The Aliens Legacy
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want to build metal ear hinge.
http://forum.alienslegacy.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18612		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  seven [ Mon Jan 13, 2020 10:58 pm ]
Post subject:  want to build metal ear hinge.
(THIS IS BECOMING A GENERAL HELMET MOD THREAD.)


tired of gluing my earpiece back on every week.

Anyone make a metal hinge piece? or seen a thread of one?
Author:  bigbisont [ Tue Jan 14, 2020 3:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: WTB. metal ear hinge.
When I did my second one, I used a hinge from Lowes (or home depot? Either way easy blended well and cheap).

It was literally just a cabinet door hinge. It was very much like this one and cheap. It blended very will with epoxy.
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Swings free always. This was it blended into a "spat" earpiece.
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If you are thinking of hammering out your own this is literally the best starting point to make your own metal armor. It is not complicated and you learn a lot from these two small pieces. You can probably hammer it out with just a small vice and a drill. This was the set I sold a while back. Just two outside flaps fold over the top. Inside tab (from top piece) folds over the middle. Jam a nail down the middle. Easy peasy.
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In a pinch the 3-section cabinet hinge is as easy as it gets though. If that is what you already have and it is still breaking on you, I suggest upgrading the glue.
Author:  seven [ Tue Jan 14, 2020 4:23 am ]
Post subject: 
WOW you shaped that bottom hinge piece?! I cant even imagine how to get that center trapezoid in there.
Thats definitely how Id like to do it. I also have some door hinges so maybe I'll mess with that a little too.
So im guessing that you formed the trapezoid in the middle and then shaped the outer metal after...
Author:  SimonT [ Tue Jan 14, 2020 8:36 am ]
Post subject: 
I just used a door hinge, like the one above. Epoxy resined into place!
Author:  bigbisont [ Tue Jan 14, 2020 6:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re:
seven wrote:
WOW you shaped that bottom hinge piece?! I cant even imagine how to get that center trapezoid in there.
Thats definitely how Id like to do it. I also have some door hinges so maybe I'll mess with that a little too.
So im guessing that you formed the trapezoid in the middle and then shaped the outer metal after...


Hmm. What was the order I did that...

Def start when everything is flat. The trapezoid was definitely first. As I recall, I drew two trapezoids in the center (the inner trapezoid being the top area that would be flat and the outer trapezoid being the edge of 'side walls' of the shape). I slapped the general shape into a vice and clamped it along the edge lines of the inner trapezoid. Hammer it to get the angled edge downward. Flip it in the vice and do the other side so that there is a general 'arch' to the overall shape. At that point you clamp it back in the vice along the outside trapezoid edge line. Hammering this requires more aiming because you have a smaller target area and don't want to hit the 'top' trapezoid. You just want to hammer the 'wall' section into the top flat section is back to being perpendicular to the vice. Flip it and do the same on the other side. At this point you should have the raised trapezoid. You can then set the edge of the overall shape on the lip of an anvil and just hammer it all the way around.

Pay special attention when putting it in the vice to taper the edge wall lines into to the top of the 'top' trapezoid. Does that make sense? You don't want to raise the very top edge at all. Just the side walls which continue out through the wider bottom. So you want to clamp it in the vice where you are not hammering the narrow edges of the trapezoid hardly at all.

For the tabs, hammer them 'out' first, then curl them around. That is more screen accurate then just curling them around from straight (if that makes sense).

You know what, I may just make a video. I'll post it when it is up. I'd like to make another anyways.
Author:  seven [ Tue Jan 14, 2020 6:57 pm ]
Post subject: 
That is awesome, I understand perfectly. i've got a thin piece of steel from home depot im gonna start with.
Author:  bigbisont [ Tue Jan 14, 2020 7:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re:
seven wrote:
That is awesome, I understand perfectly. i've got a thin piece of steel from home depot im gonna start with.


Keep in mind, I did that with aluminum up top. I have hammered on some steel with just an anvil (not heat) and it can be done, but is much much more difficult.
Author:  septic [ Tue Jan 14, 2020 8:53 pm ]
Post subject: 
Oh gosh! New project to start! :) Just as well it's reasonably small.

@Terran - did you heat the metal at all before bending it?
Author:  bigbisont [ Tue Jan 14, 2020 8:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re:
septic wrote:
Oh gosh! New project to start! :) Just as well it's reasonably small.

@Terran - did you heat the metal at all before bending it?


The aluminum doesn't need any heat at all. Aluminum is great to work with cold.
Author:  seven [ Tue Jan 14, 2020 10:29 pm ]
Post subject: 
I liked seeing that Terry English uses a magic marker for annealing the metal. A torch is on my list of things to buy later.
The thin steal square that I got from Home Depot works great when I did my Evil dead costume but it was a really simple part.
ill give it a shot and report back if it works out.
Author:  Harry Harris [ Wed Jan 15, 2020 6:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re:
seven wrote:
I liked seeing that Terry English uses a magic marker for annealing the metal.

I'm pretty sure Terry just uses a Sharpie to mark out the aluminium from his templates and to mark out fold lines etc. - I always thought that annealing is a process of heating then quenching metal isn't it?

Harry
Author:  martinr1000 [ Wed Jan 15, 2020 6:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: WTB. metal ear hinge.
I think the tip that terry gave Adam Savage was that when heating up the metal the marker pen disappears when the it's hot enough and annealed
Author:  seven [ Wed Jan 15, 2020 10:54 pm ]
Post subject: 
so hes scribles on the metal. then heats it until the marker disapears. thats when you know its hot enough. then you quench it and the molecules stay mailable. the other way is to use a torch with gas and tirn the metal black with soot. then when you heat it to temp the soot disapears. so using a marker saves you gas and tou only need a butane torch.
Author:  Harry Harris [ Wed Jan 15, 2020 11:43 pm ]
Post subject: 
I’ve seen Terry making armour and never seen him do that, at least with the Aliens armour. As bigbisont said Aliminium sheet of the thickness that Terry uses is easy enough to work on without heat.

Harry
Author:  seven [ Thu Jan 16, 2020 12:26 am ]
Post subject: 
he talks about it in that Adam savage series, if you havnt seen that its awesome. i have remnants of scribles on the inside of my TE armor i can get pics of. didnt know what it was until i saw that video. I have a buddy whos a metal worker who explained it to me. He went over my armor and told me how everything is done and hopefully is gonna take a pattern of a lobster plate that i made and give me a lesson on how to use a beading machine and hammer lines with a chisel. sort of related: the coolest thing i learned was that TE makes all the UsCM armor with only a rubber hammer, no metal ones. i cant remember all the names of the tools but its basically a big metal ball that you hamer on to make the curves, a dishing stump, chisel in an anvil, beading machine and a torch. Id love to hear what schotti thinks about those videos. makes perfect sense why the armor is so expensive after seeing its all so slow with simple tools.
Author:  bigbisont [ Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:31 am ]
Post subject: 
To be fair, I haven no doubt that is a great method on steel. I am still not thinking the aluminum needs heat. Did he specifically mentioned about annealing aluminum? I draw my shapes in sharpie too and those lines also get disintegrated by the metal stretching from hammer strikes and and the base metal changing shape. Very interesting about the rubber hammer. I have one, but have not ever ended up using it. I will def give a try next round (which may actually be soon!). I am also curious how Neil does it. He def has cooler gear than me! Would love to hear about his process.
Author:  seven [ Thu Jan 16, 2020 7:37 am ]
Post subject: 
check it, im not sure.

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ ... oBjw652hDk
Author:  martinr1000 [ Thu Jan 16, 2020 7:55 am ]
Post subject:  Re: WTB. metal ear hinge.
seven wrote:
check it, im not sure.


it's part 3 around the 2 minute mark
Author:  bigbisont [ Thu Jan 16, 2020 2:58 pm ]
Post subject: 
Oh wooow. Yeah that is wild. He def heats his aluminum. That is why he uses the sharpie, because unlike with steel, aluminum doesn't change color as it anneals. So that sharpie is his indicator. For steel he would watch for the color change in the metal to know it is ready.

Taking aluminum and making it even softer explains how all he needs is a rubber mallet as well. AND I would think that cuts down on how much "planishing" (hammering out the hammer marks to be smooth again) needs to be done. All fascinating stuff. I really should have watched the full video ages ago (I just skipped to the part about the USCM armor in the past).
Author:  seven [ Fri Jan 17, 2020 6:45 am ]
Post subject: 
if anyone has an extra ear piece of any kind id buy or trade for that until I get around to building one.
Author:  seven [ Fri Jan 17, 2020 6:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Re:
Harry Harris wrote:
seven wrote:
I liked seeing that Terry English uses a magic marker for annealing the metal.

I'm pretty sure Terry just uses a Sharpie to mark out the aluminium from his templates and to mark out fold lines etc. - I always thought that annealing is a process of heating then quenching metal isn't it?

Harry


i meant that he uses the marker instead of sooting the metal.

you heat the sooted armor, or markered armor until it burns off , that tells you its at temperature. then you quench it.
Author:  bigbisont [ Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:00 pm ]
Post subject: 
I did some following up on this from other places and they say that once you anneal it, it can stay 'soft' forever. If you don't touch it, you can come back a year later and it is as soft as the day it was annealed. The way you harden it again is by working/hammering it. Aluminum is work hardened, so the more you beat it, the harder it gets.

Pretty interesting stuff and frankly a case to be made for just beating on the parts cold if you are able! May not be as pretty, but for parts that don't have to be worked as much, they may end up stronger doing them cold. I wonder what happens if you only heat like part of something. Is it possible to 'spot-anneal' just portions? May need to do more research still before I tackle the next aluminum project.
Author:  seven [ Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:54 pm ]
Post subject: 
Also heard rolling the edges makes it crazy strong. Id think you could definitly spot anneal. maybe even cover around an area that needed a shape pushed out and hit just that spot with heat.. maybe. I sure want to get some aluminum,a rubber hammer and a torch and give it a go. Ill probably post some pics of attempting to work with that steele sheet. just for the hell of it. seems like getting the folded edges to look smooth on the corners is gonna be touch without aomething and soft as aliminum. like itll wanna just make a skarp seam at the corner. also would love to know where to find a noce convex metal dome to hammer curves on like Terry has, that seems to be key.
Author:  seven [ Fri Jan 17, 2020 3:28 pm ]
Post subject: 
im considering JB weld or steele stick as a temporary fix. also anyone know if theres an unbreakable resin/ruber? I could sculpt this thing and make stacks of them.
Author:  seven [ Fri Jan 17, 2020 3:42 pm ]
Post subject:  metal hinge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuOW1VZ3GpM

Dude shows how to make hinges for medievel armor. at about 3:40.
Does it in a couple of whacks, makes it look easy.

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