Too many rivets

Started off by riveting the shoulder lames that I rounded yesterday.

Also used baby oil to clean some old tape goop off the breastplate sections of this shoulder.  This works wonderfully although you have to be careful about scratching the metal.  The scrubber pad pictured here wasn't too bad, but on the next plate I tried soaking it for longer and just using my fingernail.  I guess there was some grit in there (or else my fingernail is harder than I thought) since even that approach left some scratches.  Anyways, the goop is gone.

Anyways, I was getting a bit tired of rounding corners so instead of working on the next shoulder section I spent some time riveting hinges.

Now, you can buy dome-headed copper rivets in a store (assuming you can find them, I certainly couldn't the last time I looked), but I think that's sort of cheating since it makes all your rivets look unnaturally perfect. What I'm about to show you certainly isn't a great method (you're better off making a plate and riveting tool) but it will get the job done when you can't find (or be bothered to find) the other stuff.

We'll need a pair of those ubiquitous made-in-every-chinese-factory wire strippers, some cutters, a ball pein hammer, a flat surface, a nail, and some 10 or 12 gauge copper wire.

It just so happens that these end nippers have the perfect jaw depth for making the rivet length that I need, so I'm saved the hassle of measuring.

Stick a piece of copper in the smallest set of pass-throughs that it will fit into and set it on the anvil.  (Yes I know that's not what that part of the tool is for)

Peen the protruding end as best you can.  This piece will go inside, so don't worry about looks.  The rivet shank will also bend a bit since the hole isn't the right size, but that doesn't matter too much.

Now flip the tool over and use that nail to pop out your new rivet.

Doesn't look like much at this point, does it?

But once you actually put them in place and peen them they look fine.



Just to put the amount of work in perspective, there are six hinges in this armour, each with 12 of these hand-made copper rivets.  There are also 5 girdle bands with 2 slotted plates requiring 4 rivets each (one set of girdle bands used folded flaps instead of rivets).

That's a total of 112 of the handmade wire rivets that I just described.  Good grief, no wonder so many people cheat with store-bought ones!


Shoulder section is mostly riveted together.  I still need to rivet the hinges on the breast and mid-collar plates, peen the hinge pins, and maybe add some decorative panels to the holes where the girdle bands hook in.  Until all that's done I won't rivet the shoulder onto the breastplate as it would be obnoxious to work with otherwise.

Hinge Plates - Improved Manufacturing (Long Weekend Update Part 1)

In preparation for the next breast/back plates, I cut out some more brass for hinges.  These are a fair bit wider than some of the earlier ones - I think I will try to make these into carlisle-style hinges.  Anyways, I took a slightly different approach to making these hinges and it turned out much faster than the previously detailed method.  The finished plates also look better than my previous attempts, in part because the painter's tape in step#5 reduced the number of hammer marks left on the tube and plates.  Documented below is the "new and improved" hinge-making method.  I skipped pictures for most of these steps, since they are already documented in detail in the posts starting here. 

1. Measure & Cut brass plates and hinge pin.

2. Anneal middle of plates until literally red hot, then quench in water.  Ditto for the ends of the hinge pins.

3. Mark middle line on hinge plate and hand-fold it over.

4. Use a rubber mallet to further fold and flatten on a "soft" surface - I used a piece of firewood as my base.

 

At right - rubber mallet.  I bought this many years ago and I can't remember why.  Anyways, this weekend it finally proved its worth.  Much faster than the jeweller's pliers and better results, too.

 

5. Insert hinge pin, and apply painter's tape to help hold it in place.

6a. Use radiused head of brick hammer to finish flattening the plate, starting near the middle of the plate and working in towards the tube/pin.

6b. Use the brick hammer's wedge to finish forming the tube.  You will probably need to stop and flatten the hinge plate once or twice while doing this.  Pictures from the last thread.

7. Tap the top of the hinge tube gently to free the hinge pin.  If your hinge pin is already loose, you probably still have room to close the tube a bit more.

8. Lay _half_ the hinge plates on top of your paper guide and mark the slots for the tubes.  Do not mark the other half of the plates at this time.

9. Cut the tube slots on the marked plates. Make sure the cuts are all the same depth.

I used my dremel for this, but this time I made several improvements over my previous attempts.  First, I managed to find some thin cut-off disks which made the cutting faster and less wasteful.  Second, I made a metal "tongue" to allow me to clamp my dremel in a vise.  This greatly improved my accuracy by keeping the tool perfectly still while I moved the piece around it.  I am looking forward to using this when I try to shape my latest hinges in the Carlisle pattern.

10.  Lay your cut plates out flat and pair them up with the uncut plates, and mark the cuts for those.  At this point it's a good idea to keep track of which plate goes with which, to get the best fit.

11.  Cut the second set of plates and compare them with their mates.  Make any necessary adjustments to the size of the tube "teeth".

12a.  Using a combination of dremel and cold chisel, nip off the unwanted tube sections.  Note that you will need a backstop softer than the chisel -- I used a hunk of aluminum that was donated to me.

                I found a reversible nail set which would also accept my homemade cold chisel.  This made this step go a lot faster and helped save wear on the hammer face.  After nipping off the tubes, I used the dremel to smooth off the cut surfaces.

12b.  Flatten the hinge plates again if needed.  (Using a cold chisel will often bend the plates slightly.)  Try inserting the hinge pin (one hinge plate at a time) to see if you've gotten things back into alignment.

13.  Perform final cleanup with needle files.  Test fit your hinges and insert the hinge pin. 

14.  Cut hinge plates into final shape.  (Coming in a future update...)

15.  Peen the hinge pin and enjoy!

(Belated Weekend Part 1) Miscellaneous

As previously mentioned, I visited a friend's place on the weekend and did some work there last weekend. There are a lot of pictures so I'm breaking this up into several parts.  First, I'll deal with some miscellaneous stuff.

When I packed up all my gear and materials, I was surprised at how easily it could be collapsed into a transportable package.

1. Brass Sheet (kickplate from a door?)
2. The remainder of my uncut steel, about 2' x 2'.
3. All hand tools and patterns fit into this plastic tray.
4. Dremel Case and sketchbook
5. Brass Rod Stock (1/8" & 3/16")

JB (my friend) has a very nice workshop, and a number of nice things that I don't - like a bench grinder.  When I was talking to him about my issues with hinges (specifically about nipping off the unwanted tube sections), he had a bright idea.  Since I was having trouble finding a cold chisel small enough, he pointed out that we could make one.

We started with this double-ended screwdriver bit, since it was some form of tempered steel that was already more or less the right shape. All that needed to be done was to put an edge on the flat end, and to grind down the phillips end as a strike point (so that it wouldn't ding the hammer face too much).  Anyways, this was fairly easy although a bit slow since we made very frequent pauses to dip the bit in water --  we wanted to keep it from getting too hot on the grinder and ruining the temper.

Below, you can see the results of our first test using a piece of aluminum as the strike plate.  (You want something softer than the chisel as the backstop...)  It works surprisingly well, too.

Not pictured - I made two more hinges, bringing my total up to 4.  This is to support the assembly of a complete shoulder section in the near future.



JB also had a small anvil which hadn't seen the light of day for a few years.  He dug it out for me and suggested that I put it to use -- he didn't have to ask me twice!

At left, I am radiusing one edge of the anvil very slightly.  This is to provide a smooth surface to bend metal over -- the unfinished edge would marr or possibly cut my work.

Next update:  Using that anvil!

My First Hinge (ugh) Part 3

Seen above - several sketches of hinge and fitting designs.  I am laying the first hinge plate down on the graph paper to mark the tube cuts.
It turned out that the bizarro-style hacksaw that I purchased was simply not up to the task.  Too much flex in the blade to saw quickly.  Fortunately, I had a better alternative anyways:

Don't forget eye and hand protection when using something as dangerous as a dremel.  Hot flakes of metal are flying around!  On a similar note, best to do this outside - I use my balcony.

 Below:  This is actually the first project I've used a dremel on.  It kicked once or twice when I wasn't holding on to it very well, gouging the brass.  There is an attachment for Dremels called the detail grip -- I was much happier once I stopped to put it on.

Below - I was trying to compensate for the thickness of the cut made by a dremel wheel, and I overdid it a little bit.  You can see these parts aren't going to match up properly.  Back to the cutting for me.

Okay, cutting the slots is complete...  now how the heck do I get rid of the unwanted tube sections?  I originally planned to nip them off with a cold chisel, but I haven't yet found one small enough for the job.  I decided I would have to weaken the unwanted parts and bend/twist them off.  I tried several methods and wasn't very satisfied with the results from either.  More details when I figure out a decent method or find an appropriately sized chisel.

After finally getting rid of the unwanted tube sections, all that is left is test fitting and filing down the high points.

At last, I can insert the hinge pin and watch my new creation flop around!

You can see that the hinges don't quite line up- one is higher than the other, and the tubes don't slot together very well.  I'm satisfied with a good first attempt, though -- I learned a lot!

Tomorrow I might cut and file the plates into shape and peen the hinge pin.  We'll see.

My First Hinge (ugh) Part 2

 In order to get that nice barrel definition I'm looking for, I had to turn to yet another new tool.  Allow me to introduce you to the common masonry / brick hammer.

Before you're ready to use this bad boy for metal working, however, there's a bit of work to be done first.  The wedge needs to be rebated (a fancy word for "sanded/ground down smooth") with a file or a grinder.  You need to have all of the edges rounded so that they don't cut or mark up the metal you're going to hit.  This isn't hard work, it's just boring.  Fortunately, I was already mostly done.

Getting back to the hinge -- Since I was going to be hammering it I decided to anneal the brass again.  Back out to the balcony, back into the quench pot, then back inside.

I threw the hinge (with pin inside! Don't forget that part!) onto my "anvil" and started tapping it gently.  You're not trying to hit a home run here, not much force is needed.  I started off aiming about halfway between the hinge axis and the plier-folding line.  I did this for both sides.

 After a bit of that, I was ready to tilt the hinge up and start aiming much closer to the hinge pin.  This is the final stage of closing the barrel.  Again - light taps, both sides.

On one plate, I realized I had shaped the barrel a little bit too closely... the pin didn't want to come out!  This was fixed by some gentle taps against the edge of the hinge tube to open it back up slightly.

Here is what one plate looked like after I was finished hammering.  Not bad for my first time, eh? 

Center Punch & Metal Punch

When preparing to make holes on the lames, an automatic center punch is invaluable.  It has a long spring in it, so you don't even need a hammer. Just pick the spot you want, push, and it whacks a nice little divot in the metal.  (hard to capture well in a photograph)

This divot is very useful as a guide for positioning your drill bit or metal punch.  Since I wanted something quieter than a drill (remember, I'm in an apartment!), I went out and got a metal punch.  It's basically like a pair of pliers - (squeeze to operate) but with interchangeable bits on the jaws.  There is a toothed piston (the punch) and the shaft it mates with.  The little tooth on the piston is the best part -- when you insert the lame into the jaws, you can slide it around a bit until the tooth catches in that divot from the metal punch.  Presto!  Perfectly centered, every time!

Up Next: Hinges!

Last night I finally got my hands on some brass.  Tonight I'll be trying to make my first hinge.

Now that I'm working with brass, I'll have to add a few more tools to the pile.

• Set of Needle Files - Half round, full round, wedge, triangular, square, diamond... any profile you can think of, it's here.  These came from my grandfather and I look forward to using them again.
• Jeweller's Pliers (more specifically, round nose pliers) -- this is for holding or bending wire without leaving a mark on it - the jaws are completely round, like a pair of chopsticks.
• Wire Cutters - for rod stock
• Medium files - half round, round, and flat. 
• Sparker
• Propane Torch - (I will be doing my annealing out on the balcony)
• Hacksaw with floating blade
• (Not Pictured) A metal or glass can for quenching hot brass.  Anything watertight and not plastic will do.

Starting Tools

Here is what I started with.  As I get a bit further along in the prototyping and final construction stages I'll add a few more (ie hammers), but this is sort of the bare minimum to get things rolling.

From left to right :

• Leather punch
• Machine Screws & Nuts (4-40x 3/8")  - these are my "temporary rivets"
• Gloves (Optional, I'm not using them much at this stage)
• Center Punch - useful for marking hole locations
• Soapstone - (the thing that looks like a piece of chalk)  Use this to draw lines and scribble numbers on sheet metal
• Metal Punch Kit - You can substitute a drill, but this is a lot quieter and doesn't require a backstop.
• Right-Hand Metal Shears - Buying the cheapest ones you can find is probably a bad idea.
• Knife - If you don't know how to put a decent edge on one, learn now.
• Medium Files - Half Round/Triangle/Round - for hinges
• Hacksaw - for hinges
• Large File - for smoothing edges left by the metal shears
• Steel Ruler - I don't recommend using a cork-backed one, but I guess you could if you wanted.