How to Make AMAZING Bullet Resistant Armor for $30 

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 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

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.

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.

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

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!

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

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

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.

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

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

The cutting scene alone makes this video worth it.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

When he said, "Oh my gosh, I have a bandsaw," after relentlessly handsawing.... I felt that.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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!

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!

Featured in Mr. Guns and Gear today my dude!

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Hey buddy, that’s outstanding. Keep up the good work pretty soon. We will all be needing one. Good job.

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

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.

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.

:) 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.

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.

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

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

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"😂

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

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

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.

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

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.

the transfer of the Spartan emblem was cool. great vid

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

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

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

Ay yooo. Mrgunsngear brought me here 😉

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.

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

I was yelling to use the band saw the whole time. Great video. When the world ends I'm going to equip my marauding minions with this armor.

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.

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

"Whoever sent me this heater... *AWKWARD FRAME SHOT* thanks"

Fantastic work! So all i need to make an armor plate is a fiberglass blanket, a can of resin, and two other armor plates. Remarkable.

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

Great job,amazing job👍

I love it good job I do RV body work and paint to fiberglass all the time recommend cutting with several sharp razor blades while it's still moist and flexible keep up the good work I'll look at you again FLO jay from Florida.

Okay, I laughed at the "I stopped it" part

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

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

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

“What I gonna do?” “Oh my gosh! I have a band saw!” Me: really? 😂

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!

That worked out really well, thanks for showing this, you put a lot of work into that! I'm a new subscriber.

Great job my friend.great idea too.I got a good laugh out of it.fiberglass sucks to work with but sometimes a man's gotta do what a mans gotta do.

At first watch your vids are perfectly informative and entertaining. And better $30 armor than none. At one time had an old Second Chance vest from 1978 that I bought when they first came out, I really don't know why. But thank goodness never needed, since I'm still here somehow. Old as I am I doubt I'd ever put on any kind of vest. if somebody's shooting at me for any reason I assume I've had it and I'm about done with this mortal coil.