Connecting armor to undersuits using magnets

[Gumption 117]

As I'm not able to post this into the undersuit forum yet, I'm asking it here under the Noobies.

A work colleague of mine a year or so back ordered some small, yet strong, magnets which were quite hard to separate. This got me thinking - instead of having a single suit of armour, or using multiple straps that might look out of place (and potentially hard to hide), why not use magnets?

I have seen very little number of builds that use magnets to connect pieces together, let alone connect armour to undersuits. Has anyone had experience using this method of connection and how successful they've been?

 

[Cr4zyDav0]

thats a heaps good idea, using magnets. and connecting the armor to the undersuit instead of just haging the peices on top of it, its a very good, practical, and more realistic ways for a mjolnir spartan armor suit to peice together.

 

[Xav kitsune]

velcro is slightly easier but if the magnets are strong enough go for it.

 

[SodaPop]

Very cool idea

i'll look up prices on magnets strong enough to do this

however, the armor would most likely have to be cast out of plastic for the weight issues

 

[Gumption 117]

Very cool idea

i'll look up prices on magnets strong enough to do this

however, the armor would most likely have to be cast out of plastic for the weight issues

Granted, there will be a level of reinforcement / rigidity required for the magnets idea, so you're not ripping magnets off your pieces. This would especially be the case with how some foam builds are quite light.

To reduce the amount of movement, more magnets could be used. By doing this though could make it harder to take the pieces away from the undersuit however. I do have some foam sheeting that I bought last night, so I just need a set of the magnets my friend has and wouldn't mind seeing the strength of them holding foam together at least and subjecting it to rigorous movement and pressure.

EDIT:
I've found out from my friend what the magnets were called: Buckyballs.

They seem to be incredibly cheap from Amazon, a link to a set of them is HERE.
Only problem with these particular ones is that they're spherical - I would probably go with something flatter, maybe coin shaped (although, these are strong magnets so they might still work).

 

[Crispychicken49]

For my build I'll be using a few strong magnets and velcro for support. How much do Fiberglassed pars weigh usually?

 

[Kangabox]

Magnets. How do they work?

 

[foxleader]

well it's right up there with the undersuit that the S-IV's have, so yeah magnets should work great and then you can move around more.

 

[Jimmy Da Moose]

Magnets sound great, and I could easily see them being strong enough, however, I have a few concerns. After wearing a full suit (ODST) I can here are the problems I see you running in to.

1) It will rub. Especially if you are doing pep or plastic, maybe not as bad with foam. Clips and strapping allow armor to hang off the body. This allows for space so the body has room to move, or an area to put padding. With magnets, I see them sticking close to the body, reducing breathing and moving room. The magnets would also pull to the side the magnet is on, creating odd gaps, and weird movements. all this means that where the magnets touch the body, it would be more likely to rub and irritate you. I see this being an issue for the legs (thighs and shins), gauntlets and torso. The only way I could see around that is if the piece was fitted perfectly to your body, and had no real extra spaces.

2) Stretching. Another big problem I see is the stretching of the under suit to get to the magnet. Unless your undersuit is form fitting and and has little to no stretching in it, the fabric your magnets are attached to are more likely to move to the magnet on the armor than the armor is to move to them.

Those are just my thoughts. Personally, I love the idea of magnets, there are just some things to think about before you go ahead and start to play with them.

 

[Corweena]

EDIT:
I've found out from my friend what the magnets were called: Buckyballs.

They seem to be incredibly cheap from Amazon, a link to a set of them is HERE.
Only problem with these particular ones is that they're spherical - I would probably go with something flatter, maybe coin shaped (although, these are strong magnets so they might still work).

Yeah, round magnets will be a problem. A good alternative will be Neodymium Rare Earth Magnets. I've used them before for science projects. A magnet the size of a quarter (and about twice as thick) has 35lbs of magnetic force. These things are serious business.

 

[Tstiffler]

I have been sitting here thinking about how i am going to do this and this seems like a good idea. i honestly never thought about using magnets. but since this is going to be my first suit its just trial and error at this point!

 

[Cewelowic]

I personally would not use magnets, because it can wipe the data from your credit cards or ID cards that have magnetic strips, and also may cause unneeded attraction to ferrous materials. I could not carry my knife reasonably in an armor suit attached via magnets. Straps in the long run will probably be cheaper with no real trade off.

Be careful with rare earth magnets or other strong magnets. Its a crushing safety issue when you get into the double digits of force.

 

[Spacemeat]

I tried having my armor held together with nothing but magnets. I used a bunch of small rare earths and it does help the armor stick together, but in practice when you move around, magnets can still slide around and general movement around a con will put enough force to shift or pry pieces apart. In the end I used a combination of magnets and strapping to hold it all together.

 

[GuitarMaster157]

Although this isn't very practical for the average person, check this out:

 

[SillyEddy]

Check out XRobots on Youtube. The guy making the Iron Man costume has created magnet holders to secure his full-body armour sections in place. Personally, I'd use straps and buckles, but magnets are an easy solution too.

 

[Gumption 117]

Been giving this more thought and there have been some valid comments and thoughts here.

I'll probably look at a balance of magnets as well as velcro. My ultimate goal is to have armour pieces that are easy to attach / remove yet have a firm hold to the undersuit. I get a feeling that I'll be using more velcro than magnets.