Well my magnets arrived and the helmet hoses are done! I can't post pics up right now, but I'll do that later today.
I used rare earth magnets and....RG-6 cable! For those of unfamiliar, RG-6 is that standard cable that is used in homes for cable TV. It got used mainly because I had some spare lying around, and figured I would try it and see. RG-6 is made of up of several layers: a dense plasic outer layer, a metal shielding layer, a foam core and finally a copper wire. To start, I cut the cable into managable sections (longest was around 2 ft). I then heated the cable in boiling water for a few minutes. This is necessary because the metal shielding is normally "imbedded" into the outer plastic layer. The heat allows the plastic to stretch out. Once it had been heated, I removed the metal shielding, foam core, and copper as one piece. This left me with a sturdy plastic hose, very flexible, approximately 1/4" in diameter. (Inner diameter was about 1/32 smaller, outer 1/32 larger, roughly). It's VERY important, if you want to duplicate this method, to make sure the metal shielding and wire is removed, otherwise you'll have a rough time continuing if there are any obstructions in the hose.
The problem with this is the plastic hose was TOO flexible and would crimp very easily. To solve this, I took the inner layers I had, removed the metal shielding. This left me with a foam core and a copper wire. Back into the boiling water, heated, and then using some pliers, I removed the copper wire. The black outer plastic sheathing was heated again, and then JUST the foam core reinserted. This left me with a black plastic hose that would flex and sway easily, but not crimp. To remove the markings printed on the cable, I used 400 grit sandpaper and wet sanded the whole hose. It removed the markings, and left the cable with a light gray tone. It also brought out some highlights of where the cable had been stretched during the heating, but the overall effect is rather good. They don't look damaged, but they definitely don't look like regular cables either.
Next I drilled 4 holes in the helmet using a 1/4" drill bit. Three on the left side "beetle" (not sure of the technical name) and one at the "gear" on the lower left. I did ok with the upper three and made the holes shallow but I was a bit over zealous with bottom hole and went right through the helmet. (Not to worry, I used a 1/4" dowel rod to block off the inner side). I used 1/4" diameter, 1/8" thick rare earth magnets and superglued them into the holes I made. This completed the mods to the actual helmet. Back to the hoses...
As a note, alignment of the magnets is VERY important. Sounds silly, but I've messed it up before. always make sure the polarity of the magnets is correct so they attract. Easy enough to do, just stick the magnets together. Initially I put one magnet in the end of the hose with a small bit of superglue. (Tight fit, but all the better for stability). However, in testing, I found out that while the two magnets would attract, they could easily be pulled about by the motion of the hose. They didn't seperate completely from one another (the hose remained attached at an edge and didn't fall off) but you could see the magnets. I need to make sure the magnets kept face to face contact. My solution? Add more magnets! Increases the strength of the magnetic fields. Obviously, I couldn't do this with the magnets in the helmet, but it was easily accomplished with the hoses. To test, I heated the end of a hose and slid 4 magnets in together (I didn't use superglue because I was worried the first or second magnet would adhere and not let me put any more in). I made sure to leave a slight overlap between the end of the hose and the last magnet. Then I put the magnet end of the hose in cold water to constrict the plastic back. There was a slight amount of shrinkage, but not so much as the uncover a magnet. I took a razor blade and trimmed the plastic sheathing flush with the magnet. I did my test again; the hose held up very well to the magnets on the helmet. It doesn't take much force to seperate them (especially if you pull to the side) but movement of the helmet isn't enough to cause them to seperate. Since I knew my method worked now, I went and completed the other three hoses. I don't think the magnets will be easily removed from the hoses, but just to make sure I'm going to get some constricting heat shrink and put that on the end of the tube covering the magnets. That should be enough to ensure the last magnet can't slide out.
Oh, and one small experiment I did: since I have red lens, I tested how they would look with red LEDs mounted inside the helmet to light the lens up. I tried a couple different mounting ways, but I couldn't get a really decent effect. I did find great ways to end up shining the LEDs in my own eyes. I think that if I had used a thicker lens material (say 1/8" instead of 1/16") I could have drilled some pilot holes in the top and "shined" the LED light throughout the lens, although I also think I would have to find some way to reflect the light back up through the lens. In the end, I decided to just keep it as is for now. I'll do some more testing with the LEDs and some spare lens I have, but I don't want to rip out the lens I have in place. If I can get it to work, it might be something to incorporate into a later bio.
Now I'm waiting on laser to arrived, and then I'll start work aligning them and adding the remote control circuits. I also have to install a metal bar inside the dome of the bio (so the magnets in the mask will have something to attract to) and add a very thin layer of felt/foam padding to make sure the mask is protected when the bio is worn. After that, the bio should be pretty much done! I'll make sure to get some hose pictures posted tomorrow.
Charlie