I wanted to share some info about the modifications I've made to my Protector knock off of the Neosteel Arch. I have a Neosteel Fun on order, and am currently using this cheap belt to help me train for wearing a belt full time. My wife is assisting me with the training by holding my accountable to have the belt installed by a certain time of day and she holds the keys during that time. I am about to start training by wearing the belt overnight and moving the "break time" to the afternoon/evening. I will see if I can upload pictures when I have the belt off so some of the modifications I've done make more sense. First off, I don't think this belt is suitable for full-time wear out of the box (even if you are already accustomed to wearing a full belt 24/7). I had to make many modifications to mine, I even made my own waistband because the one they sent was so small even on the widest setting it was incorrect. I gave up trying to get them to send me the correct size, so I made my own out of sheet metal and painted it since the metal isn't stainless and can rust. I am considering making another out of thicker stainless, which I could potentially wear without the silicone liner but for now have not done that. The main reason for this belt right now is practice, so when I get the Neosteel I doubt I will use this one much if at all unless the Neosteel has a problem. One thing to keep in mind, and its an issue with all of these chinese belts is that the waistbands are made of thin sheetmetal, all it would require is a few seconds with a pair of tin snips to destroy - of course it would be impossible to hide this from your keyholder but it is a consideration. For training purposes, I am fine with this. Once I found the right adjustment for the belt, I replaced the screws in the back with steel rivets, these are extremely difficult to remove without having the belt off so theres no way I can remove it without my wifes knowledge. Security wise, it isn't. The belt is secured by a cheap luggage lock which can almost effortlessly be pried open with a screw driver. I modified the locking post on mine so that I could fit better quality luggage locks on, but even good ones are easy to break, they are just too small. While of course, my wife would know that I had escaped, I wanted something more or at least where it would require damaging the belt. So I had another cheap belt that uses one of those locking plates like the CS100 uses, and is locked in place by a 7mm cylinder lock. I was able to modify the protector belt to use this plate lock which is now far more secure. HOWEVER I also discovered that the cheap Chinese cylinder lock can be opened by my holy trainer key and actually many other keys of similar design could open it. So I was able to source I higher quality one made by Burg-Wachter - its the 7mm E 7/2 SB (Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WT8U5CY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). This lock should, hopefully, only open with the correct keys but it has not arrived yet as its being shipped from Amazon UK. I also have some ideas for how a security seal could be used with this belt, but I have not made that additional modification yet. Part of the challenge is that right now this is my only usable belt and so I have to make modifications while the belt is not being worn, but I am also sticking to the training schedule. Rear cable - I made my own. The various rear designs on these belts are not impressive, so I did a little research and hit up Lowes and Home Depot looking for some ideas. The one I made uses red coated dog leash cable crimped on either end by stainless steel capillary tubing (6mm x 4mm) and then I found 4mm ID silicone tubing made for cars so it looks very similar to a Neosteel cable. I will try to make a complete guide on how I did this and got an almost exact fit sometime, but it was a huge upgrade over the garbage that came with the belt. I am considering making a rigid rear strap out of a single long piece of capillary tubing, but I am not solder that it would be a big upgrade in comfort for me, the current cable setup I have is working pretty well. I've also had to do quite a bit of work on the tube as the breathing holes where not chamfered so they had sharp edges, there was also a very sharp kind where the tube bends which I spend a lot of time grinding out smooth. This was mostly spending hours with the Dremel tool wearing out several bits in the process, I then coated the tube in a black epoxy which I need to strip and redo as I didn't properly prep the surface so there are spots where it did not adhere very well and it looks terrible right now. This did make a HUGE difference in the comfort of the tube. As I mentioned, I will try and share some pics and additional info later when I am allowed to remove the belt. Take care, Jchar
Going through the list, Waist band. I am still using the original although I have rivetted the two halves together at the correct size for me, avoids the nuts poking into underwear. Pad lock. I ground the recess in the locking post deeper and wider so it takes a larger and better quality padlock using a grinding wheel in my Dremel. I am also using part of a thick washer between the padlock and the waistband to keep the tube on the mounting pegs. There was a bit of a detail on the washer to pack things out on the large Protector thread. Rear cable. I made my own from some 3mm stainless steel cable covered with a 4mm nylon tube because the nylon tube is very smooth and impervious compared to some plastics. I made up some spade fittings from 3mm ID x 4mm OD stainless tube and crimped them onto the cable. Some adhesive heat shrink seals the ends of the nylon tube to the fittings. This is then rivetted to the waistband and tube. Tube. Same as you, tidied up some of the holes and ground out the smallest radius corner in the tube. It is comfortable now and I can wear it overnight and get a good nights sleep.
Yep that's the one! I forgot to take pictures while I had the belt off today, I will try to remember when I am allowed to remove it tomorrow. I have another mod planned for the tube, I am going to strip crappy finish I did and use a tool that should allow me to sand the inside of the tube better. Then I am going to use a different type of epoxy to paint the entire thing. I will post more on that hopefully this weekend if I get to do it. @castmenow Thanks for sharing you modifications. Sounds like you did several similar mods to mine, these belts can work if you aren't afraid to work on them!