Iron Man: Mark III - 3D Printed

Yeah it was a lot of trial and error to figure out the best way to do it. Now that I have it worked out its not too bad, just a little tedious. I'm sure I could it do it even faster if I knew all the little tools that are available in Max. I pick up a lot of little tricks from the artists at work.


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A little update, I printed off the fins for the forearm. For now they're just taped on. They're designed as 3 separate pieces for when I get the rocket launcher mechanism finished. Slowly but surely the arm is moving along.

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I managed to get a little bit more work done. I've been spending most of my time designing how the rocket launcher mechanic will work. I figured no reason to stall the printer though while I finish working on that design.

I had to split the bicep into two pieces because my build platform isn't big enough to print the whole thing vertically, the added benefit of doing it this way is I don't have to print any support material. The bicep is connected to the forearm through a hinge which I also 3d printed. The hinge right now is just held in place with tension, I'll glue it all in when everything's finished. The elbow piece will snap on to the nubs in the middle of the hinge which are sticking out. You can see part of the elbow that I have printed connected in a couple of the pictures.

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I've gotten quite a bit done since my last post.

I have the full arm printed as well as most of the hand. It turned out great. I'm slowly working through sanding and priming of the arm.

I've also started working on the arc reactor. I reworked it so its a thinner design. It'll stick out a bit more than I'd like it on my chest but it'll be worth it to have a removeable arc reactor. The 3d printer has been having a tough time with the smaller parts. I think it's partially a filament problem though. Hopefully I can hide those flaws with a little filling and sanding.

Big thanks to Cad110 for providing a great starting point for my arc reactor and to jason_ehl for his awesome build thread, so much good arc reactor reference in there.

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Wow buddy, don't know how I missed this thread! Great to see your amazing MRK III files being printed.(y)thumbsup I have found from my own experience of trying to finish any 3d printed parts, that they don't finish well by sanding them. It produces tiny little fibrous bits of plastic that can be seen as soon as you hit the part with primer. I use a body glaze (non shrinking) to fill in the stepping in the print then give the part a light sand, works for a very smooth finish.
Once again great work "subscribed"
 
Thanks Surreal! I was starting to think noone was interested in this build!

I've been having really good results with wood filler on the parts. I rub a thin layer of the filler on the part. Sand that down. Hit the piece with a primer and repeat. I haven't had any problems with sanding the parts but it might depend on what material they're printed in. I like to use PLA I find it less finicky then ABS and I'm not sure what material the commercial printing services use like shapeways.

I got some more of the rocket launcher printed last night. I'm really happy with how it's turning out.
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Wow! Just found this thread as I'm looking to get a printer and print my next IM suit. I did my first in foam and it was such a PITA.

Do these printers run on G & M code like CNC machines?

Also, if I go lazy, are all the files available to print all the parts needed to complete the suit?
 
Hey Reedy26, most of the 3d printers run off of G-code. As for the files being available, the ones I'm printing are all custom based on my pep model. A few of the parts like the hands and the arc reactor are custom models based off of freely available models that are out there.
 
Ah hell, you KNOW I'm interested in this build, but I'm following you on Facebook. :)

Since we're on the subject... long term, are you planning on selling any of this in any form (pep, stl, completed pieces)? After two years, I'm about to pick up my Mark III again.
 
Hahah thanks Charlie, I know there's a fair bit of interest on the facebook page and I appreciate all the people following on there. There just hasn't been a lot of posting in here. Clearly I need to post more pictures!

I do plan on selling the arms and reactor once I've got the initial ones finished. I'm kind of treating this one as a prototype to get all the elements of it figured out. I've already found a couple flaws in the joints that I'm going to fix up. As far as price point though I don't have an idea yet or if I'll offer raw pieces as well as finished pieces. I'll wait to see what the interest is. The advantage to being 3d printed though is that I can customize each one to the buyers measurements.
 
HI DF,iam 3D printing a mark 3 too but i am having troubles with the hands , it seems that 3D model that i have can not be printed because when i generate the gcode it look like a mess , and i cant print it , i extracted the model from the zabanas files , i hope you can give me some advice to solve this problem.
 
Hi Chamuco,

I can't give you a ton of advice. I wound up applying a shell modifier in max and then modeling the inner hand mostly myself because of all the interpenetrations.

There is a free model on thingiverse though that's sliceable. It had a couple things I didn't love but it's definitely printable as is.


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Another update, the sanding / finishing process is going really well. My fingers are a little numb from all the sanding I've been doing the last couple of days! I think as long as I keep going at this pace I should be finished the arm for next next Saturday's fan expo.

Surreal's advice was really on the mark about how to finish pieces. I started off just applying filler to everything and then sanding the pieces down and I didn't really seem to be getting anywhere. So I switched over to just applying a little bit of filler at a time and working that area and I'm getting much better results. You really start to get into a zone after a while sanding these pieces.

Here's a picture of the arc chamber I'll be sewing into my shirt and a picture of all the pieces in their current state.

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The countdown to the 19th is on. Most of the pieces are ready for the final primer before painting. I'm hoping to start wiring the electronics this weekend in between coats of paint.

Here's my progress on the arc reactor. It needs a bit of sanding and I haven't rolled the copper wire or glued anything in place but I am so happy with the results so far.
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Excited to see the tank missile housing working. I've been waiting on functional shoulder and forearm missile housings forever. Like to see what you come up with and KNOW that I've got money in the bank with your name on it. ;)
 
Thanks Charlie, I picked up some smaller servos today. The first ones I bought turned out to be way too big. I'll be trying to get it all working this weekend. In theory it should work. I've tested all the mechanics by hand. I just hope the new little servos have enough torque.

The final suit ( when I get there ) should have functional shoulder and hip missiles as well as I'd like to have all the flaps working in the back and legs.
 
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