Constructing a Basic Spangenhelm Part III
Hang in there, you're almost done!

Here's a finished product, minus final clean/polish of what I'm describing here.
Start with a single bar of 1/4" round. Measure and mark every 1". (If you want a little bit wider gaps, do every 1 1/8". This will leave just under 1" gaps). Cut as many cross members as you need, making sure they're long enough to span the width you need. Make sure they're level and weld them in place (1A). Flatten the very top of the center rod. This will need to fit inside the helm flush for welding later. Curve the crossmembers to the rough curvature you need (1B). Then bend the center-rod into the profile curvature of the face (1C). Now, go back and finish curving the crossmembers. To do this, hold it up to the face of the helm periodically for reference and curve then until the ends run smoothly into the cheek pieces. Trim the excess bar (1C). Now, take a separate piece and bend and cut it until it fits along the edge of the cheekpiece (1D). If everything went perfect, these should all match up. I have yet to have that happen!
For fitting and finish welding, this is what I've done. The pieces should be a fairly close fit using this method. I place duct tape along the cheek pieces. Then, I place the 1/4" rod along the edge and clamp it. I match drill the holes through the rod, into the cheek piece at the bottom, middle point and top of rod (marked with black dots in 1D). Place a 1/8" rivet into the hole, pinning the rod to the cheekpiec and hammer rivet JUST ENOUGH TO HOLD IT IN PLACE!!(sometimes I just tape it from the rear and don't peen them at all.) Now, mask off the helm to avoid welding splatter and tack weld the bottom and top cross members in place. Inspect it afterwards for symmetry/levelness. if everything looks fine, finish tack welding all the rods. When this is done, remove the rivets and pull off the face. Weld it up solid and do any clean up work on the grill while it's off the helm.
Now, after you get the welds smoothed out and the bars smooth. rivet it down to the helm. Go back and drill a few more holes ( for a total of at least 5 on each side like in 1E) and rivet these as well. Don't just peen the rivet, smash it so it expands in the hole for a tight fit. Now, go back and weld the top of the center-rod to the inside of the helm. I run a continuous bead along both sides of the rod. ( You don't ever want this one to come off!) You can also cut this off flush with the uppermost rod. If you don't use a nasal, this will give you a single unobstructed slot to see through. (1F)
Now, to attach a nasal. This is easy. Drill two holes in the top of the nasal piece so it fits as in 1G and 1H. Match drill the helm. 3/8" long rivets should be long enough to go through the helm, base spangen and center grill rod unless you got carried away with welding. The nasal should cover up the seam in the base spangen and make the front look nice and spiffy. You can either spot weld the bottom of the nasal down from the rear or rivet it to the center bar. (flatten out the bar slightly wher you plan on riveting it. This will widen the bar slightly and make it easier.)

SCA-Viking Styled

Here's the finished helm from the first page of the helm construction. This one has the basic goggles. These are pretty easy to do. There are three basic ways: 1.) 1piece Goggles over top/underneath nasal 2.) Two-piece goggles overtop/underneath nasal 3.) Integral nasal and goggles (one or two pieces) The one here is one piece integral.
Make your goggles from posterboard first to get the right dimensions. Now cut it out of steel. For the one piece, I drill a 1/4" hole at the corners then use a jigsaw to cut the rest out and clean it up with files. The other ones can be cut with whatever you used for the rest of the helm and cleaned up with files/grinders.
When doing goggles, remember that nothing is flat. The front of the face is curved/domed just like the other areas of the head. I start by dishing the goggle to the helm panel form. Then flute/crease the center of the nasal(optional). Now you can bend it around the circumference of the front of the helm and mark where you want the rivets to go. Starting with the two in the top of the nasal section, drill, matchdrill helm and rivet down. Now do the same on the two extreme ends of the goggles.
Now, your goggles are firmly held down. Take a large radius ballpeen hammer or other forming instrument of your choice, cover the striking portion in a few layers of masking tape and make the goggle fit the face of the helm. Now go back and drill/rivet down the rest of it. Now obviously it takes a bit more work than this to get it fit right, but this gives you the basic process. Dish it, bend it, whatever it...until it fits fairly good then rivet it down partially and finish fitting it.

Other Options and Notes..

In the first part in the above sections, you can put the crossmembers on the inside or outside of the center bar. I usually put them on the inside so there's a little more nose clearance. Another option is to cut the crossmembers in half and weld them to the center bar. The one in the pic was done this way, but it requires a lot more welding, setup for levelness of bars and cleanup of welds!
This a different way of doing the center bar that can look nice if done right. Take a 1/8" x 3/8" flat bar and curve it to the shape needed. flatten any kinks put in it from bending with a hammer. Drill 1/4 in holes every 1 1/8" down the bar. Slide the crossmembers in. This avoids any welding which has to be cleaned up and looks nice. Be sure to use a center punch to mark your holes! There's no room for error on the hole placement.
Another option of course, is to not use bars at all. Make a vendel style helm front with a 1/2" space around the nasal and either a 1" wide eye cutouts, or larger ones with one bar across them to bring them within specs. This helm of Ulstead's was done like that. These semi-closed helms look really nice when done! On the pattern here, follow the edge of the paper, not the black line, along the bottom section. This was for a fairly small helm so you might need to make it wider. This pic is folded in half along the bottom left edge.	Full Face Pattern
You can also do different bar patterns such as vertical bars on the lower half, or vertical from below the eyes down. It's up to you. Sometimes this will cut down on weight slightly...but not much!
Since many helms had no lower section to them, nothing you add will be period. You can drape chainmail or leather around the skirting and face to give a nice touch. I don't have any pics of my own of this.

For more explicit instruction, feel free to email me.
Halter@trinity.tamu.edu

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