Cast aluminum armor

[acspartanbubbles]

Starting up a casting project... going to try to make aluminum armor using pepakura form in casting sand for molds.
Testing starts this weekend/ tonight. I'm gonna finish building the foundry (basically a smelting furnace) tonight and tomorrow. I've got some old pep hand plates I'm going to test on. It's all gonna be done without fancy, high tech machinery, so we'll see how it goes.

Just wondering if it's been done/tried before, as I browsed through the forums looking for any info and there was none I could find If you guys have any input/ suggestions and knowledge, I'd gladly take any I could get.

I'll keep you guys posted/ upload pics asap if I get success.

 

[pmw3]

I never hear of metal armor going very far, not to put you off on it though. Do you have experience with metal working?

 

[Agent Arizona]

Iv only ever seen one suit of metal armor. I think i was welded steel but i cant find that thread. Thats going to be some heavy armor if you do get it done, its best to stick with fiberglass or foam. It would be nice to see a full metal suit though, good luck.

 

[wiyumishere]

I also remember the welded diamond plated steel helmet. That right there as a whole suit would be very heavy. Molded aluminum from the sand mold actually might be pretty light compared to what people believe. its not like you need the suit 1 inch thick aluminum. Probably a quarter inch tops would be strong enough.

 

[acspartanbubbles]

I never hear of metal armor going very far, not to put you off on it though. Do you have experience with metal working?

Minor... aluminum casting isn't too difficult...

Man! It seems I'm going into unchartered territory, and it's making me nervous... Still, I think I can... it's worth a shot.

 

[ODST 4793]

unless you plan on getting shot at fiberglass is the way to go!!!! but hey best of luck Id love to see it done DO what makes you happy!!!

 

[spartanb312]

omg i want to see it done

 

[gingersnapples]

unless you plan on getting shot at fiberglass is the way to go!!!! but hey best of luck Id love to see it done DO what makes you happy!!!

dude, aluminum isn't ment for heavy combat. and before kevlar the military used fiberglass with other semi-bullet proof materials for helmets.
from what i recall Moz is the guy who made his mkv out of steel. it might be in your best intrest to contact him.

 

[firevoid]

my friend told me of a way to do aluminum armor that needs black sand and a stryofoam sculpt of the helmet. it sounds to me like your not using this method. if your method works then great if not then you might want to try this one.

 

[active84u]

I think lost wax casting would be the best way to go. At least you will have a better chance of an unwarped/damaged /failed cast?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost-wax_casting

 

[LMNOspartan]

I think lost wax casting would be the best way to go. At least you will have a better chance of an unwarped/damaged /failed cast?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost-wax_casting

You can't use lost wax casting to make something hollow though, can you?

 

[009 SPA]

I know someone on this site got at least as far as casting some handplates out of old aluminium cans, so that might be worth a look.

 

[soloknight6]

yes you can. say you were to make a forearm. split the forearm in half vertically, then hollow out the insides where your forearm would fit. cast the two separate pieces in the alloy of choice, clean them up a bit, and then attatch when finished. if you wish to try and do a hollow piece in one shot, you must make the exact (exact) forearm as if you were prepared to wear it out of wax first(hollow). i worked alot with lost wax castings in highschool. made an acoustic guitar body out of brass. (miniature ofcourse.)

 

[Akademee]

I have seen many threads start up like this, and so far, I have not seen good results.

That is not to say that this will not turn out! But I just wonder the purpose of such an endeavor. Real armor, like the steel suits they made in medieval times, were hammered out, not cast out. The reason for this is the armor is HOLLOW, and the only way to cast something like a forearm or thigh piece correctly is if you made a buck out of the solid strength pep piece. The molds for these scales of pieces are going to be enormous and would take a crap ton of sand to get the support you would need (think of the chest piece!). Then you would need some type of casting core, also made of sand so you can pour into it.

You can't roto-cast molten aluminum, unfortunately. With the geometry of something like the forearm or thigh which comes out roughly to two concentric cones, your casting sand my have a bit of a difficult time with fighting gravity as you will ALWAYS have unsupported sand somewhere in the mold regardless of its orientation. The only exception to this, I have found, is the casting sand companies like Ferrari use to cast their engine blocks in.

For some reason, I think that if Mjolnir armor was made in real life, it would be either cast in VERY small pieces and meticulously assembled/fastened/welded, or milled out on a CNC machine, but cast, I don't think so...

 

[union131]

Hey people get this, Aluminum is LIGHT, thts y they use it on cars and buildings and idk MOST things. Dude I hope this goes well I can't wait to see it.

 

[Spartan 510]

ok dude here's how you do it i'v never don it with a big progect befor but i have used it you can use your pep file to make a wax copy of your armor peace then you need som sort of box (i used a metal box) put a layer of sand about half to a third of the way up the box then place your peace in and start paking sand around the peace once yu get to the top of the peace place a small metal funal into the top (this is where you'll pour your metal in) and then leave the funal in and pack more sand on top then place it in heat (can use a fernis or even your oven ill work depending on size) the wax will melt and harden the sand making a solid mold the just melt down your metal and pour it in ( if you can shack the mold wile pouring to avoid air bubles).


thats how i made a couple rings and some other little things it should work