Mandalorian Armor Project 10: Armor Plates

For the armor plates I, once again, turned to Wizard of Flight's templates. These body armor are completely dependent on the wearer's size, so WizardofFlight uploaded a series of different templates for people to use. Being rather tall, I elected to use the "Large" size and modify the width to fit my body.

These plates were cut from 5V sheet aluminum, which is usually used for barn roofing. I happened to be at a yard sale where they were selling several sheets, and was lucky enough to pick some up for this project.

In order to properly shape these plates, I used a ball peen hammer and the lab's anvil to begin working the metal. The sheet metal is beaten on both sides. This process is called stretching, because it forces the metal to expand as it's beaten.

After I had hammered the entire surface of the plate, I started shaping it. The first step was to create the convex shape of the plate. Once I hammered out the rounded shape I started to focus on the individual angles of each side. Each plate was a challenge to shape, especially if they needed to perfectly mirror the plate opposite of it.

This material was wonderful to work with. The 5V sheeting is thin aluminum: only 20 gauge, which is about 1/32" thick. While it was too thin to make armor from, it was an excellent material to make a template from. The metal kept its form better than paper templates did, was thin enough to shape with hand tools, and was easily modified.

 Because I used WizardofFlight's "Large" template, I had to drastically modify these plates. The only way to figure out these measurements was by taping these plates to my body and checking the size. After repeatedly consulting with members from the Mandalorian Mercs forum, I ended up trimming the metal templates by 1.25" on each side. 

When I finally perfected the metal plates size, I traced them back onto the paper templates and cut off the extra material. Then I taped the paper templates onto my 3" PVC pipe. 

These pieces were a challenge to cut. Because of the complex angles, I could only use my PVC saw a few times. After breaking a coping saw during making a cut, I turned to my jigsaw. By using the jigsaw, I finished cutting the pieces in record time.

Once I finished cutting out my pieces I took them back to my metal templates. Because the metal sheets already had the correct shape, I used them to form my PVC pieces. 

I used my heat gun and slowly started to heat up the plates. Because I needed to shape the whole plate, I had to evenly heat the entire surface without burning it. 

As soon as the plate was malleable, I clamped them to the metal template. The PVC plates retained their heat fairly well, which meant that each plate needed ~10 minutes to cool to a decent temperature. 

After ~45 minutes of heating, shaping, and waiting, I had a full set of chest plates. As they cooled, some of the plates warped a bit, which required a bit of reheating and adjustment.

The nice thing about using PVC is that it can be reshaped at any time. 

I needed to create a pair of shoulder pads for my flak vest. Instead of cutting and shaping more PVC, I recycled the unused pieces of my first gauntlets. 

The gauntlet tops were cut in half and then rounded. The top pieces needed to be reshaped with the heat gun. As I reshaped each piece, I created scratches and battle damage by pressing various objects into the softened PVC. The two pieces were then joined together with PVC cement and a pair of clamps.

The following pictures take place after the plates have been painted and weathered. To see this process, visit Part 11 of the Mandalorian Armor project.

To attach the plates to the flak vest, I adhered machine screws to the back of the plates which were fitted through grommets on the vest. I spent ~$12 at Home Depot, getting six packets of screws, washers, nuts, and JB Weld. I picked up eight packets of machine screws, which was overkill, but was just in case I needed to re-cut screws.

Remember kids: Buy more supplies than you think you'll need. It could save you a second trip to the store, and you can always return what you don't use.

I wanted to make sure the plates would sit well on the vest, so I marked 6 points on the large plates to attach screws to. These spots were chosen very carefully. As I described in Part 9, I placed grommets in the vest. I then held the plate up to the vest, and marked the center of the each grommet by sticking a fine-point Sharpie through it. 

I had check my placement several times. The easiest way to do it was supergluing the screws in place and then putting the screws through the grommets on the vest. The superglue dries quickly, but is easily broken off to re-adjust it's position.

These are the machine screws I used to hold the plates to the vest. The regular machine screws are normally too long, but are easily cut down with a Dremel. I clamped the screws in my vice and put on a grommet, a washer, and the nut. The washer was a stand in for the fabric layer of the vest. Without it, I would've cut the screws too short, and risked the nut falling off.

JB Weld is a two-part epoxy that you mix together, which completely solidifies after 24 hours. I would take a pea-sized amount of each material, and then thoroughly mix them together until they're a uniform color. That amount would be sufficient for two screws. 

I would then clamp my plate to the table and place the screw onto the plate. 

And then wait for 24 hours. Impatiently...

Because all of the plates are curved, and JB Weld doesn't have any adhesive properties until hit hardens, the screws would slide down the plate as it hardened. I quickly learned to work on one side at a time. Chipping hardened JB Weld off my pates was an experience I did not wish to repeat.

The plates mounted perfectly onto the vest. The screws sat completely flush when screwed in, and when I wore the flight suit beneath the vest, I couldn't even feel them.

 In Hindsight:

1) Use a jigsaw to cut plates from PVC. Using a jigsaw made life infinitely easier when cutting plates out of PVC pipes. The cuts are cleaner and more regular, and cutting tight becomes much easier.

2) When cutting or shaping PVC pipes, wear a respirator with organic vapor filters. 
Heating PVC releases phosgene gas. When phosgene gas reacts with the moisture in your lungs, it creates hydrochloric acid. Yes, acid in your lungs; I'm not even kidding. I walked around for days, wondering why I was coughing so much.
3) Roughen the back of the PVC plates before JB Welding the screws to it. When wearing the armor at PAX East, I found the screws that were attached to smooth surfaces tended to break off much more easily.
4) Grind down your screws BEFORE adhering them. I originally adhered the screws to the plate and used the Dremel to grind off the excess length. Unfortunately, the heat and vibration caused the JB Weld to break off. 



Full Album: Imgur
Next Step: Painting and Weathering