Long story short, we have this helm (yes knight in shining armor helm) that has horizontal lines of small guage (large) steel with a single line running vertical.

http://www.raige.net/bascinet.jpg (similar to what we have). I will also be buying the helm in the picture shortly or one like it and would need the same thing done that I'm wanting.

The problem is where your eyes are when your head is fully inside the helmet the horizontal bars can sometimes block your view. We need the top 3 horizontal rows removed and then re-welded onto the helms in the vertical position. Additional metal will be needed though so hopefully whoever does this can also do that too.

Anyone up for the challenge?

You can contact me at Raige@nc.rr.com or find me online at AIM: RaigedaFury. Gimme an idea how much you want to do this.

Thanks!

4/3/2006 12:14:18 AM

Ill take a look @ it.....is that helmet plated?

4/3/2006 7:39:18 AM

Human's eyes scan side to side, a horizontal bar can block an entire pass of the eyes making you totally blind if your helm is at the wrong angle. Vertical bars are much better because if they are blocking one eye's view of something, the other can still see.

What raige is talking about can be seen here:


Good Visor:


Not so good visor (What Raige and I are using):

4/3/2006 9:38:14 AM

lightning bolt! lightning bolt!

[Edited on April 3, 2006 at 9:46 AM. Reason : i prefer the helmets w/ one small slit]

4/3/2006 9:45:33 AM

The problem I have with slitted helms instead of open face helms is that you have a very narrow view of a battle field. Additionally your airflow is limited and you are getting mostly hot air off your body instead of fresh air from outside. Finally it becomes even harder for you to hear people and for people to hear you. If you are fighting with a team then you need your guys to be able to hear you!

4/3/2006 1:37:50 PM

so put a bluetooth headset in the helmet and a little fan for circulation.

4/3/2006 3:01:09 PM

^^ wtf?

[Edited on April 3, 2006 at 3:01 PM. Reason : ^]

4/3/2006 3:01:44 PM

Pm sent dr_toast


What are you using these helmets for,fencing?

4/3/2006 3:28:50 PM

if you don't find anyone let me know. i might be up for the challenge. i can get the metal also but you pay for it.

4/4/2006 11:07:53 AM

Toast and I are using them for SCA style fighting. I'm attempting, so far somewhat successfully, making armor out of PVC plastic (1/4"). However, in the case we go out to SCA events we need SCA level stuff. You can't have a plastic helm, must be metal. One, so that the weight of the helm prevents whiplash upon a blow, and the other is it's extremely durable in comparison to plastics.

I've been using a couple websites for patterns and the hardpart is cutting the crap out lol.

The helm I'm getting is here (http://www.darkvictory.com/). You'll see it a little down on the page in the picture. I'll be needing the same thing done too.

[Edited on April 4, 2006 at 11:59 AM. Reason : !]

4/4/2006 11:58:41 AM

http://www.devilducky.com/media/9271/

4/4/2006 12:21:46 PM

So question:

With this SCA stuff, are you limited to using STYLES from the middle-ages, materials from the middle ages, or JUST the techniques?

Because you could make some WICKED fucking armor from laying up carbon fiber and kevlar weaves, that would be a hella lot lighter, more manueverable, and just as strong. Not to mention you could adapt some much better styles for the suits of armor with the weight problems of steel gone.

4/4/2006 12:48:41 PM

no no no no no

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-176602889473653541&q=SCA&pl=true

or

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-255835588980176598&q=SCA&pl=true

4/4/2006 12:52:44 PM

if you just threw lightning bolts you wouldnt have to get smacked in the head

4/4/2006 12:55:58 PM

You CAN make virtually any type of armor that can withstand a blow however, if it's not plate it must be covered (not a big deal).

You can FIGHT with any style. Swords, Spears, Hammers... check out the videos or look on googlevideos for "SCA" and toward the bottom you'll see very avid players in SCA storylines. You'll see most of the weapons there being wielded.

There are limitations since this is for the period... but you'll see people fighting, kicking etc. It's all legit. The armor you make must withstand an asskicking. Thus the purpose of using HDPE or PVC plastics or the obvious steel armor.

Another reason I use PVC is that if it gets damaged (bent or indented...) I can stick it in the oven for about 1 minute and fix it. It's easy to reshape and make changes. I'm just not very good at it yet.

[Edited on April 4, 2006 at 1:00 PM. Reason : !]

4/4/2006 1:00:00 PM

if you still need it done, i can probably take a look at it today or something, or the next couple days. whatever would work for you. i even have some metal and stuff here if you wanna take a look at what I have. not sure what you are looking for

4/4/2006 1:21:23 PM

^^Okay so I read a rulebook, and looked at some videos.

You should definitely be laying up some composite armor. Since you are using blunt fascimile weapons (aka stick for swords), there is almost 0 chance of damaging composite armor permanently.

It would weigh a fraction of metal armor, and still a good bit less than any plastics, be thinner, very easy to repair and or append onto. Could also afford a much larger range of motion and mobility. For the helm, there's a lot that can be done there too, to give you better view, see behind you, make it a LOT lighter and just as strong.

Also, why the hell aren't people using shield gauntlets? Carrying a full shield for small scale mock combat is just retarded. Would be much better to wear half size gauntlets with shielding.

4/4/2006 1:25:55 PM

that first video.. the fighters need to bind up the opponents' feet a lot more and use some thrust kicks

check out the ~45 second mark
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2081264493779407503&q=shaolin&pl=true

4/4/2006 1:58:46 PM

why don't you man up and not use armor period

4/5/2006 10:16:08 PM

You still need this done?

4/5/2006 10:40:11 PM

^^^if i'd be the monk, i would smack the white dude for real a couple times just so he quits laughing like an retard

4/6/2006 12:03:57 AM

hehe you grab a 3 foot stick of rattan and hit each other with it. I mean hard. Do it 10 times. Then say you don't want armor.

Composite armor is a cool idea but not cheap or easy to work with if you don't have molds. Note, you cannot just use your body for the mold. When you are making armor for the first time, at least me, I'd like armor I could reshape if I found out that I'd like a larger range of motion. The time to make adjustments with PVC and HDPE is literally seconds. Heat set plastics rock my socks. The patterns you can find easily but they don't always feel right.

4/6/2006 12:56:12 AM

uh dude.

You use the damn HDPE for the mold. It's not hard to layup fiber at all, and its not hard to make basic molds either. Shape the HDPE to where you want it, prep it, lay it, resin and whalah.

4/6/2006 2:54:17 AM

So... let me get this straight. I take the time to make a mold using HDPE... a material that's light and can be used by ITSELF for this purpose... then make use the fiber stuff.

Anyone else see error in his comments?

I'm not saying you haven't worked with HDPE, but it's not very easy to make molds when you've never done it before. It's a ton easier with two people but you still have to cut it out, heat it up and handle it and place it on the person the mold is for using a wet towel or something.

The other side is the functionality of the armor. You'll STILL need patterns because not all of the armor fits skin tight. It's not suppose to. For instance, pauldrons, gauntlet protectors, knees, elbows, legs etc. You can't just make it one shape and you're done. You need to be able to make changes. That's why PVC/HDPE and Metal are used. They are relatively easy to make minor changes.

Yours is not. Once it's set it ain't changing. If you HAD a perfect mold then sure your way would be great but it's extremely hard to make a perfect mold since you can't just take all pieces of armor and use them for molds. I'd rather use a material that I know I can make changes too relatively easily and deal with a little extra weight. Seeing that a FULL set of HDPE or PVC armor weighs roughly around 10-20lbs... I'm not too worried.

4/6/2006 12:15:37 PM

I'm not even going to get into the ungodly amount of fallacy in what you just wrote.

This shit makes me want to design and make a Samurai Kikou from composites and maybe beaten aluminum. That and a Katana would fucking mop up.

4/6/2006 12:58:32 PM

^Then do it.....If hes happy with his current stuff then let him be. BTW there are thousands of materials suited for this application. Work with what ya know!

4/6/2006 8:17:06 PM

people acept heavy shields, large shields, and heavy helmets becouse they are safer for the person being hit. A shield that weight 10-20 lbs is hard to hold up in the air all day, but moves SLOWLY when hit by a sword. A helmet has to be HEAVY so that your head will not whiplash fast enough to get neck damge. Same reason i was not allowed to use a strap based suspension system in the helmet i worked on. They require foam, and metal helms, ect in order to minimize the injurys taken. These are not pulled blows, its liek going out and trying to block a nutcase with a baseball bat. You want as much mass on the impact surface as yo can stand to cary, in order to help absorb the impact and spread it. A lighter weight less rigid material will get you hurt, badly.

4/7/2006 11:46:59 PM

Which is why they wear you know, 40lb metal helmets in racing.

This was good logic in oh, 1640, but there are plenty of other ways to minimize blunt force impact inertia without the "offset the mass with more mass" theory.

4/8/2006 12:23:45 PM

most rqacing and auto/motobike helmets are rated for 1 impact, then are meant to be discarded. They are designed, correct me if am wrong, much liek modern cars, to have a controlled collapse or coltrolled failure that slows and absorbs the impact. Fighting helms need to be able to take dozens of impacts from any and all direction in a span of 30 seconds in a large melee with no mreo damage than bruises to the wearer. IF you can design a non metalic helmet that meats all of the specs, AND has identical protection in the eyes of the insuarance companies that handle events, then all is good. IF not, then people will keep using the helmets they have been using for years now that keep working. Composite/non metalic armor does work, however up to this point is has been to flexible to be legal for helms.

4/8/2006 1:50:27 PM