Last night I was just walking around the house getting usual stuff done and I felt a snap on my belt somewhere but I couldn't tell at first where. I checked all around until I realized the rear cable was no longer attached to the back of the belt! The rear plate that inserts into the slot on the back of the waistband had snapped right over one of the screw holes that attaches it to the cable. Of course I had to remove the belt as its too difficult to wear. Today I decided to see if there was a way I could fix it and I came up with something. Rather than copying the original exactly in terms of dimensions, I used thicker 2mm stainless plate, I had a small piece left over from a project. I first had to flatten out the original plate so I could copy the pattern. When I cut mine out with the cutting wheel, I made the area around the mounting holes bigger. This way I have not only thicker steel but also wider around the point of failure on the original. After drilling the holes, it took me several hours of grinding, filing, sanding and hammering to get the desired shape that would fit the belt. Its crude, but very functional and I am glad to be back in my belt again. Here's a couple pics:
Nice fix jchar! I have this same issue with one of my modules… it broke recently just like yours. I’m pretty handy and was wanting to make the entire piece stronger and fit better into the slot on the back of the hipband. Also like yours I want to make the cut out holes on the sides bigger to fit on the pins better. The only other change I am going to make is to make the rear thong piece with a stainless steel rod instead of the cable…also like yours. Now I just need to go find a piece of thicker stainless steel plate. Thanks for posting this!
Thanks! I was really worried I would be waiting weeks or months to order a new one. Yes the stainless rod (4mm) was a huge upgrade for me. I made connectors on either end out of 6mm OD x 4mm ID stainless tubing. I crimped it onto either end of the rod by making a small notch on the rod and then tapping it from the outside with a concrete chisel to indent into the notch. The 2mm plate I used for the attachment was about the maximum you can fit into the slot on the waistband, and now the whole thing fits well, I used to hear a click sound periodically before where the plate would shift in the slot. This one is about as snug as you can get, it doesn't move at all so no more annoying click that someone might hear and wonder. I need to clean up and polish the new plate but after working several hours need to be done for the day so I'll work on it when I get a chance.