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Lots of quality of life updates.


Chest

So, the last time I talked about the chest armor I teased that it almost made me quit the project. This is because when I test fitted the top half of my armor, I confirmed a sneaking suspicion that was plaguing the back of my mind. The chest piece is a touch to big it seems. The issue this creates is when I let my arms rest, the rib section of the chest piece gets in the way causing discomfort and the potential for extreme damage. While I was taking my selfie, all I could think of was how miserable it would be to be suited up for long periods of time or how much of a pain it would be to reprint the chest and repattern out the under suit - which was a monster in itself. I very much wanted to drop the project at that moment, feel discouraged in my skills and unexcited about the future headaches that awaited me.


After a breather, I decided to trust the process... mostly. I came up with a new strategy. Hack and slash. I would hack out the rib section of the chest armor and replace it with flexible EVA foam. But before I did that, I would need to create a template of the shape. To do this, I wrapped the section in painters tape, marked out the geometry and planned cuts. Luckily, the shape was rather cubic so it could be unfolded easy-ish. Template made I cute and glued two foam pieces (seen later).

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Before I could install them, I needed to do some hacking with a rotary tool. I also used this hacking session to clear up space for wiring to pass through other sections of the chest. I marked off the areas I was planning to cut with a silver chalk pen (these things are awesome, grab one).

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A bit of hot glue, super glue, and magnets, the plastic rib sections are replaced with foam. They aren't as flexible as I was hoping, but they are at least soft.


Harness

To help keep the chest in place, I attached some buckles to the shoulders of the chest piece and connected them with nylon to the harness near the chest buckle. I cut holes in the chest under suit for the buckles to pass through. No elastic this time, but I probably should have found away to incorporate some.

[ATTACH=full]342060[/ATTACH]


Under Suit - Chest

To actually take the under suit on and off, I cut free the planned sections on the front of the EVA foam to then add back in some velcro. To make sure that the velcro strips didn't add to much volume, I cut out EVA foam where the velcro was going to be then glued it back in recessed. I used contact cement and hot glue to pull this off.


I also added velcro to the under suit and inside armor. This is to help index the armor, but also help hold the clamshell design together. Sadly, the magnetic forces just aren't enough to hold the chest together, especially once there is any jostling.

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I'm not a beefy man, so I needed to add some bulk inside the chest under suit to make sure everything fits right. I added roughly 2-4 inches of upholstery foam to the chest and back.

[ATTACH=full]342063[/ATTACH]


I also used the rotary tool to do some sanding here and there on the edges of the foam. I still need to do some gap filling and finishing touches before the under-suit foam can be wrapped in fabric. Also need to do to start the shoulder gasket soon. As you can see, Jasper has been workout and has a much fuller chest than me.


Here is a partial suit up before I cut out the rib section (excuse my goofy posture, none of the chest padding or harness had been done at this time).

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