Clint's Build Thread (TK-61281)

[camprandall]

Basically the hole needs to be bigger in diameter so that it's not so tight around the leg.

[davej[TK]]

Hi Clint, was great to meet you and the other DSG folk at Dave and Busters in Scottsdale

 

That is a really nice build thread. I think I'm in the second wave of kits, and your experience will certainly make my job much easier.

 

Cheers mate,

 

Dave.

[camprandall]

Hey Dave! It was great to meet you too! Glad to hear you're doing one of these.

[davej[TK]]

I hope I am. I got a message a couple of days ago. Anovos won't post to Australia, but I think I made it clear that I have a number of US addresses to send it to. I'm just waiting on a reply.

[camprandall]

Well, I finished my first troop with the latex gaskets and here's my feedback.

 

1) The mobility and comfort is MUCH better! I was in the kit from 8:45 to 2 - over 5 hours - and the main discomfort I had after over 5 hours was just the weight of the fiberglass helmet. I was also able to take my helmet off several times for our panel and to get a drink of water. Heck, I even went to the bathroom twice with my snap/velcro cod piece and the better flexibility. Very cool!

 

2) The glue I used didn't quite hold up in all areas so I must not have used the right stuff. The seams Wyatt glued around the armpit held up great, but the inside of my biceps started coming apart a bit after a while.

 

3) Because these gaskets are so stretchy, they tended to work themselves out and sag a bit in a few areas so I need to make them more secure. they particularly started sliding down the shoulder a little bit, but should be easily fixable by attaching an elastic strip that goes across the top behind my shoulders.

 

I'll start with a few of my favorite pics from trooping and then some clips that show the gaskets sliding a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knees and elbows did pretty good!

 

 

 

 

Shoulders started to sag a bit so this is where I just need a strap on top and tighten the chest strap to keep it tucked in nice. 

 

Edited June 1, 2015 by camprandall

[robinsonjazz93]

Wow looks great Clint! Did you start out from a kit?

[camprandall]

Yeah, if you check out the first posts, you can see all the gazillion pieces in their glory.

[Dark PWF[Staff]]

Ok, got the knees done last night. I found that after a few minutes of walking, they started to slide down so I added a small velcro tab to the top to keep it from doing that, but otherwise it's not connected to the armor. I also added padding inside the armor in the front and back to keep the armor from jiggling since the older gaskets were thicker.

 

 

 

I just read to this point in your build thread, Clint (as within the last hour, I sent ANOVOS a big pile of my moneys) and there is already a product out there in the world that might meet this need for everyone interested in the approach.

 

Many hockey players wear compression shorts with velcro attached to the lower ends of the front and backs of the thighs, to hold their socks up over their shin guards rather than taping them to their legs.  Finding black ones may be a bit of an issue, but these may work:

 

http://www.amazon.com/SafeTGard-Large-Hockey-Compression-Short/dp/B00064UPU0/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1433367094&sr=8-6&keywords=hockey+shorts+with+velcro

 

Aside from this, great job on the build and the successive adaptations.  This thread, as others have said already, will be one of my "Go-Tos" when my build begins later this year!

 

Thanks for providing this great resource for all of us!

[camprandall]

That's funny Tim, because that's indeed very similar!

 

Oh - and congratulations! Exciting to see new waves of TFAs coming!

Edited June 3, 2015 by camprandall

[camprandall]

I got my new rubber cement in so in the next couple days I'm going to redo the seams on the elbow gaskets and probably tighten them up while I'm at it. I really liked how the knees worked attached to the under armor so I'm thinking of doing the same thing with the elbows. It's easier to put on that way and I'm hoping it maximizes the room in the forearm as well. I'll post pics when I'm done.

[camprandall]

Ok, I re-glued the arms today and I suspect this will hold much better. I'm using the right cement and I have a much better glue surface. After cutting the gaskets because they were too big around, I lost my good glue tab because I was just left with the ripple edge. What I did this time was take a strip of the cut ribbed gasket and use it as the backing tab to join the seam, which gives great surface area and a real nice tight seam. We'll see how it does after it fully cures.

 

I glued one edge first.

 

I then glued the second edge carefully, trying to get all the ribs to sit snugly inside the other ribs.

 

Final result.

[camprandall]

I'm liking this much better! I just need to sew a tab on each to keep it from sliding, but I think having these a little more snug and attached to the underarmor will give more flexibility and my seams should hold up real nice. Sweet!

 

Edited June 6, 2015 by camprandall

[Clamps[TK]]

The ribbed backing tab to hold the two ends in place is a great idea and also keeps the ridges aligned while glue sets. Keep up the sharing, all these great ideas are very helpful for those of us in the Bravo group. 

[camprandall]

Thanks Charles! And congrats on getting a kit! The fun awaits...

[camprandall]

Ok, so now that my gaskets are painted to match the newer darker ones Wyatt is putting out, I can barely tell the difference between these and the ANOVOS gaskets (aside from much better comfort, less weight, etc).

 

Here is a side by side. Wyatt's is to the left.

 

 

Here are some thickness comparisons. Here's your key to much better mobility.

 

ANOVOS

 

Wyatt

Edited June 15, 2015 by camprandall

[camprandall]

Oh, and since someone asked, here is what I did for fans in my helmet. They are all attached with industrial sticky velcro to avoid messing with the nice interior finish.

 

 

I bought the AA pack and fans on Amazon. Here are the links:

 

AA pack: http://www.amazon.com/4AA-Battery-Holder-Wires-Switch/dp/B003YD8DQ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434339186&sr=8-1&keywords=4+aa+holder

 

Squirrel fans: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EL938E6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00

Edited June 15, 2015 by camprandall

[tkrestonva[TK]]

You painted your latex gaskets? What did you use for paint?

[camprandall]

Yeah, so I think Brian that you and I are the first two to get the latex and as you know, they are more of a dark grey charcoal color and not as black as the ANOVOS. Wyatt's current gaskets are a bit darker so he sent me a paint sample he mixed up specifically for latex to darken them and that comparison pic has them after the new paint was applied. It's almost identical now. You should ask him about it.

[camprandall]

So it turns out I had a pretty serious crack in the yoke directly over the shoulder after PCC. The problem is that the crack is perfectly aligned with where the inside joining piece ended so I can't just reinforce it with some thick ABS without cutting the connecting piece. I decided instead to pool a bunch of JB Weld on the inside which seems to have done the trick. It took a few rounds since that stuff is pretty runny and I needed it to fill in all the gaps between the pieces before it would pool up. Anyways, the point of all this is that this is an area under high tension when you suit up or kit down so it would be good to reinforce it as part of the assembly.

 

Break

 

 

Fix

 

[tkrestonva[TK]]

Thanks for the tip! I have a crack in the exact same location, and so far nothing I've tried has worked to fix it and have it stay fixed.

[camprandall]

Thanks for the tip! I have a crack in the exact same location, and so far nothing I've tried has worked to fix it and have it stay fixed.

 

I haven't trooped it yet so while it feels nice and solid, I'm not 100% if it will hold up over repeatedly putting it on and off. We'll see! If this doesn't work, the next step is definitely cutting a piece off of the inside connector so I can back this with more abs.

[Pencap510]

So does the armor itself seem weak or flimsy there? Or is it just a really high stress area when suiting up ?

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Wow, serious problem.  A good note so people may decide to reinforce on their new builds too.

[camprandall]

I honestly think its both. On one hand the ABS is definitely thinner than my classic TK. I've already had to put some backing strips on 4 or 5 areas where the edge cracked even with a return edge there. But also, this new suit definitely has more tension due to the gaskets and the shapes and the way it goes together and fits so I think it's harder on the suit.

[camprandall]

Ok, so the JB Weld fix didn't hold on the yoke so I went with a more reliable method. I cut a bit of the inside supporting ABS insert so I could use a thick ABS backing strip behind the crack. It feels much stronger and should hold up well. The JB Weld stuff popped off of the ABS under pressure.

 

A reminder of my first attempt to fix it.

 

What I cut out...

 

The backing strip I made. I used ABS that's about twice as thick as what this suit is made out of.

 

The fixed piece with backing strip