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Step 2Sorry to throw a Curve.
Anyways, yes curves I had thought the slide needed to be a curve and with one pivot point yes that would have worked but since two are better than one I had to.
I basically made a channel for the 1/2 wide strip to slide in and out of using the 3/16th inch stock as side of a rectangular tube with the 7/8 inch strip being the top and bottom. This left a loose fit over about 2 inches of travel and was surprisingly smooth for a rush job when moved in an arc but since force really tends to go in straight lines, grabbing the two pivot points and attempting to pull them apart caused the arc to bind and log like a Chinese finger puzzle.
This might be handy to remember for something but benefit from my perfect hindsight make it straight to start with.
I turned it red with fire and hammered it flat real quick.
You do want to fashion two feet to attach the hinges to the brace. I made them from 2 pieces just under 4 inches long of the 7/8 wide stuff and 6 pieces about 3 inches long of the 1/2 wide strip, and used a simple piece of heavy pipe with an arc cut from it as a curved anvil and shaped them to match the template I had made of the wife's leg.
Use a ball peen hammer or one with a rounded head and light taps. The wide one is the bottom and should be dead on if possible, and the 1/2 inch wide ones I made with a slightly tighter radius since this is used to turn the wide strip into a basic truss and allow for a very solid point to weld to the hinge but spread out enough so as not to damage the wife and gave me room to secure it to the webbing with 3 bolts on each side and fender washers. Use grade 5's at least. Attaching the webbing to a brace is simple sewing but the webbing needs to be securely attached to the steel since it's doing the work.
Hopefully I'll remember to mention the need to drill three holes in the feet since I forgot in the past but unless you read this backwards it awaits in your near future
Anyways I again test fitted the brace to the wife and held the 3 1/2 inch hinges I had fished together over the brace. You need to essentially build an bridge over the knee to prevent it from hitting the under side of the hinge when the knee is bent.
Hindsight here again, the wife took a look at the pound of steel in my hand and informed me should would not wear such a thing and there I was stuck unable to make a Resistance is Futile joke of it since she probably has no clue as to Borg, but quickly said have no worries this is just me thinking out loud and I ran downstairs and cut it in half lengthwise and telling myself I meant to do that in the first place.
Be sure to get a heavy duty pair of steel ones, not something flimsy like for a jewelry box, and just start with one an inch to an inch and a half wide in the first place...
I'll make a sketch and scan it into this step in the near future to show the basic layout since I could easily turn simple into a dozen more paragraphs at this point.
But anyways basically the big arc gets welded to the side of the hinge without the slide at about a forty five degree angle towards the slide. Then I placed a half inch on either side of that and welded first the ends of each to the wide strap then a tack in the middle then welded the edges of the two arcs lengthwise, then for good measure added a third on the outside side and repeated the process.
You end up with essentially a crescent moon arc down, the center near the hinge thicker than the edges so it's not gonna go anywhere but won't add a lot of weight.
I then sandblasted the pieces primered them and painted them with black rustoleum, let them flash off for abut half an hour then hung them in a oven preheated to 400 degrees then turned off.
Be sure you remember to turn the thing off before heating the metal, don't tell my wife, and feel completely free to skip this step in favor of drying over night, but this makes the paint flow and it is dry and ready to go an hour later after it has naturally cooled down to room temperature...
Note: I started with little outriggers on the foot but worried they might dig into her leg and I removed them.
I basically made a channel for the 1/2 wide strip to slide in and out of using the 3/16th inch stock as side of a rectangular tube with the 7/8 inch strip being the top and bottom. This left a loose fit over about 2 inches of travel and was surprisingly smooth for a rush job when moved in an arc but since force really tends to go in straight lines, grabbing the two pivot points and attempting to pull them apart caused the arc to bind and log like a Chinese finger puzzle.
This might be handy to remember for something but benefit from my perfect hindsight make it straight to start with.
I turned it red with fire and hammered it flat real quick.
You do want to fashion two feet to attach the hinges to the brace. I made them from 2 pieces just under 4 inches long of the 7/8 wide stuff and 6 pieces about 3 inches long of the 1/2 wide strip, and used a simple piece of heavy pipe with an arc cut from it as a curved anvil and shaped them to match the template I had made of the wife's leg.
Use a ball peen hammer or one with a rounded head and light taps. The wide one is the bottom and should be dead on if possible, and the 1/2 inch wide ones I made with a slightly tighter radius since this is used to turn the wide strip into a basic truss and allow for a very solid point to weld to the hinge but spread out enough so as not to damage the wife and gave me room to secure it to the webbing with 3 bolts on each side and fender washers. Use grade 5's at least. Attaching the webbing to a brace is simple sewing but the webbing needs to be securely attached to the steel since it's doing the work.
Hopefully I'll remember to mention the need to drill three holes in the feet since I forgot in the past but unless you read this backwards it awaits in your near future
Anyways I again test fitted the brace to the wife and held the 3 1/2 inch hinges I had fished together over the brace. You need to essentially build an bridge over the knee to prevent it from hitting the under side of the hinge when the knee is bent.
Hindsight here again, the wife took a look at the pound of steel in my hand and informed me should would not wear such a thing and there I was stuck unable to make a Resistance is Futile joke of it since she probably has no clue as to Borg, but quickly said have no worries this is just me thinking out loud and I ran downstairs and cut it in half lengthwise and telling myself I meant to do that in the first place.
Be sure to get a heavy duty pair of steel ones, not something flimsy like for a jewelry box, and just start with one an inch to an inch and a half wide in the first place...
I'll make a sketch and scan it into this step in the near future to show the basic layout since I could easily turn simple into a dozen more paragraphs at this point.
But anyways basically the big arc gets welded to the side of the hinge without the slide at about a forty five degree angle towards the slide. Then I placed a half inch on either side of that and welded first the ends of each to the wide strap then a tack in the middle then welded the edges of the two arcs lengthwise, then for good measure added a third on the outside side and repeated the process.
You end up with essentially a crescent moon arc down, the center near the hinge thicker than the edges so it's not gonna go anywhere but won't add a lot of weight.
I then sandblasted the pieces primered them and painted them with black rustoleum, let them flash off for abut half an hour then hung them in a oven preheated to 400 degrees then turned off.
Be sure you remember to turn the thing off before heating the metal, don't tell my wife, and feel completely free to skip this step in favor of drying over night, but this makes the paint flow and it is dry and ready to go an hour later after it has naturally cooled down to room temperature...
Note: I started with little outriggers on the foot but worried they might dig into her leg and I removed them.
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