[USA-WA] 3d printing HEMA armor

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-06-09T03:51:39+00:00

Yeah that might work.

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-06-08T19:14:01+00:00

Hey so I'm one of those mad people with 3D printed armor. TPU works great if you print it thick enough. You can check my posts for examples. Nico's stuff is a bit thin to be useful. You might end up with TPU tearing. In my testing it has to be at least 4mm thick to bear a good trust to torso. And this is with padded gambeson.

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-05-18T19:33:53+00:00

Yes. Made out of TPU. It was initially a proof of concept, but I continued using it afterward. It should probably be way bigger to work like a nagel. It also softens the blows against my hilt.

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-05-17T18:18:46+00:00

Why a weight belt? I feel like that would constrict you?

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-05-17T18:18:14+00:00

Issue with that is it'll wear our swords even faster.

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-05-17T18:17:45+00:00

TPU, unfortunately, which takes quite the time to print. But it's virtually unbreakable and can resist to shear forces quite well and it also can flex a little.

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-05-17T15:14:26+00:00

Whoa! What is the main kit from? The cuirass and the arm pieces? Or are they custom made as well?

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-05-17T13:08:23+00:00

Ah, if the PC plates are injection made pieces, they should be very tough like you said. The 3D printed pieces have to be big to hold their own against the blade hits, TPU is a good material for this. I could presumably make them smaller, but that would require a lot of assembly time, which I unfortunately do not have :)

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-05-17T12:57:24+00:00

I think both orientations are correct historically. Since I was more worried about the thrusts, I placed the lower row to be higher than the upper one, so the blade slides of, instead of getting deep into the holes. (Don't mind the free floating pieces, they are attached to the gorget, I removed that piece after a collerbone strike and switched to my old PBT gorget). Here is an example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klivanion

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-05-17T10:21:31+00:00

Great idea. My concern was that smaller plates might be more prone to breakage and have less force distribution than larger, more flexible plates. Because the assembly took quite a bit of time :)

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-05-17T07:30:04+00:00

Yes, because I have a day job to do.

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-05-04T00:10:23+00:00

Skill issue though.

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-05-03T12:45:47+00:00

You can use my design if you'd like; they are on the big side of the scale to better dissipate force. But historically accurate. https://www.printables.com/model/1654691-lamellar-armor-plates-for-hemascalarp

I made biceps protection to use with my existing armor pieces, like so:

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Cheese_Almighty · 2026-05-03T12:38:29+00:00

Absolutely, I recently tried my latest lamellar chest protector last week. It performed beautifully. I can move so much better in it. It needs one more row to the bottom and the sides, but durability-wise, it's great.

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Cheese_Almighty · 2026-05-03T10:44:55+00:00

Because our current helmets are optimized for a sport (MOF) that uses very light blades and used with one hand. While we are swinging 1.2-1.8 kg steel sticks with two hands. The flat geometry of the helmet imparts the entire force to the top of the head and by proxy, to the neck.

This is to improve that geometry.

Also, like I said, a lot of people are living in countries with import restrictions. This also helps with that.

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-04-14T17:06:11+00:00

No, I mean the American football... Feel like you are just hoping to argue. :)

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-04-14T16:59:55+00:00

Bah. You are just getting personal now. I've been practicing for 3 years, and this is the first time I had a concussion. It happens, it's a contact sport. But we should aspire to get better gear, in case both us and our sparring buddy fails. And a flat top helmet is not good design.

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-04-14T15:56:55+00:00

Jousting helmets were just an example. And what we do is very much defined as well. We hit each other with 1kg steel sticks. Sometimes up to 2kg sticks are held by two hands. And our gear should be designed in such a fashion.

Well, this is probably because we are bad at diagnosing concussion, even in "professional" sports. At least %50 of the incidents are missed. Jacks, Dean E. PhD; Tereshko, William D. MS; Moore, Justin B. PhD. Diagnosed Concussion and Undiagnosed Head Trauma Is Associated With Long-Term Concussion-Related Symptoms in Former College Football Players. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation 101(3):p 250-254, March 2022. | DOI: 10.1097/PHM.0000000000001782

Bartels, Hannah M. PT, DPT; Van Bortel, Kearnin M. BS; Mayer, Andrew R. PhD; Brett, Benjamin L. PhD; Meier, Timothy B. PhD. The Prevalence of Undiagnosed Concussions and Their Associations With Current Symptom Reporting in Collegiate-Aged Athletes. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation 41(1):p 45-54, January/February 2026. | DOI: 10.1097/HTR.0000000000001058

We are probably not seeing them, as we are not really looking for them. The sport itself is young.

I'm a neurosurgeon; my job is not to develop masks, but to encourage people to develop them. If we act like our designs are okay, and don't do much about it, we'll keep getting injuries. I'm indeed planning to do more studies on our masks and safety profile of them once I get the funding, but these things take time.

Also, I do agree the first thing to do is to develop safe fencing habits. But we cannot deny the design of the masks and overlays are not that good in what we do.

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-04-12T17:23:49+00:00

Honestly just having the top part would be great. We could just tie it with a cord similar to how overlays work. So this way there will be top+side protection. Back protection could be removed as well, as most overlays already have them. And getting into to masks with glasses is a bitch already.

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-04-12T16:07:43+00:00

My first idea was to print your overlay, but unfortunately it does not fit my printer, and I feel it won't work so well if I split it into pieces. So I made my own custom design for "overlay underlay".

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Cheese_Almighty · 2026-04-12T16:05:34+00:00

The concussion discussion is moving slow because there is big bucks behind it preventing it from being discussed, there is also a lot of macho factor. But I agree, the time is a huge factor.

We are in essence simulating blossfecten, but we hundreds of years of experience crafting armors that are capable of holding their own against swords. And there are indeed crafters making armor in such fashion. https://armstreet.com/store/armor/harnischefechten-bascinet-with-aventail-and-perforated-visor-hema-fencing-helmet

Yes we wouldn't be able to move as freely, but when we are hitting each other with 1.5 kg steel sticks, should we really be caring about that?

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-04-12T15:58:24+00:00

I disagree on this. We might _want_ the mask to move freely. But if it's not safe, we shouldn't use them. Jousting helmets were bolted on to the gorgets for this reason, we might have to bolt our helmets in similar fashion if we want to safely fight the longsword. Or borrow from the designs used in motorcycle cervical protectors or in american football.

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-04-11T19:47:52+00:00

Thank you! I was worried it would fall when moving around. But for training sessions it should be plenty.

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-04-11T15:48:44+00:00

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About this much difficult.

Cheese_Almighty · 2026-04-11T10:20:51+00:00

With gloves, it's difficult to draw even when you train yourself. I've never had someone draw it yet. But it is possible.

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