Of magnets and chest plates...

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Who online would sell magnets like that?? Anyone know a website? And are they just called super magnets?? Does anyone have and idea of how many pounds or kilograms of hold you would need to keep aluminum armor on?????
dan

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

OPPI - Lee Valley sells them online, and they're called "rare earth" magnets.

Here's their page: http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.asp?page=42363&category=3&SID=&ccurrency=2

They also have an article about them with LOTS of information. They are VERY strong. Definitely strong enough for attaching armor!

http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.asp?page=40077&category=3,42363&ccurrency=2&SID=

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

This is the same idea I just had for my armor, which I am making of two layers of very thin steel. I'll post some pictures of my armor as soon as I'm finished with it sometime this week. I'm just going to sew some of the magnets into the clothes under where the armor goes. As for where to get them, you can find several sizes of rare earth magnets at your local Radio Shack.

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Has anyone tried to use a combination of velcro & super magnets for closing the gauntlets & attaching the armor? Lee Valley has these incredibly strong magnets that are really small & the holding power is at least equal to a snap. I might give this a shot instead of the nut & bolt method or snaps because it will let me fine tune the position of the armor. A little bit of velcro for added insurance where it will not cause the armor to stick out & I think I'll be in business.

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Great idea! When I worked at Disney World we used to use those on our nametags. Never even thought about using it for armor, but it should work - you really have to pull to get those magnets apart!

--
Mark

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Hey folks,
I had a band concert the other night and being outside the wind was a problem. Traditionally we use clothespin-like things to hold our music on the stand, but that night my stand-partner had industrial magnets. They were about the size of a nickel but boy they were strong! It was difficult removing them from the stand to get pages turned in time they stuck so well.

I immediately thought that they might work splendidly for the chest plates. They're very strong, small, and will not permanently damage the vest.

My questions are these:

-Has anyone tried this?

-How would I best go about attaching the small magnets to the back of my sintra chest plates?

Thanks folks,
Phil

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

There was another thread started around here talking about rare earth magnets available from Lee Valley & using them for this exact same purpose. I think it would work great & I might do this myself. I don't really like the idea of punching holes in my leather vest & I'm not too impressed with the look of armor velcroed on. I think if you glued a small steel washer to your armor at all contact points & placed the magnets on the inside of your vest, it would work. Once you got everything placed right, you could sew little pockets to keep the magnets in place permanently. Then putting your armor on & off or swapping out with upgrades would be cinch.

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Yeah, that's exactly my thinking. Once they're on there, they won't really need to come off. I'm glad that it sounds feasible. Next week I'll be asking my partner where he got those magnets, they're very nice.

More as it develops,
Phil

 

[Migrate from As You Wish]

Check with Lee Valley tools. I bought a couple of the rare earth magnets for a CD player cover plate & those suckers are strong. They are keeping a false panel on (glued on the backside of 1/4" plastic) & have never fallen off going over bumps or railroad tracks. They come in a bunch of sizes too.

 

[jrnymanprotector]

Well I did it folks. Found some nice magnets at Lowe's (home depot). I sanded the backs of them and two-part epoxied them to the armor. I spaced three out on each main plate. When I was done I only had three magnets left. So I attached the plates and they've been on my mannequin all night and day now, each plate supported by only 1 of 3 contact points and they're holding very well through the vest. Once the other magnets are on there I'm very confident that it will be every bit as secure as velcro or snaps.

I don't have any of it in front of me now, but tonight I'll post the actual names and companies of everything.

I'm very pleased that I didn't have to sew, and even more pleased that I didn't have to punch holes in that damn-expensive vest

Phil

 

[Purity Knight]

How did you make the magnets stick to the leather vest?

 

[jrnymanprotector]

Actually my vest is nylon I think, I'm doing Boba. But it doesn't much matter because the magnets are not attached to the vest. There are magnets attached to the backs of the armor plates. I lay those on the vest, and place another magnet INSIDE the vest to hold the plate. The hold is so strong that it's not slipping down or anything, and the magnetism simply holds the inner magnets.

I am concerned about the inner magnets becoming dislodged by either a break in contact due to a plate being pulled out, or also by being rubbed against the center zipper on the jumpsuit. I'm confident that it won't be a big deal, but if it becomes one I will hot glue small patches of cloth around those inner magnets to hold them in place.

Phil

 

[MaxPlague]

I'd be curious to see how well they hold once you're wearing it and moving around/action posing/etc. Let us know how it goes!

 

[jrnymanprotector]

you say curious, I say apprehensive

I'm hoping I won't have to rig anything more to keep the inside magnets attached, but we'll see. I'll certainly update when I know.

Phil

 

[TR3171]

i bought some magnets at Jo-ann's they are 2000 guass (whatever that means) i am going to use them on my armor they seem very strong and the price was right

TR3171

 

[jrnymanprotector]

Hey folks,
The glue I used is a two-part tube thing called 'plastic fusion' and is made by the good people at the Super Glue Corporation. The magnets come in a few different sizes and quantities and are called something like 'rare earth magnets' or somesuch. I found both at home depot.

Hope this helps,
Phil

 

[porkins]

Just curious on the need of saving your vest? Are you going to wear it to dinner or something? :confused I have yet to attach my armor but it just struck me as strange that so many were concerned about snaps or velcro. I know snaps work the magnets are questionable. Is there any reason to go with magnets over snaps other than to save the vest?

 

[jrnymanprotector]

No reason that I can think of. My vest just cost me quite a bit and I didn't want to risk putting holes in the wrong place or having them rip or any number of other possible accidental damages.

Aside from that, I think snaps and magnets are very comparable in strength, cost, and in how far they may protrude your plates.

Hope that helps,
Phil

 

[jrnymanprotector]

alright, as you can see in my 'first pics of my suit, not entirely finished' thread I have tried a rough draft of my suit on. I used the rare earth magnets, three on each plate.

Well I have to say that I'm not as impressed as I thought I would be. They held alright, but every time I even started to cross an arm over my chest the connection would pop and the inner magnet would slip out, usually ending up on my leather pouches or attached to a lower inner magnet.

So I haven't given up on them yet, but I will definitely be hot-gluing small patches of fabric around the inner magnets. This will prevent their being lost again, but I don't think it will keep the contact any better. So ultimately I still run the risk of losing a chest plate if I move too much.

More as it develops,
Any suggestions for making that connection better are more than welcome,

Phil

 

[jrnymanprotector]

**UPDATE**

Hey folks,
still determined to use magnets and not carve up my vest I went ahead and made small 2" sq patches of cloth (from a cheap shirt) and I hot glued them around the magnets that were inside the vest. They had been rubbing against the pockets and main seam of my jumpsuit and were falling off. Well with the new 'patches' holding the magnets in place, even if the contact is broken they hold their position. And the contact is rarely broken for more than a brief moment, so the armor pops right back exactly where it should be immediately. I must say that it seems to work great and I will be attending comic-con with this method, so talk about trial by fire...

My only dissatisfaction is that the bottoms of the breast plates are protruding and frankly they're making my gut look big. Sure it's a little big, but not that bad! I think I may attach magnet points at the bottom and see if that won't do it, otherwise possibly a snap or two.

Thanks for reading, I'll definitely post a review after comic-con...

Phil