Nah, the chainmaille isn't exhausting me. right now it's the army.
Okay, I used up all I had for the correct ring size. Here's what we've got.
175 rings per foot.
70 minutes per foot.
Note, always overshoot ring count by about 5% due to variations in color, miscut rings, and slips of my pliers (scratching off the anodization)
These rings come in packs of 250 at $5.05 a pack.
now, for a 6 foot cable we'll do the math here.
1050 rings for 6ft cable, add some for a cushion 5 packs for a 6ft cable. = $25
70 minutes per foot, 10 dollars per hour. 6 times 1h 10m equals 7 hours. = $70
Estimate cost for cable makers time and materials = $30 (rough estimate)
Total: $125 before shippingNote, I haven't talked in depth about cost for cable. We wont know until we find out how much extra work it takes to terminate the armor, and finish the cable. This cost may rise or fall as we get the prototype complete.
And for a 4 ft cable:
700 rings, 3 packs at $5 each = $15
70m per foot, 4 hours, 40 minutes. (4.6 hours) = $45
Cable cost (same amount of time and work no matter cable length) = $30
Total: $90 before shipping6 or 4 ft cable with 2ft armor:
350 rings = 2 packs = $10
2hr 20m of work = $25
Same amount of cable work = $30
Total = $65 before shippingNow, the more rings and supplies we buy, the more we save from TRL. They provide price breaks based on total amount in cart, so colors and even pliers all help for us to meet some of the higher price breaks (keep in mind they supply for people like the guys that made the armor for Lord of the Rings movies, so they get some huge orders) the price breaks are pretty far apart, and don't make a huge difference. We're working with a cheap material, we probably will only hit the first price break. This price break, however, should be enough to cover shipping -to me- and from there, I'll make all 6 armors, and then mail them to be cablemade. And will be mailed individually from there. If you'd like to pay some extra to be moved to the front of the line, and be mailed separately, and before the rest, we can work that out, but it'll be cheaper to mail 'em all together.
For kits, We're looking at for a 6 ft cable:
6.15 per plier = $12.30 (these are great if you plan on doing chainmaille for awhile, and I WHOLEHEARTEDLY SUGGEST that if you plan on doing this entire cable yourself, you get these, or at the VERY LEAST another set of spring loaded, flat nosed pliers.)
Same amount of rings = $25
Instructions and my time = I don't know, yet. 15 bucks? 10? You tell me what you'd like to pay for that.
Total: ~55 before shipping and cable kit
4 ft armor kit
Pliers = 12.30
Rings = 15
instructions = 15
Total: ~40 or 45
And now, on to pictures!
Close up!
Full shot (potato)
Bend radius. It is capable of a comfortable 3 inch bend.
Purple cable, with seafoam green rings. A good example of how well the cable shows through the rings. I think it's turning out quite well. I'll be proud to have this hanging off my keyboard. The first final product, my own cable, will be black and seafoam.
Any questions? Anything I forgot to add?
What d'you think?