JP harness options...thoughts?

Darth Voorhees

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It really never is done is it? LOL! Ok so since i had that minor problem, that some of you may have seen, with my belt that snugs the bottom of the JP to the body...i started doing a little research on the harness' thinking maybe i can find something better and with more support without having to spend the 200 bucks for a replica. So, i know we had determined that the JP harness may have been some kind of tank harness, possibly a firefighters. Diver harnesses were mentioned as well, and kind of made sense with the use of the divers buckle, although it seemed the dimensions we had for the harness were too small for divers oxygen tank.

So i just decided to randomly see if i could find something similar that may be cost effective. and could possibly be used with a few mods. It wouldn't be completely screen accurate of course but would provide the same support and comfort. I found these:

divingharnessbasic.gif


divingharnessdeluxe.gif


The top one is 40 bucks, the bottom one is 60. I thought with some modding, these may be able to be used and be similar to what was used on screen, and give you the same back support and stability. Just a thought. :)

Here is the webste: Backplates & Harnesses | Technical And Cave Diving Equipment in Thailand - BIG BLUE TECH

There is also some interesting information on this site's page:
http://diveph.blogspot.com/2010/02/deep-sea-supply-dss-usa-backplate-wing.html
They have "kydex" back plates, which are a lightweight alloy/plastic that weigh less than a pound. The come in small to large sizes. They have a pic of it assembled with well of course not a jet pack, but you can see the size. I think something like this could work.

I also found this fire dept video..but although the size is closer, it has a lot of stuff that would need to be removed to make it usable id think. My finace's dad is a fire fighter and may have an older tank harness around, so we are going to find out and check it out.
here is the video...
http://arcusepito.com/view.php?vide...data_player&title=SCBA+Parts+:+SCBA+Harnesses
 
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Fett 4 real, yea, i would like to get one of those, but noone is producing them right now and the cost is still a bit more than i can ahndle right now. $40 dont seem to bad for the stability and support of the original, even if its not "screen accurate"

i was thinking the same thing fett fanatic...

this is a pic of just one of the "plates" This one is a plastic alloy that weighs less than a pound.
3750517315_1d269260cf_o.gif


if you look at the second link i posted, way at the bottom it shows it assembles with a pack of some sort on it, but you can see it looks fairly small and may not need as much modding as i originally thought.
 
I was also thinking maybe i could fabricate the harness in 1/2" PVC and thick ABS sheet. I did a test run of bending the PVC with a heat gun. I originally made it too wide, so i redid it and it came out a bit wonky at the top bend due to the weak spots i created when i made the bend too large, but i think this could work. I also have plenty more PVC pipe i could use to do another. Heres the test piece.
PVCharness.gif
 
yeh...true, did u ask terry already? Thing is with the harness rig it needs to be small enough to sit right under the backplate...u may want to consider getting this and cutting it up? And when i looked they needed the rigging i think...it might be more touble than its worth.
 
The problem with the back plate is that raised center ridge. It will keep your back armor from sitting flush. Actually the harness in the video in the third link is pretty promising.

The next time you try to bend the pvc fill it up totally with sand first then tape the ends so the sand doesn't come out. When you heat it and bend it the sand will help keep the tube shape.
 
Fett 4 real... yea, i was thinking it may be more trouble than its worth as well. I was a thought though...lol..sometimes i think too much.

Fettfanatic, yea the firedept one right? Im still gonna look into my fiances dads old stuff. he may have one i could work with.

sand...ah, good idea! It actually bent smoothly the first time, but i made it to big. Then trying to make it smaller made it all wonky. Ill try that though. I think i have some sand here actually from some old punching bag thing that needed sand to weight it down. Im gonna try it now. im bored and have plenty of PVC here lol
 
Booboo Fett is still making harnesses hit him up maybe you can use the PVC for a temporary fix

Ah cool. thanks for the info. (y) Yea unfortunately i cant swing even $200 for something like that right now. I got most of the PVC version done last night. It came out pretty good. I need to get some metal rod from work tomorrow to make the square rings the strapping goes through on the bottom. i cant seem to find anywhere that has the 2" ones. This will probably work for me. Not even sure when id upgrade if this works. You cant really see it anyway, and all i want is the support and stability of it. We'll see how it pans out though lol. :cheers

I also have that metal wiring tubing. Which is also 1/2" I'll be going to the in-laws this weekend for the holiday so im gonna bring a piece there and use my father-in-laws bender and bend a piece of that for the future. I can get sheet metal and probably rivet the flat metal panels on, and that may be close enough to the real thing for me. but again, we'll see how that pans out as well. lol. Gonna try out the PVC one as soon as its done and see how it is.
 
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