I recently swapped out the old bolts on my armor for magnets, and decided i didnt like them that much and the bolts are just more secure and hassle free. Only catch is you HAVE TO place the holes in your vest right because there is no adjusting!
So i decided i wanted to post up how i attach the bolts to the armor. I did this for all of the chest/Ab pieces and shoulders, but i will be showing my method with the collar plate for this thread.
So since this is the collar, i never added magnets as the collar would never be able to handle any stress attached with magnets and would just slide back to slowly choke me to death lol...
So first i removed the old bolts that were round head bolts that use to come off periodically. Round head bolts arent a good idea, i got them off very easily lol...but that was what i had at the time. Anyway, here is the collar, old bolts removed, and what i will use to attach the new bolts. Zap-a-Gap CA glue, Zip kicker (CA accelerator), and Metal set A4 epoxy from Smooth-on.
i used these bolts:
metric flat head screw 8mm X 1.25mm X 16mm you can get them at boltdepot.com here:
Metric machine screws, Phillips flat head, Stainless steel 18-8, 8mm x 1.25mm - Bolt Depot
16 or 20mm would be fine, i got the 16s.
Be sure to put the screw in just far enough so the grommets you'll put in the vest wont show. I dabbed some Zap-a-gap on the armor..,
...kinda hard to see:
...and sprayed the head of the screw with the zip kicker..
and then set the screw in place. Be precise because the zip kicker sets the glue very fast. Do this with the rest of the screws of course.
Now we are ready to apply the Epoxy
Metal set is a 2 part epoxy resin that is used in the airline industry and the military (thats what the label says anyway lol)
so mix the 2 parts together till you have an even light grey color mixture
then apply it over the head of the screw. its best to put it next to the screw and kind of push it in place
Then you can get a little more around it. i had a couple of small cracks on the return edges as this armor is about 5yrs old, so i put it on the return edges as well to strengthen them up.
Heres what it looks like on all the bolts
This stuff takes a few hours to harden and is at full strength in 24hrs. I have never had this stuff fail me yet in any plication, so im confident this will hold very secure. I was even able to put a nut on it with the locking nylon in it
Hope this can help some of you out!
So i decided i wanted to post up how i attach the bolts to the armor. I did this for all of the chest/Ab pieces and shoulders, but i will be showing my method with the collar plate for this thread.
So since this is the collar, i never added magnets as the collar would never be able to handle any stress attached with magnets and would just slide back to slowly choke me to death lol...
So first i removed the old bolts that were round head bolts that use to come off periodically. Round head bolts arent a good idea, i got them off very easily lol...but that was what i had at the time. Anyway, here is the collar, old bolts removed, and what i will use to attach the new bolts. Zap-a-Gap CA glue, Zip kicker (CA accelerator), and Metal set A4 epoxy from Smooth-on.
i used these bolts:
metric flat head screw 8mm X 1.25mm X 16mm you can get them at boltdepot.com here:
Metric machine screws, Phillips flat head, Stainless steel 18-8, 8mm x 1.25mm - Bolt Depot
16 or 20mm would be fine, i got the 16s.
Be sure to put the screw in just far enough so the grommets you'll put in the vest wont show. I dabbed some Zap-a-gap on the armor..,
...kinda hard to see:
...and sprayed the head of the screw with the zip kicker..
and then set the screw in place. Be precise because the zip kicker sets the glue very fast. Do this with the rest of the screws of course.
Now we are ready to apply the Epoxy
Metal set is a 2 part epoxy resin that is used in the airline industry and the military (thats what the label says anyway lol)
so mix the 2 parts together till you have an even light grey color mixture
then apply it over the head of the screw. its best to put it next to the screw and kind of push it in place
Then you can get a little more around it. i had a couple of small cracks on the return edges as this armor is about 5yrs old, so i put it on the return edges as well to strengthen them up.
Heres what it looks like on all the bolts
This stuff takes a few hours to harden and is at full strength in 24hrs. I have never had this stuff fail me yet in any plication, so im confident this will hold very secure. I was even able to put a nut on it with the locking nylon in it
Hope this can help some of you out!
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