Ok, so I have a suit hose connector, and want to attach that to my suit. but, I have this feeling that it will simplyl tear the leg. Do I need to reinforce that somehow? Maybe put some fabric inside the leg to keep the hose point from ripping? Just thought I would ask to see if anyone has any ideas.
Yeah, just use a couple of layers of an old t-shirt or sweater piece on the inside of the leg. Helps keep the connector straight out with the hose attached to it. Use some heavy thread, because it will wear out. With the hose it puts alot of strain on it when you move around.
which kind do you have? AJ sold some with a bolt through design, and Thiago sold some that you sew on only. Sewing the thing on is accurate, to reinforce it, just sew through another flat oversized piece of fabric on the inside. Make sure its as flexible as the suit or when you move, you will see the outline of the reinforcement piece. Dont trim it too close to the stiches either, but dont leave enough to fold up and make it look stupid. Hope that made sense.
yes, reinforce with a canvas type material under your flight suit and use heavy string/thread. I recommend a heavy duty tapestry needle. I know it will work since I sewed by hand a few parts for my samurai costume. it took half a year to build.
I have the one I purchased from irricanian, which is a solid connector, not a rubber one. its very Rigid. I sort of had the idea that I needed to put some backing or reinforcement there. Thanks for the ideas.
idea Could you adhere a magnet to the back of the hose connector in some way and attach it to another magnet, inside your suit? Similar to the way some name badges attach to your shirt…no holes, no stitching.
If you used as magnet you’d want some kind of non-slip material on the sides of it, and it would have to be a pretty powerful one not to slide around your leg I’d imagine.
Rare Earth magnets are the best for that sort of thing. http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/ Just make sure you sew the magnet that will be on the inside of the pantleg into the pants with some extra fabric -like a pocket, or you might lose it. Some people do that for their Star Wars X-wing pilot flightsuits and it works really well. You don’t have to sew anything, and you can remove the hose if you need to wash the suit.
So, I guess the idea is put the magnet on the inside of the pant leg, then sew a little circle of fabric over it which is smaller than the hose connector so it covers it up.
Seems kinda difficult. I like the method I used. I just got a brass female hose to narrow tube connector with a little hex nut on it which fits snugly inside the hose, and a plastic male hose repair thing which I used a dremel to saw the end off of to just leave the male connector piece, and voila. Just stick one inside the costume and the other outside and screw them together and it won’t slip. And I’d imagine you could make a rubber hose connector thingy which slips over the outside portion to make it look more like the movie, but the brass one looks pretty nice once I darkened it up a bit by heating it to oxidize it.
I thought about that magnet thing.. not sure I’m going to have time to order that and get it all sewn into the leg, but that is a fantastic idea.
“Keep it simple” I used Velcro to attach the connector to my uniform. This way if I get caught on something or someone it will detach and not ripe anything on my uniform. I have used this method at DragonCon (30,000 + ) people for 5 days and it never fell off.
you can by a really strong magnets, and i don’t think you’d have to sew it into the leg, just place it on the inside of the leg. my dad had a thick magnet on his fringe once, and it would take a crow bar to get it off. something like that would capture the fabric good enough i suppose. the velcro idea is pretty good too. perhaps a visit to the fabric store is in order. me, i am using the hose mender idea. it is in the forums somewhere.. if i find it, i’'ll post it up here.
here’s the link to the hose mender… probably won’t work since you already have a resin connector
I just picked up “Magnetic Sew-On Snaps” from JoAnn’s for 50% off $4.29 that I’m going to use for my husband’s suit.
I didn’t want to cut holes in the suit or anything and I had heard this idea used with much success before. I had heard someone say they didn’t sew their inside magnet onto the pantleg and ended up losing it at a con. once. Apparently, the hose got caught on something and it pulled hard enough to tear the magnets apart, and thus he lost the inside magnet. That’s why I suggested sewing it to the inside of your suit. It doesn’t have to be complicated…but, I take it for granted that sewing isn’t complicated because I’ve been sewing almost my entire life. :eyeroll:
that Snap Magnet idea is rock solid. I’m on my way to JoAnn’s I guess. thats for the idea!
Just to warn you, I haven’t actually tried the snap magnet from JoAnn’s, but when I try to pull them apart, they seem pretty strong. Not as strong as a Rare Earth magnet, but I think it’ll work.
Ok, so I tried the magnet thing, and while it looks like it would work, that left the hose connector sort of dangling form teh suit, and it didnt appear to be attached to it at all. I guesd the only real way was to sew it on to the suit, which I did with the suggestion of using some fabric on the inside.
So now I have the suit hose connected, and its heavy.. well sort of. It doesnt sit straight off of the leg, it sort of hangs down and doesnt look right. I’m not sure what can be done about that if anything.
Well, after hooking up my suit hose I watched GB1 and my hose connection looks and acts exactly like the one in the film.. so, I guess thats the way its supposed to be.
Yeah, I was going to tell you not to feel bad about your connector sagging because that’s what they did in the movie!
It is a little late to be saying this, but I used Velcro on mine. Now the velco wouldn’t stick to my connector, nor does any type of glue under the sun, so I sewed the velcro to the connector itself. Even if it isn’t sewn to the suit, it looks that way.