3D Printed Iron Man Mark VII - WIP

Hi all,

Hey everyone! Yes, it's yet another Iron Man Mk VII build WIP thread! This time,I'm taking a slightly different angle on building my suit.

Yes,I've been cranking away at pepakura, stinking up the place with resin and bondo (don't worry, I'm using the proper protection!), and sanding for hours onend, BUT Idecided why not try my hand at 3D printing some of these pieces?

darkside501st has graciously granted me permission to experiment with his Mark VII version 1 files to modify for printing. I will say up front that I have agreed to not share these files, so please don't pressure me to do so.

EDIT - I apologize for forgetting to include one very important fact on this post - the helmet file is not Darkside's. He did not make a V1 file for the helmet. I am experimenting with @omarbou1 's fantastic helmet file to learn and (hopefully) perfect the process of moving from a model in Blender to a 3D printed object. My apologies to anyone who was confused about this in any way. I'm not trying to claim anyone's work as my own or "steal" any files. (That's what I get for posting after midnight....) Thanks to omarbou1 for granting permission for me to continue using his file!

What I will do is post videos and photos and talk about my successes, failures, and lessons learned. I'll do the best I can to answer questions and help out when I can. I do work full time, own a business, etc, so I'm pretty busy. That said, I'll update here as often as I can.

I know these new threads are usually pretty lonely at first, but I'll keep on posting until I've got enough valuable content out there to start getting people to engage. I'm looking forward to sharing and helping out, as well as getting feedback from you all.

Without further ado - here is my first update video on my adventures in 3D Printing my Mk VII helmet!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcS3SSyRxmE

**NOTE - I'll update this first post with links as I go so new and relevant content is up front. **

I'm also working on getting a better quality mic, improving the quality of the capture, making an awesome intro, etc.

Really informative video. Thanks for taking the time to share.

Neat! I love how detailed these are. Subscribed!

~LK

Great video! I've been really wondering about how 3d printing was working for people. What printer are you using?

Also, how difficult did you find it getting in to 3d printing. I've heard a lot of frustrated reviews from new printers.

ShaunDark80 said:

Really informative video. Thanks for taking the time to share.

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Thanks, ShaunDark80 I appreciate it. I hope it comes out half as good as your builds!

Lexikitty said:

Neat! I love how detailed these are. Subscribed!

~LK

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Thanks, Lexikitty ! I've got several more videos in work. I think talking about my failures will be just as (if not more) valuable as talking about what's working. Specifically - the hands I've printed. Stay tuned!

IronMeg said:

Great video! I've been really wondering about how 3d printing was working for people. What printer are you using?

Also, how difficult did you find it getting in to 3d printing. I've heard a lot of frustrated reviews from new printers.

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Thanks, IronMeg The 3D printer is one I built myself. It is based off the RepRap derivative MendelMax. The body was further modified by someone and called the T-Max (due to it's inverted T-shape design). This one is the "T-Max 2.0." I put it together as part of a build group at my local makerspace, Nova Labs. It's basically a 24V RAMPS 1.4, with an E3D v5 hotend and a heated build plate. So far I've printed in ABS and PLA with a 0.4mm nozzle and have been pretty successful. I'm planning an upgrade soon to a dual E3D v6 setup so I can print two materials at the same time.

It wasn't too frustrating to get set up. The key is making sure the configuration.h file is set up correctly in the Marlin firmware, and then fine-tuning everything (bed leveling, PID testing, stepper motor testing, etc). It is easy to want to jump right in and start printing, but this isn't an inkjet.

Thanks for the info, it is definitely an amazing technology. I hope to get to use one some time in the near future!

hey man !
where did you get the file ? because i am pretty sure i modeled it...

omarbou1 said:

hey man !
where did you get the file ? because i am pretty sure i modeled it...

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Says in the first post it's Darkside's files.

omarbou1 said:

hey man !
where did you get the file ? because i am pretty sure i modeled it...

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HI omarbou1! Yes, actually the helmet file is yours. Several months ago you posted something about wanting to see your files printed, so I started experimenting with them. I really hope you don't mind. Everyone I've told about my 3D Printing experiments knows that it is your file, unfolded by Gimpee. I apologize for forgetting to mention in the first post that the helmet is your file. :-/ I'm correcting that now.

If you don't want me to use it for my experiments, then I won't. I'm definitely not trying to steal your files or take any kind of credit. I also am not sharing the files.

GhostMinion said:

Says in the first post it's Darkside's files.

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Actually @GhostMinion, I forgot to mention that the helmet was @omarbou1 's file. Darkside did not make a V1 helmet, and Omarbou's model is great. I needed something that was the same proportions as the helmet I pepped and built (i.e., same width of ear cup also means same width of faceplate) to test out dimensional accuracy against my handbuilt helmet (which is Darkside's V2 pep.).

I hope this clears up any confusion!

Yikes man!

Yeah, you gotta give credit were it's due......

GhostMinion said:

Yikes man!

Yeah, you gotta give credit were it's due......

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Yes, absolutely! This thread is not helmet-specific, as I've been working on modding/printing other pieces as well. I definitely did not intend to withhold any credit at all. :-/

I'd like to thank omarbou1 for graciously granting me permission to continue to use his helmet file to learn and share my processes. I'll be posting a short video soon where I go through smoothing a piece while still maintaining the sharp edges where they should be. Lexikitty was a huge help while I was figuring that out!

Hi folks! Here is a quick video I just shot going through the process of smoothing a piece of the helmet in Blender and creasing the edges that I wanted to remain sharp. I'm slicing it for printing now, and I'll have another quick video once that's wrapped up.

Great video on smoothing parts but how do you set the shell thickness in blender? Maybe video in future I hope, nice work so far!

joonbug1 said:

Great video on smoothing parts but how do you set the shell thickness in blender? Maybe video in future I hope, nice work so far!

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Great idea, thanks! I'll do a Two Minute Tip video on just how to do that. I'll try to get one up tonight if I can.

joonbug1 said:

Great video on smoothing parts but how do you set the shell thickness in blender? Maybe video in future I hope, nice work so far!

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Hey joonbug1! Here is my latest video, hot off the press! I hope it answers your question. Subscribe to my channel for more updates. Thanks!

Thanks ferrous your awesome, I'll check out video after work. Im going to try and follow your directions and see how it goes for me and yes, I will subscribe! Thanx

HI i just subscribed to your thread, thanks for the tutorials!! are you going to share the files??

chamuco110 said:

HI i just subscribed to your thread, thanks for the tutorials!! are you going to share the files??

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Hi chamuco110 and thanks for subscribing. I am happy to share any files that I create myself. Unfortunately I cannot share the files I've shown above because I did not create them and do not have permission to share them. I'll be posting more updates over the weekend, so stay tuned!

Hey ferrous I tried a bicep obj file and followed your shell thickening tutorial and it came out horrible, not sure why but I'll keep tinkering with it. Hows your project coming along so far?