Lets start with a chastity belt.

There was a customer who had been talking to me for many years about the possibility of me building a custom belt to their design. They assured me that they had been working on this design for 5 years now, felt they finally had it perfected and wanted to come to talk to me about it and commission me to built it for them.

They arrived and it rapidly became apparent that they may have been thinking about it but they certainly had no drawings of it and in fact they borrowed paper and a pencil from me to start making preliminary sketches. Not good.

Much discussion and drinking of tea followed, over the hours it became apparent that they didn’t have the money to buy an ordinary belt let alone a special, that they did know at least in very broad general terms what they wanted, that it was totally insane and in any case was totally beyond the laws of physics at least as currently understood.

The belt was to be made of flexible metal (to conform to body shape), strong, comfortable and secure, okay so far then it just gets weird. No welding can be used it must all be riveted as welding is weak, a hundred years of experience would say that was wrong. If hinges were needed they were to have no hinge mechanism but to be riveted in sections of solid “flexible metal” (don’t ask me I have no idea either)

I kept the discussion going perhaps longer than I should just out of curiosity as to what their deluded mind was going to think of next. Eventually I had to throw them out as they seemed to have no intention of leaving and actually seemed to think this was buildable.

In summary the belt was to be as comfortable to wear as silk, made out of riveted uncutable (how was I supposed to shape it even if it existed) flexible (some fantasy space material from NASA labs perhaps) metal. The waistband was to be 2 inches thick as was the guard and it was to be locked with some some huge industrial padlock that they brought with them probably weighing about 5kg. According to my maths the waistband if made of steel would have been about 26kg almost as much for the guard and then the lock, the belt would have probably weighed about 60kg.

    Taz They arrived and it rapidly became apparent that they may have been thinking about it but they certainly had no drawings of it

    Ah, the old conundrum that every engineer and craftsman knows. I think I posted that in the old thread already, but there are a lot of people out there that think coming up with a product idea is the hard part and everything else is just going through the motions.

        youdontknowme I get a lot of that in software engineering! People think we just flip a switch or, like, tap a button on an iPad and a whole new section of code comes to life.

        Taz, thank you for sharing. It’s an interesting insight into what must have been a very unusual career!

            Taz
            Thanks for share!
            One of the best threads here... And you posted only one message!

              Taz While you're at it, I'd like captured miniature wormhole chastity belt that relocates my genitalia 3 million light years away. (While keeping them connected.*) 🤣

              *This bit is important.

                Saintprudence Pretty much my experience as well. I am more of an ICT engineer, so a bit more hardware tends to be involved, but the easily-underestimated programming remains. Plus with all the EE, not to mention physics and similar natural science stuff, you also quickly spot when a design was done by artists without an engineer's input. "Can we not make the power cord thinner, that would look better." - "Sure, what death do you prefer, electrocution or house fire?"

                • Joh likes this.

                  Taz the belt would have probably weighed about 60kg.

                  this idea alone seems very utopian to me, the belt would weigh more than i would myself 😂

                  thanks for sharing your experiences, some customers are strange, but that always gives you something interesting to talk about. 😉

                  • Taz replied to this.

                      Only one post so far and already I'm finding this thread rivetting. Thanks Taz.

                        The smallest belt we ever made was a variation on the standard FGA/200 female belt. It had a solid metal bar at the back instead of the usual cable a hinged waistband one of only two hinged belts I can remember and no secondary shield. There was a lot of fine, fancy detail that I actually subcontracted to a friend in the jewellery trade. It was supplied with one key. When finished and fitted it was obviously tiny, fitted like a glove, made of solid 9 carat gold it keeps a Barbie Doll chaste.

                          Taz Love the twist at the end. I assume the "lock" is more of a closure with removable, key-shaped actuator? I doubt you can scale a secure lock down to Barbie size.

                          Also, how would Barbie dolls be "kept chaste"? Without genitalia, it is not like there is any unchaste behavior that could be prevented?

                              youdontknowme Also, how would Barbie dolls be "kept chaste"? Without genitalia, it is not like there is any unchaste behavior that could be prevented?

                              I believe this is called "defense in depth" 🤣

                                The whole idea to design a belt without hinges sounds nearly impossible, unless you make it where it snaps together, making it impossible to remove afterwards. Plus, you'd have to consider that adjustments would need to be made in the future between shaping and wearing in various positions. The long-term concern is the weight management of the person, where if they expect to keep this idea plausible, they'd have to live on a strict lifestyle.

                                  youdontknowme Love the twist at the end. I assume the "lock" is more of a closure with removable, key-shaped actuator? I doubt you can scale a secure lock down to Barbie size.

                                  Yes it was but now you have me thinking, I get into more trouble that way. The pins in a standard lock are 0.080 inches diameter (American locks) and the longest of them is 0.195 inches long. The waist of a Mattel Barbie is 3.75 inches so about 1/10 of the average adult female. Therefore lock pins would be 0.008" and max 0.020" long, the springs would be about the same. The body of the lock (not the lock block) would be 0.075". So in European measurements, it would depend on my ability to make pins 0.2mm in diameter and less than 0.5mm in length. Too small for my current machinery but reasonably large by the standards of Swiss watchmaking. Maybe I can find a kinky watchmaker to help me one day.

                                      youdontknowme Also, how would Barbie dolls be "kept chaste"? Without genitalia

                                      I noticed she appeared to be tightly infibulated when I was measuring her.

                                        Raziel The whole idea to design a belt without hinges sounds nearly impossible, unless you make it where it snaps together, making it impossible to remove afterwards.

                                        Steel is bendy, especially in reasonably thin bands. Making such bands in the size of the wearer in question is a different challenge.

                                        Taz The waist of a Mattel Barbie is 3.75 inches so about 1/10 of the average adult female.

                                        Was surprised about that, especially considering Barbie's figure, but it works out realatively well. Volume does scale with the cube of linear dimensions after all.

                                        Taz Too small for my current machinery but reasonably large by the standards of Swiss watchmaking. Maybe I can find a kinky watchmaker to help me one day.

                                        I am not sure proportional scaling addresses all structural concerns, like rigidity, tolerances and lubrication. However, the square-cube law might be in your favor in some of those regards.

                                              Angelina this idea alone seems very utopian to me, the belt would weigh more than i would myself

                                              Yes, the customer may be perfectly sane in the rest of life but when it comes to chastity any sense of reality is just gone. Even back then there were enough online calculators that they could have checked metal density and calculated an approximate mass for the belt. They could just have looked at the padlock they bought and thought this weighs 5kg and the belt will be several times heavier than that. They could even have just put on 6 or 8 adult nappies to simulate the bulk of it to see if they could hide it under clothes. But did they, no.

                                                  Raziel
                                                  I have read about metal with memory effect. After it is bent and retains its shape, you heat it and it goes back to its old shape. It is apparently used as a replacement for discs. So the temperature can't be that high.
                                                  The hip band would be shaped to fit the hip, bent open, put on, heated and it would bend back.

                                                    Taz and no secondary shield

                                                    Just curious what's the percentage of belts without a secondary shield nowadays