- February 1st, 2018, 10:33 pm#4902792
Taking a look around, it's clear what a great community this is, and I wanted to thank everyone for being so generous with their knowledge.
I'd like to contribute something, even if very small... I haven't seen this trick, hack, “whathaveyou” anywhere else, so if this somehow helps anyone else out, all the better.
Two years ago when I made my uniform, I wanted the hose port to be something not permanent, so storing/washing the suit would be a little easier, so I decided to make the hose connector magnetic allowing it to attach/detach as I saw fit.
For the connector itself, I used plumbing components (the connector materials are not important) the idea of which came from a primermagazine.com article but this process could easily work with any hose connector you choose to use for your suit.
First, I put a rare earth magnet (available at your local hardware store) on a square of masking tape, sticky side up.
Then, I placed the hose connector over top of that. The sticky side up tape creates a seal over the rim of the hose connector (very important!). Out of an over abundance of caution, I used some clay to form an additional seal around the base to prevent any leaks for the next step...
Next, VERY carefully, I poured resin through the upward facing mouth of the connector... just enough to fill the base of the wider end of the connector...
Wait a few minutes for the resin to cure, and that's all there is to it; you're pretty much done!
Now, you need something for the magnet to grip onto, and for that, I used the lid of a soup can – I coated the edges with the wife's nail polish to dull the sharp edge, but you could use glue or sand it down... personally, if I had this part to do over, I'd use something with a higher iron content to create a stronger magnetic bond, but ye olden Campbell Soup lid works well enough through my Tru Spec coveralls...
...and that's all there is to it! Pretty simple.
For a little extra “hose security” I clip the free end to my belt using a spare alligator clip from a lavaliere mic I had laying around and the whole assembly is pretty rock solid. Patrolled many a neighborhood last Halloween, and it worked out pretty great. The scaleable nature also makes getting into/out of cars easy without getting unecessarily caught up.
Hope this helps anyone. Happy hunting!
I'd like to contribute something, even if very small... I haven't seen this trick, hack, “whathaveyou” anywhere else, so if this somehow helps anyone else out, all the better.
Two years ago when I made my uniform, I wanted the hose port to be something not permanent, so storing/washing the suit would be a little easier, so I decided to make the hose connector magnetic allowing it to attach/detach as I saw fit.
For the connector itself, I used plumbing components (the connector materials are not important) the idea of which came from a primermagazine.com article but this process could easily work with any hose connector you choose to use for your suit.
First, I put a rare earth magnet (available at your local hardware store) on a square of masking tape, sticky side up.
Then, I placed the hose connector over top of that. The sticky side up tape creates a seal over the rim of the hose connector (very important!). Out of an over abundance of caution, I used some clay to form an additional seal around the base to prevent any leaks for the next step...
Next, VERY carefully, I poured resin through the upward facing mouth of the connector... just enough to fill the base of the wider end of the connector...
Wait a few minutes for the resin to cure, and that's all there is to it; you're pretty much done!
Now, you need something for the magnet to grip onto, and for that, I used the lid of a soup can – I coated the edges with the wife's nail polish to dull the sharp edge, but you could use glue or sand it down... personally, if I had this part to do over, I'd use something with a higher iron content to create a stronger magnetic bond, but ye olden Campbell Soup lid works well enough through my Tru Spec coveralls...
...and that's all there is to it! Pretty simple.
For a little extra “hose security” I clip the free end to my belt using a spare alligator clip from a lavaliere mic I had laying around and the whole assembly is pretty rock solid. Patrolled many a neighborhood last Halloween, and it worked out pretty great. The scaleable nature also makes getting into/out of cars easy without getting unecessarily caught up.
Hope this helps anyone. Happy hunting!