acteg
Contributor
It's been done before, but here is my take on it.
I used my SS oxycheq bp as a template.
Bought a sheet of 16" x 14" .125 kydex off ebay for $16 shipped.
Heated it up to 380 degrees in the oven and layed it on top of my SS backplate.
Layed a couple of layers of foam on top (thick exercise mat), then a sheet of plywood and a couple of scuba tanks to hold it all down.
10 minutes later I had what resembled a bp.
I cut out the bp and grinded the edges smooth, then taped paper on top of it and traced all of the slots/holes from my SS bp onto the paper. Then I began drilling holes at the end of each slot.
I'm tired now, and starting to get impatient so instead of screwing up the bp, I'm going to finish tomorrow. I need to charge up my dremel anyway for cutting the slots.
Now that I am almost done, I will say that the $16 initial investment is pretty cheap. Then you are going to spend a 3-5 hours I'd guess making the bp. All said and done, AL backplates are super cheap. You can order one new for $60 bucks or less, and you don't have to worry about it being screwed up, breaking, or not working. DIY is fun, but if you are thinking of doing this to save a couple of bucks.... you are not doing yourself any favors.
Here is what I have so far. Note that the lower harness slots are a little close together. We'll see how that holds up in the long run. I think most of the stress is applied vertically to those slots, so not too worried...but still could of spaced them a little further apart to be safe.
---------- Post Merged on October 16th, 2012 at 10:55 PM ---------- Previous Post was on October 15th, 2012 at 10:54 PM ----------
I finished up my BP.
Lessons learned
- My hands aren't that steady - I slipped a couple of times with the dremel when I was cutting the slots. The final product is no where near the fit and finish you would expect from a "commercial item". I would have had to go a lot slower, been more careful, and been more familiar with the tools I was using to do a better job (in my opinion).
- I need to do a better job of beveling the edges. Weaving the webbing through is causing some very slight abrasion. I can either smooth the edges more or use an old inner tube to protect the webbing where they contact the slots.
-I probably should of drilled out the slots, ie: a line of circles in stead of cutting them out with a dremel tool. If I had drilled out circles, I could have come back and easily cleaned things up with the dremel. This would have made for a much better fit and finish.
Here are the pics:
All in all this was a fun project. I strapped a tank to the bp/wing afterwards and tried it on. I think it might be a little more comfortable than my SS plate since it flexes a little and it seems a little more "attached to me". I'm hoping to try it out in one of the springs soon to get a real world test of performance. I plan to use this for single tank diving (thats all the diving I do).
I still think a kydex backplate is a bit of a solution in search of a problem. More than likely I will also purchase an AL backplate since they are pretty cheap. I think a Kydex backplate would be perfect for me weight wise if I was using a -10lb HP100 tank (worthington), but with a PST E7 HP100 at -8.5 with an AL plate it's essentially a wash.
I used my SS oxycheq bp as a template.
Bought a sheet of 16" x 14" .125 kydex off ebay for $16 shipped.
Heated it up to 380 degrees in the oven and layed it on top of my SS backplate.
Layed a couple of layers of foam on top (thick exercise mat), then a sheet of plywood and a couple of scuba tanks to hold it all down.
10 minutes later I had what resembled a bp.
I cut out the bp and grinded the edges smooth, then taped paper on top of it and traced all of the slots/holes from my SS bp onto the paper. Then I began drilling holes at the end of each slot.
I'm tired now, and starting to get impatient so instead of screwing up the bp, I'm going to finish tomorrow. I need to charge up my dremel anyway for cutting the slots.
Now that I am almost done, I will say that the $16 initial investment is pretty cheap. Then you are going to spend a 3-5 hours I'd guess making the bp. All said and done, AL backplates are super cheap. You can order one new for $60 bucks or less, and you don't have to worry about it being screwed up, breaking, or not working. DIY is fun, but if you are thinking of doing this to save a couple of bucks.... you are not doing yourself any favors.
Here is what I have so far. Note that the lower harness slots are a little close together. We'll see how that holds up in the long run. I think most of the stress is applied vertically to those slots, so not too worried...but still could of spaced them a little further apart to be safe.
---------- Post Merged on October 16th, 2012 at 10:55 PM ---------- Previous Post was on October 15th, 2012 at 10:54 PM ----------
I finished up my BP.
Lessons learned
- My hands aren't that steady - I slipped a couple of times with the dremel when I was cutting the slots. The final product is no where near the fit and finish you would expect from a "commercial item". I would have had to go a lot slower, been more careful, and been more familiar with the tools I was using to do a better job (in my opinion).
- I need to do a better job of beveling the edges. Weaving the webbing through is causing some very slight abrasion. I can either smooth the edges more or use an old inner tube to protect the webbing where they contact the slots.
-I probably should of drilled out the slots, ie: a line of circles in stead of cutting them out with a dremel tool. If I had drilled out circles, I could have come back and easily cleaned things up with the dremel. This would have made for a much better fit and finish.
Here are the pics:
All in all this was a fun project. I strapped a tank to the bp/wing afterwards and tried it on. I think it might be a little more comfortable than my SS plate since it flexes a little and it seems a little more "attached to me". I'm hoping to try it out in one of the springs soon to get a real world test of performance. I plan to use this for single tank diving (thats all the diving I do).
I still think a kydex backplate is a bit of a solution in search of a problem. More than likely I will also purchase an AL backplate since they are pretty cheap. I think a Kydex backplate would be perfect for me weight wise if I was using a -10lb HP100 tank (worthington), but with a PST E7 HP100 at -8.5 with an AL plate it's essentially a wash.
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