I have in my mind an idea of a pattern for nice, huge-winged Milanese elbows that need no raising too. I'll draw that out eventually too.
One common problem in beginner's and intermediate's armour, is that cops are far too shallow. This is a shame, as elbow cops are beautiful when deep, they aid in articulation, and they actually do what they're supposed to do, which is protect your elbow.
Of course this won't look nearly so nice as a properly raised elbow, however it should look lightyears better than pieces of crap like this:
(it's ok to bag it, that armour's mine, from years ago - my first set)
The reason for shallowcopitis is usually at least one of a few things:
People don't have the facilities to raise.
People seem to be frightened to hit the metal hard enough.
People are in a rush to wear some sheet metal.
So I made a pattern for you who like 14thC armour to use which will give you a nice deep elbow cop. It doesn not require raising, and if you don't have a welder, it does not require one of those either.
I know people have done this before, so if nothing else, this should make those who aren't already, aware of the idea.
I modelled it off a real arm harness, from Italy circa 1380.
To make it, print the PDF and cut out the pattern with a generous margin. Like 1/2". Trust me you will be better off, and you can easily trim it later.
Then cut out the outline of the photograph as a measure of how much you ned to dish. As you can see, it really isn't mush dish to go from the extreme outside to the centre of the cop.
Start dishing the cop, and when you're getting close to the right depth, cut to the actual outline. If you are riveting, add a tab along the length of one of the ED lines. If welding, this should not be necessary unless you want to lap-weld (might be a good idea).
Before you weld/rivet, do whatever shaping you want to the fan. I'd do not more than what you see in the photo.
The eye looking thing in the DED angle is where you should drill a 1/4" hole. This will avoid cracking and/or unsightly pinching.
I must admit I haven't made this elbow in steel, however I made the pattern from some real armour according to basic geometric principles to which paper and sheet steel must adhere. That's also why I advise adding extra when you cut it out.
Have fun with it. If you make a set, do share your experience (woes).
Dave
EDIT - one thing I hadn't accounted for was that when you dish it, the edges DED might not want to meet so well. I adjusted the pattern to hopefully account for this.
Remember, adding extra is like really cheap, high benefit insurance!
