Epiphany and "Matched metal molding"

[Ericm]

Just found some paystubs from a former employer, a defense contractor that builds missle parts for the "Javelin" anti armor missle. The companies name "Sparta, Inc" It didnt even dawn on me till after I shredded them (they're way old). They also have The most #itchenest composite fab shop. If I were to build a working suit of MC armor it would be there. They use a method called matched metal molding , very similar to vacuforming but with metal molds and external pressure instead of vacuum . Great parts very little "flash"and tons of detail , but well over a hundred K for each machine :shock: . This is kinda sick though , they used to make land mines as well as prosthetic limbs , under the same very large roof. :wtf: Anyways thought it was kinda strange to find that stuff now.

Harbinger

 

[Ares]

Damn. That's awesome.

 

[WanderingRon1n]

that is kinda funny. i bet it would be some sweet ass armor.

 

[honest insanity]

What kinda metal are we talkin about here?

 

[Ericm]

Metal

For the mold or the armor??

For the mold the ones that we were using are made of Inconel If I remember correctly , They are super scratch resistant what ever their made of and a serious pain to weld. The were made to stand up to 50,000 psi I believe but we didnt run them that high . For real complex shapes we had molds that we preloaded with material then partially assembled then placed in the mother mold to formed and cured.
The armor thats a whole nother issue , making something that can be "bullet resistant" can get you more attention from the authorities than you want . But my choices would be something like the "Dragon Skin" ceramic compound under replaceable hard plates as first , then just formed ceramic plates and lastly metal plates of anykind due to the weight factor.

Harbinger