Chain Maille Scales Armor

thingiverse

This is one piece to print out multiple times to create wearable Scale Maille Armor. I have included a print file for nine pieces, but this one file alone could take around 7 hours to print. Once you have the scale pieces printed, you can then use paracord to connect them. Or whatever cord material you would like. In the final product it will hardly show. The idea is to create a mesh with the cording material behind the scales to connect to whatever other armor pieces you have used or itself wrapped around and arm or leg. UPDATE: I made 11 scales to test mesh creation. Original design too bulky. The concept is again to create a mesh, but vertical versus horizontal; the horizontals will carry/connect the scales for each row. Start stringing scales onto horizontal runners the odd rows smaller by one scale. So if you have 5 rows of 7 scales you'll need 4 rows of 6 scales to make the pattern work. Start with the larger number of scale as the top/bottom rows. Once scales are strung, lay down in an overlapping pattern. Mesh pattern picture is displayed as reference. Starting with the second scale from the left on the first (odd) row tie a cord onto the. Once you have the first row (odd) knotted then run under the even row so the horizontal cord is over the cord you are working, do not knot. Now knot the cord on the third row the same number scale in the design. Continue pattern Odd scale getting knots, even rows under the cord between the scales, Tie all odd rows first. The repeat the process for the even rows. Make a knot on the even rows for each scale. Pass under the next cord and between the two scales. Knot on the next even row cord. When the pattern is complete you should have one row that hold the next row of scales in place. Now basically one knot per scale. The outside scales of the odd rows you can do the same thing however instead of just going under the even cord, knot it instead to lock the scales in place and keep the pattern going. Do this for each edge. If you like you can knot the cord outside of the last scale on the odd rows to lock them in place. Use the horizontal cords to make the connection around whatever you are building your armor for. It will take some tinkering and ingenuity on your part to include this armor into your final version of armor design. Resist printing in a vertical orientation this may cause them to become brittle and break easily along the build lines. Printed in this horizontal fashion makes them much more durable and flexible. Print Settings Printer Brand: RepRap Printer: Anet A8 Rafts: Doesn't Matter Supports: No Resolution: .2 Notes: At .2 Resolution gives the scales texture. Use lines only as infill it will be much easier to remove. Post-Printing Use Support Line Patterns Only With support there is a lot of cleanup. The complete underside of the scale needs support, Use only lines, not a grid pattern, it is much easier to clean out that way. Use a metal spoon to scoop/scrape out supports. I used a Dremel yo clean the scales off and used a small tip to round out the holes to make them smooth. Very important if you are using 550 paracord, it snags easily. It barely fits through the hole. How I Designed This Designed in Microsoft 3D Builder I made a cone the was flatter than round. Duplicated it, then shrank it a little and subtracted that from the first cone. I the sliced that cone to make a pleasing rounded shape for the bottom piece. For the top piece, I duplicated the sliced cone rotated it around and shrank the rounded portion without proportionality. Then I rotated it to meet the bottom portion and then rotated it upwards until it matched the bottom piece perfectly. I welded these two pieces together. I then inserted a cylinder and sized it to 5.5MM and 2.5MM and made it longer than the scale piece. I then made one more cylinder 5.5MM wide and duplicated that. I took the longer rod and positioned, 5.5MM parallel to the scale directionality, it to go through the upper portion where I merged the two pieces. I picked a place that looked good, did not cut into the top and left a fair amount on the bottom for strength. Then I subtracted the rod to create the holes. But those had a jagged point that might cut the paracord. I arranged the two cylinders to create a rounded top portion and eliminate this jagged part, on both sides of the piece. Then you should have a completed armor scale.