Aluminium War Machine costume

Somewhat ambitious project but I am building a wearable War Machine armour out of aluminium. I have some ideas for holding it all together but am also considering some methods of bonding the metal together. I have read that epoxy will stick it but loses its grip if it gets a sharp knock so is there anything else out there that might be useful and most importantly easy to aquire in copious amounts?

Short of welding it, I'm not sure what would be a more 'permanent' bond to be honest, but if you can work it out and build this armour is would be epic! Goodluck!

Your strong right?

Materials engineer here... I wouldn't mess with epoxy. I would get a cheapo welder from harbor freight. I would also suggest making a foam suit first so you can figure out the geometry with cheap and easy foam before you mess with metal.

If you start with sheet aluminum, it is unlikely you will finish in my opinion.

You can't weld Aluminum with the cheapo welder from HF.
To weld sheet aluminum you would need a AC tig that has a foot dedal cotrol or min a thumb controler. The lighter you go in material the more control you need.

Shades said:

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Materials engineer here... I wouldn't mess with epoxy. I would get a cheapo welder from harbor freight. I would also suggest making a foam suit first so you can figure out the geometry with cheap and easy foam before you mess with metal.

If you start with sheet aluminum, it is unlikely you will finish in my opinion.

Don't worry guys I understand the challenges of working with Aluminium I just want to create some armour out of metal simply because I like to challenge myself that and I think it'd be cool to actually build a metal suit!!. Thanks for your suggestions though I will take it all on board. Just as a reassurance though I am making templates first before working the metal into shape. Even I know it'd be stupid to fork out the cash for the metal and then screw it up with bad preparation! ^^

small rivets with epoxy/jb weld/gorilla glue as a backup.

In the end I would guesstimate that the suit will probably weigh in at about 50-75 lbs using very thin alum. or possibly more if you go with a heavier gauge so I hope your a healthy strapping young man

Lildo has already done a mk VI suit, and is working on a second... Check out his threads here and here

Finhead said:

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You can't weld Aluminum with the cheapo welder from HF.
To weld sheet aluminum you would need a AC tig that has a foot dedal cotrol or min a thumb controler. The lighter you go in material the more control you need.

The freights got TIGs. They are all excited about hobbyist models.

That's cool guys, I'm aware of the weight I am actually in the process of upping my fitness to cope with wearing it My friend originally wanted to make it out of steel!!! I am intending to use a mix of 0.9mm and 2mm thick aluminium for the various different parts of the suit. My initial plan was to countersink and locking nut. The idea being that i could create an ovoid hole and give the plates some movement so that the armour will flex with my movements making it less restrictive. However at the same time I need it to be strong so it won't fall apart on me. Hence why I am gathering suggestions on various methods because I now feel a composite approach will likely be necessary.

for you, a little help : http://www.therpf.com/f24/iron-man-u...6/index10.html

Hello I am making a steel version right now you can check my thread or my page. Your choices are welding or overlapping the sections and riveting them together. Welding gives a cleaner finish you could try clear silicone but I think it would be to flexible in the joints. There is no heat welding compounds but that would get very expensive and I haven't tried them so I don't know how strong the weld would be. There is available a Kevlar fiberglass reinforcing body filler that will add strength and cover any rivets up.

I was originally going to work with steel but I felt the weight might be a little prohibitive to wear for extended periods. As it is the help and suggestions I have received so far have been extremely useful in helping me plan the build.

Lildo's Alu MkVI armour is brilliant and proves my friend wrong when he said we can't rivet it. I am going with 2mm thick aluminium though because I think the thicker plates better represent War Machine's more heavy duty appearance.

Okay so my metal has arrived today!! Roll on the weekend so I can get started!

What are you using as an under suit?
That metal stuff sure does chafe some and the weight...... Wooo.

I figured I would use some sort of foam lining around the interior skeleton and then a full under armour type body suit or something similar to that. I've got a motorbike balaclava to hold my ears back as my helmet is a pretty close fit and catches on them every time I put it on!

Automotive paint supply shops have some very creative bonding materials for automotive applications. Some material specific 2 part bonding agents. Might be something for aluminium bonding there.

Handy to know, might be worth a look. Thanks

The weather is against me!! Finally get some time off and due to start marking up the panels and it rains all day!! Looks like I won't get started now until October damn!