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YABT (Yet Another Build Thread)


indylead

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Damn. I probably should have held off on the attempt to match them

 

I shouldn't worry too much - I've not used the front slots on my armour - I pass the elastic straight to the inside face as it's too fiddly to thread the end through the slot once I have the armour on.

 

My plan is to extend the lower strap so that it threads through the front slot permanently, but has enough play in it that I can tighten it up once the armour is on.

 

that t-strap wrap is amazing! I am going to use this as well. thanks and greetings!

 

Happy to help :) To be honest, I wanted to use Pandatrooper's elasticated one, but I just couldn't get my head around the best way to make it work with my shoulder straps and the larger gap that I needed, so went with (to me at least) a simpler solution.

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Some more photos that I didn't really capture well during the build.

This shows the cooling fan I used.

 

The fan is a cooling fan from a 3D printer. I used this one from eBay (3D Printer 12V 2 Pin DC 50mm 5015 Blow Radial Cooling Fan). This fits neatly into the snout, and can be angled to blow air directly onto the inside of the visor, plus you can feel it on your face too. It's pretty quiet, too, although the noise is picked up by a mic located nearby (more on this another time!)

 

Two wires run to a 9V battery switched box. This is a PP3 switched box also from eBay. I originally used a AA battery holder wired up with a switch, but decided the higher voltage was going to put more air through, so upgraded and tidied the wiring. Also, the box has an integral switch and whilst I can't switch it on/off whilst wearing the helmet, I've found that is not a problem. The fan, battery box and wires are all held in place with velcro, and can be removed.

 

Having already wrecked one fan (the fan spindle is open, so go easy with the glue. Not that anyone would be careless enough to glue it up), I have a couple of spares on order so I can make up a replacement in case I need it.

 

P1050027_zps7rxkosjp.jpg

 

P1050028_zpscd2hyhx0.jpg

 

Don't ask why the battery box has velcro on the top. We don't talk about that. Lets just say it's velcroed to the helmet with the 'right' type of velcro.

 

P1050026_zpshzvhlgvx.jpg

 

P1050025_zps6sfmafll.jpg

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And finally, the helmet liner.

 

I originally used velcro to hold pieces of foam - one on top, one behind my head and one on my forehead. I found after the first time out that whilst this was comfortable enough, except when I turned my head fast, or nodded, the helmet tended to move independently to my head.

 

Many people suggested using the liner from a cheap hard-hat, so I went the same route. For about €6 I picked up a cheap one from my local hardware store. A few minutes work with a dremel cut the moulded clip out of the hat.

 

Handy hint - remove the liner from the clips first - you wouldn't want to cut through this with the dremel folks, would you?

 

Once I had the six clips (the blue parts in the photo), I cleaned up the edges, and hot glued them in place inside teh helmet. I had to play a little, but as you can see there is one on either 'sideburn' panel, two on the forehead and the last two behind the head.

 

This is a whole lot more comfortable to wear, plus holds the helmet on my head.

 

I did find halfway through my first troop that three clips had come adrift, and by the end of the day only one was still glued in place. I've now used two-part epoxy to hold them, as I'm having a poor success rate with both hotglue and E6000 on this build. I'm generally using hot glue as a 'first pass' to check things are working, then once it gives up I can remove it and use epoxy.

 

P1050024_zps7cclnuny.jpg

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Damn. I wish I had thought to chop the mounts from the hat now. I only have them resting on the clips themselves.

 

Hope to fashion some snap domes as a quick on/off around the under arm. Well, that's the plan anyway. As you say Velcro and strapping is hard to move once installed

 

Sent from my XT1092 using Tapatalk

 

 

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It's tricky as the elastic is folded over plus the velcro - I could make the slots wider, of course. I will go back and look at this at some point, but I've a few other things I want to tweak first.

 

Snap fasteners are probably the way I will go, too. I picked some up after seeing a TK build video, and have already used them to hold my pouches on (2x 15mm fasteners per pouch) in place of the crappy sew-on ones I originally used.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Re storage..

 

Just TD ala pandatrooper with pvc pipe added. And some electrical tape to make it more snug. A tapered cup would do similar. Makes it removable if need be and secure enough if not

 

As long as I got someone keeping an eye on my 6

 

1d83905139bda08d911740c9c73f1677.jpg

 

Sent from my XT1092 using Tapatalk

 

 

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The alternate is of course some elastic cord, secured from 1 endcap to the other to ensure they are pulled in at all times, or at least a loop to secure said items to with a caribina or similar..

 

I may invest in this myself since it just dawned on me

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