Captain America shield- handle mounting question

GBrittelleJr

Well-Known Member
I recently got a shield blank, but instead of making it movie accurate, I've opted for comic accurate. Here's some reference for those who might need it

702b05a0.jpg

a12f3663.jpg

9f6250db.jpg


And that's how I want it to look. With two thick leather straps bolted into place. But seeing how the shield is a parabolic dish, I can't simply lay flat aluminum stock down. I thought about JB welding some pieces of aluminum down, where I had grinded a curve into the metal so one side gently slopes down to the other with the same angle as the shield. But I'm worried about the JB Weld breaking free. I know it has a really high tension strength, but I'm more concerned with the sheer breaking point being considerably less.

Would that be too difficult? Does anyone have any other suggestions?
 
if you bond anything, you need to make sure you have a very large surface area to spread the load out. I was really hesitant to bond the brackets down on the ones I made, but welding them down ended up warping the shields every time. Welding studs to the shields also warped the Aluminum, and then you are also stuck with aluminum studs which are not that strong compared other metals. You can probably get away with welding small posts with out worry of warping, just be very careful with how much heat you put in. With the brackets like the film versions, there was plenty of surface area to use something like JB weld. There are stronger epoxies out there though. The original Aluminum hero shields for TFA were indeed bonded down, as they had the same welding issues I ran into. I have a pic of one where you can see the bond line lifting up and the bracket separating from the base. If you want to bond, or use the double sided tape for something like what is shown above, I would mount each of the metal loops that the leather straps go through to a larger area aluminum sheet/plate (maybe 3" x 3" or larger) per loop and then bond the each of aluminum sheets down. Hope this helps.
 
You can easily weld aluminum without warping the piece just have to know what your doing and not get all crazy with the welding. And as you know there are all kinds of grades of aluminum, more than strong enough to hold a shield together easily.
 
The Scotch weld adhesives are pretty good. DP series is good. There are a few in that series of epoxies, from DP 100 to DP 420 and 460. They're all pretty good.

Yep, you can easily weld aluminum with the right TIG and plan the welds out intelligently so you don't overheat the materials. I wouldn't want to rely on welded aluminum threaded studs though, as any welding would ruin the tempers used in any aluminum studs, and all the embrittlement issues that can arise. I suppose if the studs were half inch or larger, that might be large enough to not worry about it.
 
Any idea(s) on what the Alloy is of most of the sheilds out there? I've got a welder whom is more than capable, but I need to know the alloy of the sheild and the bracket being welded to it.

Thanks.
 
This thread is more than 11 years old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top