Awesome Paracord Belt by Para-Cord-Belts
The only negative on this belt is not the belt itself, but the buckle. The buckle is a simple version of a military style belt buckle, a functional style that I generally prefer. But after a few days I found that the belt buckle dug into my belly.
Now, I certainly could have gone out and bought another buckle, but where is the fun in that?
I first removed the buckle from the belt, and then with a pair of needle nose pliers I carefully bent the tabs outward and removed the strap grip. After that, I used my handy bench vise to bend the tabs most of the way around to the other side. Then, I put the strap grip back in place and bent the tabs the rest of the way with the needle nose pliers. Be careful on the orientation! The claws on the strap grip should face toward the buckle when in the open position.
Now that the tab bending operation was complete, I had another problem. The top part of the buckle could not fasten since the strap grip was now in the way. This sounds like a job for Dremel man! After changing into my super gear of gloves and some eye protection, I first used a scribe for lines on each of the sides of the decorative lip. I then clamped the buckle in my vise between two small pieces of sacrificial wood and went to work with my Dremel and cut off wheel. This gave me two cuts into the face of the buckle that I used to scribe the face cut. After remounting the buckle I lightly went over the line with the cutoff wheel.
To do this kind of task where any miss will be incredibly evident, make sure to get your hands in a position where you can slowly lower and raise the Dremel. You need to be able to rest your elbow or wrist on something solid for this to work. Then when you are ready, start on the center of the work, lowering the Dremel until you feel initial contact and no further. Maintain this height as you trace the scribe line on both sides. Try not to raise the wheel out of the groove, it becomes very hard to get back in the right spot with a running Dremel. So now that you are still in the groove and the initial line has been cut on both sides, move back to the center of the groove and then lower the cutting wheel a little more and repeat the process until you are all the way through. Practice makes perfect!
To finish the project, I took a sanding cylinder and removed the rough edges and remaining burrs left from the cutting process. The same rules apply here about keeping your work and your hands steady. One slip and you will mar the finish, but the sanding wheel is generally easier to keep in control. Once that was complete, I put on a buffing wheel and gave the buckle a nice polish.
Now, I certainly could have gone out and bought another buckle, but where is the fun in that?
I first removed the buckle from the belt, and then with a pair of needle nose pliers I carefully bent the tabs outward and removed the strap grip. After that, I used my handy bench vise to bend the tabs most of the way around to the other side. Then, I put the strap grip back in place and bent the tabs the rest of the way with the needle nose pliers. Be careful on the orientation! The claws on the strap grip should face toward the buckle when in the open position.
Now that the tab bending operation was complete, I had another problem. The top part of the buckle could not fasten since the strap grip was now in the way. This sounds like a job for Dremel man! After changing into my super gear of gloves and some eye protection, I first used a scribe for lines on each of the sides of the decorative lip. I then clamped the buckle in my vise between two small pieces of sacrificial wood and went to work with my Dremel and cut off wheel. This gave me two cuts into the face of the buckle that I used to scribe the face cut. After remounting the buckle I lightly went over the line with the cutoff wheel.
To do this kind of task where any miss will be incredibly evident, make sure to get your hands in a position where you can slowly lower and raise the Dremel. You need to be able to rest your elbow or wrist on something solid for this to work. Then when you are ready, start on the center of the work, lowering the Dremel until you feel initial contact and no further. Maintain this height as you trace the scribe line on both sides. Try not to raise the wheel out of the groove, it becomes very hard to get back in the right spot with a running Dremel. So now that you are still in the groove and the initial line has been cut on both sides, move back to the center of the groove and then lower the cutting wheel a little more and repeat the process until you are all the way through. Practice makes perfect!
To finish the project, I took a sanding cylinder and removed the rough edges and remaining burrs left from the cutting process. The same rules apply here about keeping your work and your hands steady. One slip and you will mar the finish, but the sanding wheel is generally easier to keep in control. Once that was complete, I put on a buffing wheel and gave the buckle a nice polish.
Tune in next week, Same Dremel Channel, Same Dremel Time!
