i know its 2 years later but.... you should roll out the air bubbles between each layer of glass, turn each layer of glass at a 45degree angle, wax the inside of both outer plates, and dont clamp the plates so tight, you press the resin out. i was a fiberglass specialist or 8yrs before i got into precision metal fab sorry i wasnt here 2 years ago

You can drastically increase the toughness of the resin you use for these plates by adding .3% graphene. Grpahene is easily made from graphite rods by grinding them up into powder and ball milling the powder with a surfactant for a day or two then baking this powder until there is no more moisture left. The powder left over from this is graphene and including it into your resin mixture will increase drastically increase the resistance to penetration. I've got a lot of research articles on the subject if you're interested I will send them to you. Edit: anybody liking this post should be looking in the comment section beneath it.

I like how this video populates every so often. Like when there's a push to restrict body armor for civilians. Especially since modern body armor was developed by a civilian who was tired of being shot.

After seeing the other guy I followed building this an giving you props for being the original, I decided to rewatch and just realized I've followed you for 15 yrs now. Time has flown by.

For those of you that haven't played with fiberglass I highly recommend a respirator!!!

As a little tip to everyone who tries to do this: Diamond discs for cutting tiles on an angle grinder cut composite like butter.

I like how you figured all this out, proved it works, and all the experts come in and tell you how to do it better.

Also, If you're going to do a lot of this type thing invest in some mold release and a vacuum pump. your plates will fall off easily. Plus placing it under vacuum in a bag places atmospheric pressure over the entire piece which is about 14.9 psi. It will result in a much denser component with less porosity, it will be lighter due to squeeze out, and much stronger. Excellent job though!

stops 9mm: I have seen this before. stops birdshot and buckshot: you got my attention. stops slug: *spills drink*

I love how he showed the results first, so we actually know it's legit before we waste our time watching him make it

I've seen some videos on making rifle rated body armor up to level 3+, to make it stop rifle rounds it needs a ceramic strike face to break up the rifle bullet into shrapnel, deflect energy back at the bullet and absorb most of the energy as well as spread the energy out over a larger area so once the bullet shrapnel passes through the ceramic the fiberglass and resin backing can effectively catch all the shrapnel and absorb the remaining energy, I found that a porcelain floor tile is the best homemade option of ceramic material, also it's good to use a foam backing on the back of the fiberglass plate to further help protect the body from the impact of the bullet projectile.

Watching you struggle cutting it, thinking that you should use a bandsaw, then suddenly realizing you have one, was fun. Thanks

For $30 and it stops 90% of the ammunition used in murders... Worth it!

i love the smell of fiberglass dust. it makes my lungs warm.

That was a very cost effective test and I enjoyed watching it and learning more. One way to make this stronger would have been using epoxy resin instead of polyester resin. Another way would have been alternating thread directions of your fiberglass cloth. In other words, put the first cloth down with 0/90 degree cloth thread orientation and the next one with 45/135 degree orientation, then alternate again. That way you are getting strength and energy dissipation in more directions. These changes could possibly have gotten you 10-25% more performance. It might not have made a difference though as the 5.56 looked like it would blow right through it anyway. Adding Kevlar, on the other hand might have made a bigger difference but I don't know if it would be worth buying kevlar unless you upgrade to epoxy. Epoxy is substantially better than Polyester, at least for boats and planes. I used Carbon, kevlar and glass with epoxy when I built my 31ft trimaran performance sailboat. Two years of playing in that stuff was enough for me. Using epoxy and kevlar though would have cost much more money. Probably 5x for the epoxy and 10-20x for the kevlar.

Hey, great job… seriously , that’s impressive … I love when people don’t give up when it gets hard. You did good man, thanks for the demonstration, pretty important to know you can make your own protection considering the current situation with it in your state.

"Weighs as about as much as a fiberglass blanket and a can of resin. Rough estimate." LMAO!

Now I can play Pokémon go safely on the streets of Detroit

The cutting scene alone makes this video worth it.

I love how it went from "and we're gonna see if the AR can defeat it" to everyone wanting to try out the AR.

Dude. Always wear respirator when working with fiber glass!!!

There are countries where body armour is reserved for police and military personnel and common citizens are prohibited owning such things. Thank you for this video. It is very helpful for people in these countries.

Well done, thank you for posting and all the work that this entails!!

Dude, you're psyched! Awesome. I'm 54 and I remember those days. Stay psyched my friend and try not to lose that. Great video.

I came for the builds but I fell in love with the humor.

"... Performs better than a crying actress in a political ad." Insta-liked. Considering subbing. Resuming video...

THANK YOU! You are the only one who shows the results first and then the build!!!

You probably know this by now, but if you spray the plates with mold release, they'll pop off from the resin much more easily. That's how mold-makers get the resin forms to come out of their molds after the resin cures.

quality video edits + quality content + depressed 20 year old = gold

"Were you, or a loved one, diagnosed with mesothelioma?..."

I've been watching your channel since like 2009 or 2010 and I'm glad to see you're still doing stuff.

This is cool. Years ago when I first learned about linothorax I wanted to try making it with modern materials. That's basically what you've done. I would form larger sheets around a torso though, it's light enough.

*PLEASE USE A RESPIRATOR IF ANYONE ATTEMPTS TO MAKE THIS.* Microscopic glass particles in your lungs is NO joke.

Breathing protection isn’t optional, especially with that belt sander lmao

I saw this video years ago but I ran into it again by chance and I had to watch this again... this has always been my favorite ZNA Productions video!

Thanks for sharing your development - people really appreciate your work.

fiberglass, if you're working with it, wet it during cutting or sanding this will reduce dust significantly.

Contact Demolition Ranch and find out how many layers you need to do to stop .50 BMG

That was AWESOME. Thank you for all your hard work.

This is the coolest thing I ever seen in my life. Despite the fact that I could get blown away or attacked by stupid prizes! This video made my day!!

My dude, you should make a v2 of these with some ceramic tile as a layer in there and a face of thin mild steel

I live in Detroit.. I might actually want this..

Your humor is awesome. Thanks for the work you share.

Nice job my friend! You obviously have some good mentors and respectable family members. I love seeing this.

Silicosis ain't no fucking joke kids. Wear your respirator! At least a dust mask would be better than nothing else.

Hong kong protesters: "Write that down write that down!"

I only came here to salute the OG!! You re the real one!!👍👏👏👏👏👏

Great video! May I suggest using a strong adheisive tape over your lines before you cut to reduce fray? I used gaffer tape (the kind they use on movie sets) . It works great on one side but even better if you can apply tape to both side before cutting. You really did a great job with this video!

9:50 FYI, having the resin exposed to air for drying is not necessary as fiberglass resin is a chemical reaction caused by the catalyst you mix into it. No oxygen is required, temperature however is important, if you room is way too cold it may not cure or take FOREVER to cure.

10:00 Resin dies not dry or need air It is a chemical reaction that makes a powerful polymer chain, and is considered plastic. Basically Now ideally like what you did here, and if you found thinner fiberglass to work with, but same dimensions, you would end up with more layers. If you take the weave and offset it, say 45 degrees or what ever flavor you want, use a higher strength resin, and higher clamping form pressure, degas the resin and fiberglass ect, you can surpass your 556 or 223. Just from another maker to another

BADASS!!!!! Nice simple build dude!!! Thx for showing!

I'm sad that so few people fully appreciated the vapor wave moan :(

am I the only one who wants you to make a full set?

You definitely EARNED that vest...that was a great materials plan...but boy oh boy was that a LOT of work !!

What a normal thing to do to show the then tell. Thank you so frickin much for getting straight to it. If only the entire planet could take a note from you

I go to a ghetto ass school and ~80% of the kids live in an area with gang violence or are in a gang, and when I was watching I was just like "wow, imagine how much money I'd make selling these"😂

Word of advice, if you find yourself needing reference plates, there are dummy SAPI plates made of rubber that sell $15-30 per pair

This is actually a great job! It seems that not the hard material but the ones with the highest tensil resistance are the best. Elasticity is also a bonus. To further dissipate the energy I would add a layer of rubber and finally a rigid one made of high resistance steel.

:) Thanks. With a foam under suit and doubling the thickness of the armor, this would be perfect for a post apocalyptic riot suit and shield.

some 1/8th inch plates laminated throughout the sheets (fiberglass, steel, fiberglass pattern) would help with strengthening the armor, 2 or 3 should do the trick, and the first plate would help disperse the bullets energy, reducing penetration with faster rounds.

Someone beat me to it, but rotating each layer so the weave isn't aligned with the last will make it stronger.

Excellent video, I can count my subscriptions on my hands... you earned this one. Cant wait to see what else you have to teach.

If you duct tape over your cut lines before you start cutting out layers, your fibers behave better and you get less fiber wandering around your workspace making you itch.

global pandemic youtube: just in case watch this me: o,o

Like your sense of humor and this is a good project!

it seems to work real good with every thing with a short barrel good job man !

I'm actually amazed at how little deformation there was from that shotgun slug. That actually would have saved your life. With soft body armor, it'll normally turn your ribs into a Claymore, but this was rigid enough to be survivable.

you should make another and send it to demolition ranch to.see which handguns it can stop like 45. acp and 44. Magnum

Featured in Mr. Guns and Gear today my dude!

"Oh my gosh I have a bandsaw" the fact there was footage of the hard way made that sooooo much beter

I like that you showed the results first...that's way no one waste time in a build to find out results aren't what was expected. These exceeds my expectations.

Another youtuber had your link in his video and I decided to see if I could make your body armor except I made a mold of a man’s chest using my CNC due to all the Marvel superhero craze. It worked! I have some photos of it on my FB page, though I haven’t entirely completed it yet. That’s fun!

Brillinat video, really interesting and genuinely funny presenter, + a fantastic idea. All in all a class act.

This guy just made body armor that's resistant to 9mm and all varieties of shotgun ammunition. HOW THE HECK IS SOMEONE NOT GONNA SUBSCRIBE TO THAT?

I would suggest adding 2 layers of crisscrossed Kevlar on the front and 1 layer to the back. The front will help with high velocity expansion and the back will help to capture the expanded round. Great project.

Great video you really got me with the subscribe thing at the end! Lmao first time viewer liked/subscribed! Also love that you show the results first! Brilliant way to fight against clickbait!

If you alternate each layer by 45 degrees, you will get much better performance.

After 3 hours of sawing you remember you have a bandsaw?

the transfer of the Spartan emblem was cool. great vid

I love how in the end you can still see the Spartan imprint on the plate you made.

If you're going to live long enough to enjoy the fruits of your creativity, get some sort of powered air personal respirator ( PAPR ) AND, better yet, also have some sort of point-source dust control from a nearby vacuum nozzle / funnel so those filaments aren't building up in your shop to be blown around and inhaled later by either yourself or whoever you invite in there with you. ____ A mitigating idea among many: Modify / add to your shop vacuum a 2-Stage pre-filtering setup that can be put together for relatively cheap involving a 1st stage bucket-mounted cyclone by Oneida ( obtained at Menards Hardware or other, better built options for ~ $25 online from overseas ) or a correctly built / tuned DIY Thien baffle to precipitate out larger debris into the first of two 5-gallon buckets ( also cheap ) after which the exhaust sequentially travels to a 2nd stage - a cyclonic water capture bucket - which just uses some PVC / plastic plumbing pipe through a second 5-gallon bucket lid and gradual / longer-sweep plumbing elbows totaling less than 90 degrees to ensure the airflow is directed at the water swirling in the bucket to ensure contact ( think of it as a capably-matched, larger version of a drywall sanding wet-capture vacuum bucket collection system but without the restrictive plumbing or poor air flow ) . The exhaust of that 2nd stage would pipe into your shop vacuum which would keep its filter clean for a long time ( $$$ savings ) which enables you the inherent benefit of full vacuum performance all the time from that freely breathing shop vac pleated filter while stage 1 prefiltration bucket is filling to the maximum operational level. Tip : try to add as little volume in the pipework as possible to the system and use rigid, smooth walls of the pipework as opposed to springy and flexible, textured shop vacuum hoses to run the lines up to the connection points from the vacuum up through the 1st stage pre-filter to keep the vacuum from working against turbulence and compression / expansion losses of vibrating flex connections. Value your lungs as much as your creativity. 👌 👍 Carry on that creativity!

Hi man. I saw your video and did the same thing. Didn't look just like your armor due to lack of propper tools, but still managed to stop .32acp, 9, .38sp & .357mag. I'm looking foreward to shooting the .44mag, .45acp and the .500mag I'm from Romania btw, great job doing this video. Much appreciated! God bless!

Glad to have come across this vid, excellent idea and great work!

Awesome Job! You are a Howl! Good sense of humor! Cheers!

How to make body armor. "Well first you gotta get some body armor..." lol

"I'd say it weighs about as much as a fiber-glass blanket, and a cap of resin... Just a rough estimate." LOL

I work with stuff similar to that doing crc floors concrete an fiber glass using probably a similar adhesive that stuff is strong an no doubt that fiber glass sucks getting it on your skin but way worse without a respiratory I had no idea it was bulletproof that’s dope we usually use grinders and sanding disks to knock down the edges cool video bro we might all need one someday

My dad built big bay boats for a long time in our front yard. They were wood and fiberglass. He always used a box cutter to cut the fiberglass and it worked great. It would only fray when he needed to change the blade.

I like the video, but having done all types of graphite work I can tell you that had you used a bondo squeegee and pulled more resin out after saturating it it would’ve been a fair bit stronger. Also if you used alternating directions with the fiberglass so the weave wasnt just stacked up in the same direction would’ve also made some strength difference

A little interesting thing about fiberglass resin is it's 2 parts. The hardener and the resin. It will not take days to dry if mixed properly. I worked at a fiberglass boat factory for a long time in the mold department. We would chop gun and spray a hull in to the mold one day and the very next morning it was getting pulled from the mold and going straight to assembly. The hardener is the catalyst in fiberglass resin and therefore does not actually need air to fully cure. The more hardener you add the hotter it will be which in turn means faster cure time. Nonetheless awesome video man and I really like the 30.00 armor you built. Amazing strength.

Peel ply for a 1st and last layer will make the surface very smooth. It's also easy to cut w a cut off wheel instead of a saw. Get someone to hold a vacuum to the blade to catch most of the dust. Put water in the bottom of your vacuum. Either way what you did was impressive

I've been Subbed for a long time and then YT Unsubbed me for some reason. (It's been happening a lot lately) Anyway, I came over from 1ShotTV and LOVE this Body Armor for DIY'ers! Also the first couple pinned comments are excellent as well. I have LVL 4 from the Army in my IOTV that I didn't give back, and I've purchases 3APlus for my family just in case of TEOTWAKI scenarios. Great video, even MORE relevant NOW than when you MADE it! God Bless brother!

Don’t worry about the bullets the mesothelioma should do the trick on you with all the fiberglass you breathed in

Mad props at your age you're doing great, keep that creative mind working and don't let anyone discourage you, you've successfully turned a welding blanket and a can of resin into something that could legitimately save a life, there's children and young adults all over Chicago and other inner cities around the country in need of something capable of stopping most handgun rounds, if they were to see this it may encourage them to find a way of making one themselves. You never know this video and plate you created could save the life of a child.

If you added the airbag kevlar and a ceramic tile (or hardened steel plate) with some rubberized coating, you would have a somewhat heavy but pretty effective protection.

Superb. Best video I’ve seen in two weeks. There really is hope for America’s youth after all. Well, maybe anyway. 4 Stars

you should send some of your armor plates to Demolition Ranch

You might increase its strength if you change the angles of the threads with each layer

@ZNA : Great job on your project & armour plate. I'd dare suggest a couple tips: >There's (Literally..) a TON of fabrics available on line (eBay ??..) made from aramid (Kevlar) + carbon fiber, that could be used as a couple, (or more..) layers between fiberglass. >Another cheaper source of aramid (Kevlar) source : Used / deployed automotive airbags you'd easily find in totalled cars. Congrats on opening a 'creativity window' of possibilities on this quick growing industry, specially for preppers in a budget!🏆 (Neddless to say I just subbed!!.) 😊🇺🇲💪🙏🙏🙏🙏

Great project! Thank you for sharing. Angle grinder would glide through that glass resin composite. Would also recommend a suitably filtered respirator. That’s shits nasty when airborne.