Make Aluminum Foil Armor

OK it has alot more uses than its name, like scales, plates, and as I said ARMOR. NOTE: This instructable will have alot of updates so check back every little while.

Step 1 Material list

Things you will need to make your "foil thing":

1. Foil (of course)
2. Shoe and foot
3.Rubber mallet (better alternative to a shoe)
4.Hand with good grip
5.Super strong assistant(preferably a monkey) Hey! where'd he go!!

Comments

[AluminumFoilMaster]

You weirdos! It's aluminum, but you Brits made it aluminium because you thought it sounded cool! And yes, ALL Americans call it aluminum, unless they have no education. If you are American, type aluminium and you will notice it will correct it and say aluminum. Also, I AM THE FOIL MASTER! And Americans say tinfoil because they are lazy, not cause they don't know it's aluminum. Trust me. My friends say tinfoil. *sigh* us lazy Americans. No offense, because I am American too.

[nutsandbolts_64]

 I came up with the idea before, a year before I joined instructables (which was also 2008). So, I never got to post it here. Too bad my manufacturing process is very inefficient. Estimate how many plates you can get out of that with one roll. The no. of plates you need divided by how many plates you can get out of 1 roll equals the no. of rolls you need for your body armor. If you don't understand, look below:

z=no. of plates needed
y=no. of plates possible w/ 1 roll of foil
x=no. of rolls of foil needed

x / y = z

[bigjeff5]

You said the formula correctly but you didn't write it out correctly - you switched Z and X.

Given your legend, it should be z / y = x

[nutsandbolts_64]

*1 year later* lol, I can see that... Although a tip, don't comment on extremely old comments, like mine. Not a lot of people could remember what they've posted on a certain instructable after a few months (2 months?).

[Clayton H.]

Yea, but can it stop a .22 centerfire cartridge traveling at 2400–3000 fps Hmmm?

[JakePtehSniper]

Ok. The .22 cartridge is a RIMFIRE cartridge. There is no such thing as a .22 CENTERFIRE cartridge. Oh yeah and pktraceur, the smallest bullet is the 2mm pinfire round. It packs about as much punch as a fairly sluggish airsoft gun.

[bigjeff5]

http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=.22+centerfire

Your understanding of rifle calibers is incredibly deficient. The .22 centerfire is probably the most common rifle round in the world.

Educate yourself, man.

[daelans]

its sure as hell not gonna stop a 22.

[PKTraceur]

Dude, it's compressed food-grade aluminium, WTH do you expect? (Maybe If I add a steel plate...) -PKT

[Clayton H.]

yes I know, I was seeing what kind of awnser Lego Man would give.

[Lego man]

wow, i just found out you commented :S, im sure it cant stand it, considering thats a bullet (right?) well now im not sure, i dont really have knowledge of ammo and such :(

[PKTraceur]

Yes, that is pretty much the smallest caliber bullet. .22 of an inch in diameter, each one about an inch long.

[bigjeff5]

And enough power to travel a couple miles in the air, if fired at the proper angle.

It isn't even close to the smallest caliber round, though. Smallest commercial caliber was a .11, but it was never popular.

.17 is a somewhat popular caliber for varmint hunting, because you can get some very high speed (4000+ fps) rounds, though the .22 Remington is still more popular for the purpose.

[PossessedPanda]

About how much aluminum foil do you need to make scales/armor for the whole chest and back? (Covering All Surfaces)

[quetip1]

might I suggest sticking a needle about a centimeter from the top and thread it together to form this "armor/scales" you were speaking of. this is probably the best approach seeing how as the idea of flexibility is compromised when using glue of any sorts and tape makes it more fragile.

[howdyboy2]

just wondering , what is the point of this in paintball were you are trying to keep paint from busting on you . I think this would be better suited for the airsoft section . A good version of this would be foam plates or a cloth , something that would be springy or impact dampening to prevent paint busting

[boredsearcher]

could always roll a car over it

[TheScientist]

how much does each piece weigh? (presumably that would be the practical use of it over steel!)

cool idea for paintball armour too :) I admit I was originally thinking "what's aluminium armour going to stop?" but it's sure stop paintballs (or BB's for that matter... although they might embed)

my only criticism of your instructable is that a couple of the pictures could do with you using a flash (or take it outside during daylight)

oh yeah, and it's "Aluminium" not aluminum! silly americans! ;-)

before people jump on that, I know both spellings are considered appropriate, just nobody else in the world (especially not the scientific world) uses it.

[PKTraceur]

Actually, many (Sane? Smart? Different? Yeah thats it..) Americans do use aluminium. Lest, I do... -RoAr

[temp]

americans say TIN foil. I really don't know why.

[daelans]

about that, i was at a camp one time, like summer camp, and there was a theme thing for a day and it was knights and armor and swords and bows and stuff and there were these people who made it out of tin foil and whenever we said tin foil theyd flip out and be like "NO ITS ALUMINUM FOIL" and crap, whats the difference?

[temp]

Tin was used a long time ago. That's about it.

[me835]

its because before aluminum was practical, tin was used instead. i may be wrong about the 'practical' thing, but the tin-before-aluminum thing is correct. the name just stuck

[mcguyverzboss]

I think people say tin foil for the same reason they call tissues Kleenex. It's just a brand name their use to hearing. Like you said back then they only used tin foil.

[dunnos]

i know another one of those! Dremel!

[jakezcop]

hey polocks spell bad to!

[Grey_Wolfe]

hehe "polocks spell bad" The statement is proof in itself. lol Mr Smith is right, even though aluminium was the original term for it. Lazy American slange hits the books and becomes official. We're good at that kind of stuff. lol

[bigjeff5]

The name was coined in 1808 as "Alumium" by English chemist Sir Humphry Davey. He later amended it to "Aluminum", which is how the Americans say it.

In 1812, British editors further amended it to "Aluminium", and it remains the version the British use.

Thus, nobody uses the original word, but Americans use an older version than the English.

"Aluminium, for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound. ["Quarterly Review," 1812]"

Silly Brits, always gotta sound snooty even when a Brit coins a term.

[John Smith]

In the UK and other countries using British spelling, only aluminium is used. In the United States, the spelling aluminium is largely unknown, and the spelling aluminum predominates.[12][13] The Canadian Oxford Dictionary prefers aluminum, whereas the Australian Macquarie Dictionary prefers aluminium. The spelling in virtually all other languages is analogous to the -ium ending. -Wikipedia Another cool thing would be to cast aluminum plate armor for paintball/airsoft...hmmm, I need to fire up my foundry!

[x z i t]

its the english language that is messed up also, yea do the foundry. i did it, its a lot of fun, but it takes lots of time and some money

[daelans]

wait, aluminium, isnt that the er thing on the table. the periods table or whatever.

[nutsandbolts_64]

no, it's not "er", it's "al" after alumin... and it's called the periodic table.

(note: alumin... is what I used to not restart the debate up there about alumin(i)um foil) 

[bigjeff5]

If you want to feel super superior, call it alumium. That was the original word, it was then changed to aluminum, then again to aluminium.

The US and Canada both use the older* aluminum than the more recent British aluminium.

*Four years older is still older!

[jakezcop]

ur to smart! my brain hurts now!

[Jesusfreak101]

That or you're too dumb. (lol just kidding)

[Lego man]

Yeh it was dark outside so I couldent use daylight. but I will in my updates.

[jakezcop]

ooo metal discs! is there a good way to ape it other than moulding?

[daelans]

ape it?

[Lego man]

Other than folding I can't think of anymore. A lot of practice and patience, it is fairly hard.

[jakezcop]

could you make large pieces and then saw or cut it? or wokuld it just fall apart?