far as I'm aware it technically invalidates it as a piece of PPE but is unlikely to weaken it. If you need it for work then don't do it, but otherwise it is up to you to make a judgement.

In reply to kayakmonkey: i thought the reason you didnt put them on hard hats was cos it made a visual inspection less effective, rather than cos the glue might damage the plastic

which seems more plausible to me

In reply to EasyAndy:

I thought you didn't put them on climbing helmets was because you looked like a dork if you did. obviously

In reply to EasyAndy:

No its because the helmet manufacturers don't want you promoting other manufacturers e.g. putting a RAB sticker on a Petzl Helmet.

In reply to chrisbaggy:

On telly at the weekend Tim Emmett had a Mountain Hardwear sticker on his Black Diamond helmet.

In reply to thegreatape:

Tim should have known better than to risk compromising the plastic integrity of his helmet!? :P

In reply to thegreatape:

Yeah, I was pretty appalled by this. I mean overall the program showed him and Dave Macleod doing some pretty irresponsible stuff, they were hanging onto an leaning wall of rock with nothing but their fingers a lot of the time. This seemed an unnecessarily dangerous way to reach the top of that hill to me. This was even endorsed by what the BBC kept calling their "safety officers", safety, my hat!

In reply to kayakmonkey: I like the look of stickers and have a few on mine.

Use mine working for lots of companies and have never had anyone comment re ppe.

Your choice.

In reply to jezb1:

My work helmet has my ID plus the organisation's logo on stickers (definitely not put on by the manufacturer). Don't have any problems with it. Then again, I've worn it, errrrrm, once in 3yrs (try to avoid it!)

In reply to kayakmonkey: Mine has a weird sticker on it saying fire&rescue or sumfin? Its sorta melted now though :P

In reply to kayakmonkey:
Most manufacturers reccommend that you don't put stickers of any kind on your helmet due to the risk (whether perceived or real) that the chemicals in the glue could weaken the plastic.
What is rather odd is that Petzl supply their kids Picchu helmet with stickers which you can put on ok. The Elios on the other hand, is made of the same shell material, yet they say No Stickers.
If I was the sticker-putting-on type, I would do it. But I CBA.

In reply to kayakmonkey: I only use diamond-titanium composite plated stickers

In reply to kayakmonkey:

My daughter stuck a kind of foam monkey sticker on the back of my helmet, the arm has lifted off and now appears to be waving, its sweet and is good for my mojo.

Stick away if it makes you happy

In reply to kayakmonkey: I think in a fall bad enough for a helmet to be useful, whether or not there are any stickers on it would be the least of your worries.

In reply to kayakmonkey:

I would definitely recommend that you don't put stickers on to your climbing helmet.

Helmets are generally made of ABS (or PC) and they are both very susceptible to environmental stress cracking, which is a mechanism by which solvents cause weaknesses in polymers leading to brittle cracks forming.

You have no way of knowing whether the adhesive from the stickers will cause this or not, so why risk it with a piece of equipment intended to be keeping you safe(r)?

I would also be nervous about trying to remove stickers with any soaps or solvents for the same reasons.

In reply to kayakmonkey: yeah, I also thought you were kidding. how can a sticker possibly destroy a helmet? I've put a puppy sticker on my petzl girl-helmet.. It might look childish. But my concern is only that I kind of regret buying that helmet since it don't seem very safe..
Helmets in store looks different and are made of different materials, hardness.. which one in YOUR opinion is the safest one? best one? but not the most expensive one either? I still use my "bad" helmet, since it's better than no helmet, right?!

The Grivel Salamander helmet not only comes with some stickers pre-attached (geckos and a gnarly G on the front), but a whole raft of stickers for you to customise the helmet

In reply to climbingVet: Another reason they say no to putting stickers on your helmet, is so that you can view all of the surface area for any cracks or deformed areas. However with the new plastic composites they use in the construction of the helmets I hardly see this as a problem. I have a Petzl Meteor 3 and its covered in stickers. Stick away make your helmet your own.

In reply to kayakmonkey:

When your helmet has stopped a few rocks and falls it might start to crack a bit. I find stickers are great for holding them together once they start to go. A bit of epoxy and gaffer tape on the inside will work wonders too.

YMMV, but I can usually get another year out of a lid at least.

In reply to davidbeynon:


I find wrapping elastic bands around the lid works wonders... or a swimming cap - that way, all the bits of helmet just spring back into the right shape.

In reply to Steve Hill:

Don't you find that a swimming cap makes it breathe less well?

In reply to davidbeynon:

A little, but it makes you more hydrodynamic when you plummet into the sea from a route in pembroke.

In reply to kayakmonkey:

Its quite a long time since I worked in the print industry, but for the record the formulations of self-adhesive on both paper stocks and plasticised vinyls used in labeling are very application specific.

The world's leading manufacturers of self-adhesive (MacTac, Jac, Fasson, Raflatac to name but a few) all have their own laboratories producing adhesives for just about every situation you can think of. Some of these may still be solvent-based adhesives even though the move to water-based acrylic adhesives has been going on for a generation.

Either way, its because of the potential for microscopic crazing to occur due to solvent attack, or adverse chemical interaction between the label and the surface (in this case the helmet)due to some other factor e.g. plasticiser migration where vinyl label stocks are concerned, that the issue should be taken seriously.

Personally I would not take the risk of sticking anything to a valuable piece of life-saving equipment and I'd be equally circumspect about using pen markers for similar reasons.

In reply to kayakmonkey: I heard that if you put a sticker on your helmet you will die

In reply to barrowclough:

Im not so sure about death but im sure it reduces the firing power and distance if you do..

In reply to barrowclough:

A guy in America put stickers on his climbing helmet and he grew breasts. I read that in one of those 'Just Say No' leaflets in Tiso's. Apparently it stunts growth, leads to impotence and has been linked to psychosis as well.

In reply to kyprok:


Wow - and what about the shed load of not-so-microscopic scrapes and gouges that helmets gather in normal wear and tear?

In reply to kayakmonkey:

It just depends on if you wanna look like a skier or a snowboarder.

In reply to JJL:

Well, cracks and gouges will weaken the shell, that's obvious. Depending on how bad they are, and where, you might choose to bin the lid.

If you have done any materials science (and yes, I have) you'll know, as said above, about the problems polycarbonate has with some solvents. I don't always wear a helmet climbing, but when I do I want it to do its job.

I've had enough near misses over the years to want to stack the odds in my favour; by not using stickers I also have the added bonus (imho) of not looking like some sort of wannabee.

In reply to danm:


And there we agree resoundingly.

In reply to JJL: Kier construction put stickers on their employees helmets as part of the site induction, and they are a massive company that is terrifier of being sued. They have health and saftey officers and ppe to the Nth degree. They also attach stickers to subby's helmets regardless of brand. No sticker, no site access. If it dose not bother them I wouldn't let it bother you pal.

In reply to workblowschunks:

Where did I sday it bothered me? I was the one pointing out that helmets see a lot worse!

In reply to JJL: Soz I ment to reply to kayakmonkey.

In reply to kayakmonkey:


Hi Kayakmonkey

I have it on good authority that wood glue is the safest type of glue for a plastic helmet (http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=427841).

So just keep the backing on your stickers and glue them on with wood glue.

In reply to Locus:

Blutac - I'm using it on my helmet.

Mind you glue for 'wood' might be the way forward...