The Armour Archive

In putting together armour, is it required that you use rivets? I just bought some new elbows for my armour, and in testing them, I used small bolts with nylon lock nut. They did not move (my original thought was they would tighten up with movement).

I was just wondering. I did not want to enter a tourney and get my armour bounced so I thought I'd ask.



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potius mori quam foedari = death before dishonor.

I can't really imagine how you have used them... personally, I'd show the armour to a local marshal and ask them about it.

personally, rivets are better...

I did a little trick for a friend who wanted to be able to remove the three lames and the bottom of his torso at will.

I did put some thread on solid brass rivets and use a nylon lock-nut to hold the pieces togheter. For everybody, it looks fine, and he is able to remove the lames with two pair of pliers.

Advantages of rivits:
- With practice, you can make rivits lower-profile, so they're less likely to poke you inside the armor, and less likely to catch on other plates, surcoats, opponents...
- The right rivit should weigh less than the nut-bolt combination. Not much, but it'll be a noticeable difference on a coat-of-plates, say
- Intuitively, you'd think that a properly set rivit would be less likely to fail. After all, a nut, even a lock-nut, is designed to allow it to come off, whereas a burr should not come off a rivit until the rivit is destroyed.

Advantages of a nut and bolt:
- Takes no special skills or tools to attach
- Can be removed easily, allowing trial-fitting of a joint
- Can be found at any hardware store. Ever try and find good rivits at Lowes?

If you're committed to nuts-and-bolts, try and find some flavor of Loc-tite that doesn't eat the nylon insert and use that. It should add a little more protection against them working loose. And remember Murphy's first law of mechanics: What you want tighter will loosen, and what you want to loosen will never budge at all

- Kyle

Brain freeze......

I use and have used, something that works Very Well for just this kind of application.

Since I am experiencing a brain freeze I'll describe them.

One side looks like a regular machine screw with a big flat head. The other side looks like a threaded tube that fits through the hole you drill and has a flat washer like flange on one end. These come in a variety of different lengths and widths depending on the thickness of what you want to use them for. They come in brass and aluminum and with a little dremeling, the head can be made to look like ornimentation. I use rubber cement like you get at the drugstore to keep them from working their way apart. Just dap a small amount on the threds before you put them together. It holds, is not effected by water, and you can undo it with a when you want to. It also cleans off easly by just peeling it off.

If you get the right size, there no protruding end to hurt your self of padding. as both inside and out are less than an eigth of an inch, and smooth.


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Sir David deKunstenaar
Midrealm, House Erine Torr

chicago screws (sp)

I think the only RULE about non-rivets in armour contstruction involve the helm, where screws and nuts and chicago screws and quick rivets are forbidden. But I don't think there are any rules against their use in body armour. I could be wrong.

At least in Artemisia you'd be list legal. I've known people to use Chicago screws too, if you want something lower profile. If you to use a temporary fastener of whatever type, I strongly recommend you carry a couple of spares and a small tube of loctite with you everywhere. I guarantee that demon Murphy will insure it un-fastens at the absolute worst possible time.

Screws, nuts, and bolts are useful when making a plate object as it allows you to temporarily join plates together for test fits.

I would not use them for making armour, though. Use rivets - they are more correct.

Steve

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Forth Armoury
The Riveted Maille Website!