Sort of have a metal shop at my disposal: need some advice

[Budobudo]

I work (as a graphic designer) for a sign company and we make a lot of aluminum signs in our shop.

The up shot about this for me as a wanna be armorer is that I have at my disposal (with in limits) a lot of tools to make stuff out of aluminum.

I can basically get an aluminum sheet from them at cost and they will cut it out (on a computer controlled router) and shape it (with sheet rollers) for free. As long as the shop is not swamped with work that day.

I am going to test the waters with a shield blank to start off.

So my question is what gauge aluminum would be the best for a shield?

And a second question is how else can I exploit my work for armor?

They really only work with aluminum so like if was going to have them cut out a pattern for a piece, say a gauntlet, what gauge would be best for that?

If the sheild turns out well I will have them make the plates for a coat of plates next, I think.

[Chinua]

For a shield I think .090" - .100" works well in a 6061-T6 or a 7075-T6.

[Jacob]

CNC cutting with too much free time? Have them cut out brig plates. It's even better if it'll cut the holes.

Lamellar and scales are great for similar reasons, but the final plates are exposed.

[freiman the minstrel]

I'm not an armorer, but I make things for SCA fighters sometimes. Ignore this post if that is not what you want to do.

The first thing I made out of Alu was a sort of ugly basket hilt that I call a "Squid hilt". They sure are ugly, but they protect the hand, and everybody was thankful to have them. They are too ugly to reproduce, but you can probably find an old hand that, when told the name, will describe them to you. working from there is an excellent excercise in both patterning and shaping alu for a specific purpose.

Everybody on the archive seems to reccomend spalders as a first project. I think I would listen to them.

f

[Sextus Maximus]

Al scales would be great to make if you had the opportunity to do so.