The Armour Archive

There is a (much longer and painfully detailed) article on my blog here:
http://borealissteel.ca/turning-pin-construction/
This is the first half of a 2-part article: this part is how to make the turning pin, which is symmetric, rather than a turning hook as seen on Wade's site below. The second part (which I will link to once it is complete) is how to install a turning pin (and associated locking rivet) and how these are used to attach armour together on an exchange piece (an arm harness) to allow the use of either a spaulder or a full pauldron. These became more common in "Garnitures" as harnesses were built to have exchange pieces to customize them for specific purposes, including specific types of tournament.

Turning pins are a method of attaching components of armour to one another, first showing up in the 15th century (often for greaves) and later used in exchange armours. An example can be found on Wade Allen's website for the A155 (picture and link to site below).


A photo of the finished pin (but not the other 9 photos)


The "Too Long, Didn't Read" overview:
Starting with a 5/16" steel rod, smash the end of the rod so that it is a bit over 1/8" thick, then turn the shaft down so that it will fit though an appropriate rivet hole - I use 9/64" holes for most of my articulations so this is the hole size I wanted to use for this purpose. This means that I turn the shaft so that it fits snugly (but not tightly) into this hole. You will then want to shape the outside of the "key" into a roughly semi-circular shape and clean up the visible sides and edges. I use a cordless drill to keep my piece spinning while I cut the shaft down on an angle grinder. Once I have shaped the shaft between 3/16" and 1/8" I move it to a drill press and use a file to do the fine shaping.

I have a pile of these that I need to finish up and post, but they take a seriously large amount of time to draft up. Comments / criticism appreciated, since I'm trying to write the "instruction manual" that I wish had existed when I was starting, and recognize that I have blind spots a mile wide having been doing this for far too long...

If any of the articles I have posted are unclear please let me know so I can update them to be understandable!

Scott

Hi Scott,

For the maximilian suit i made last year, i made a couple of turning pins.



The type of turning pins you made, needs to have a little step at the end of the shaft, for riveting it on the part without the pin falling trough the hole.
This type is the most easy pin, because it is all flat.

Ok, on your blog i noticed you made a little step in the shaft.
But there is a much easyer wa to do this. Forge your material to the dimension your Turning-pin head schould have, and start filing the schaft at the end. So you are more flexible with the lengst of your sections and it is much more easy to file. Also without a drillpress. At the end cut and shaping the head.

Here is what I do for forming a step on a shaft of a rivet, turning pin, or other fitting that can not be chucked in the lathe.

This modified locking pliers holds the rivet etc.



The "V" shaped cuts in the jaws accept a range of diameters above or below 1/8" (3mm)



The open area accept the head of the rivet, or the "flag" of a turning pin. There is a round(ish) "nose" or "spigot" which I can rest on the support in cases where it's more convenient than using the protruding part as a bearing.



Here, I'm resting the protruding part of the rivet between the jaws of a vise and using a file to reduce the diameter. The file has a safe edge, which I run against the jaws of the pliers.



This was smoothed out a bit with a finer file, but that may or may not be necessary.



Mac

Haha, Mac, i nearly use the same...

But you can also put on an amount of washers on the shaft, to get te high you need as a filing guide.

Rene K. wrote: ↑Wed Jul 21, 2021 11:03 am Haha, Mac, i nearly use the same...

But you can also put on a amount of washers in the shaft, to get te high you need as a filing guide.

Washers! That's a great idea!

Mac

^^^Genius tip! Thanks Rene.
-A