Making DIY Ballistic Plate Body Armor

by Survivalpunk

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Intro: Making DIY Ballistic Plate Body Armor

Today I have not one but two youtube videos for you. You get a DIY build video on How To Build A DIY Ballistics Plate Body Armor and then the test shooting of that DIY ballistics plate.

I really want a real body armor plate. I also want to shoot the hell out of one. There in lies my problem. If I had a ballistics plate, like the great guys at AR500 (hint hint) I would want it for a SHTF scenario. But I also want to try to destroy one as well.

DIY 2 Survive! My solution is to build and show you How To Build A DIY Ballistics Plate Body Armor. Will it be as good as a professionally made one? Nope. Will it stop a bullet? Hell yes, it will! I don’t recommend you building one of these and going out to fight ISIS. In a SHTF I would wear one of my DIY ballistic plates over wearing nothing. The cost for this was around $30. I used a steel I-beam piece, a ceramic floor tile, duck tape and a can of plastidip. This thing is heavy. And tough as a hell.

Shooting The DIY Plate Armor The second Video is Couch Potato Mike and I shooting the ballistic plate. Now that you know How To Build A DIY Ballistics Plate Body Armor it’s time to destroy it. For the $20~30 bucks I spent building this DIY body armor it was money well spent. No bullets got through the plate. The ceramic tile was demolished. And shrapnel went everywhere. So although no vital organs would be ventilated you would likely be shredded from the shrapnel. The pastidip did not work as well as I had wanted. For version 2.0 I will use a truck bed spray on liner. If you want to buy one I found the Cheapest One on amazon. To me $80 to shoot is still pricey.

STEP 1: Cutting the Plate

For this project, I found a huge Steel i beam at a scrap yard. I used the ceramic floor tile to measure how long the plate should be.

I used an angle grinder and a few discs to cut out the piece of metal.

The back side of the plate had some metal sticking up and I, mostly, ground this flat.

STEP 2: Cutting the Tile

For the tile, I placed it under the plate and clamped it down. My plan was to use the ceramic disk on the tile to cut it. As soon as I clamped the tile all the way down it snapped along the edge of the plate. Almost exactly where I wanted it. I only had minor clean up to do.

STEP 3: Taping the Plate

I covered the metal plate with ducktape then duck taped the floor tile to the steel plate. I was skimpy on the tape. More would be better.

STEP 4: Spraying on the Plastidip

After covering with tape I used a can of plastdip to cover the plate. I used the spray on kind. It didn't form as thick of a layer as I thought. Next time I would use a spray on bed liner product.

STEP 5: Testing Out the Plate


We test out the DIY body armor by shooting it.

10 Comments

Washington0001 5 years ago

One quick note, apparently ceramic you find at the store isn't the super hard boron carbide that has no micro fractures. While it does work, this will provide reduced protection.

FredS113 6 years ago

Scoring works well for glass and ceramics

FredS113 6 years ago

Ever hear of a cutting torch?

Ryhorn12 7 years ago

I have an idea like what you were thinking for that truck bed liner. there's a company called Line-X, and they have just about everything in a spray from durability to fire ratings. it sounds like fun to use but it is pricey.

CorgiCritter 7 years ago

A thicker anti-spalling coat would be a good idea, but other then that, great work!

MerlinMakes 7 years ago

fair warning for people who think this is a good idea, steel plate is known to shoot off tiny fragments off the back side of the plate when you shoot it. this isnt safe for multiple reasons, not just the ceramic. you might get lucky. you might not. use common sense. (i've personaly thought about using rhynoliner on the back of the plate to mitigate this)

mderton 7 years ago

THIS IS AWESOME, i am voting for you.

seamster 7 years ago

Very cool project, thanks for sharing the details! :)