Preventing cracks in armor

[Slayer6769[501st]]

I was curious if anyone has had their armor crack where you've drilled holes for rivets or what not?? If so, I was wondering if it might be a good idea to reinforce around the hole with some sort of epoxy or something??

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

I personally have never heard of any cracking issues around holes in armor, Ron, but that doesn't mean it has never happened. The most common places I've seen are at the corners notches on the sides of the kidney plate.  

[Slayer6769[501st]]

That's good to know, thank you. I will try to reinforce those areas with epoxy.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

When drilling though thin material I put a block of wood behind, seems to help. In areas too think that you know will crack, scuff with sandpaper and glue strips of ABS behind, or reinforce with fibreglass and resin.

[Slayer6769[501st]]

I'm not familiar with using fiberglass and resin. Do you have to mix the resin? Is there different kinds of resin and if so, what kind do you use? Where is a good place to buy the fiberglass and resin?

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Fibregalss comes as a mat which you cut, the resin is mixed with a hardener then applied to the mat. If you haven't used it before I would suggest using glue and ABS, fibreglass can be very messy. This will give a general idea of what it is http://www.wikihow.com/Fiberglass

 

I purchase mine from an automotive paint supplier.

[vettereddie[TK]]

Shoulder straps are cracking on mine. Solution will be to shape a piece of scrap to the curve with a hot water bath, then glue under the strap w/ e6000. If the crack is visible, I'll sand it wider w/ a v-notch file then fill w/ abs paste.