Daft Punk Thomas Discovery Era Build V1 (Style “A” Ears, Gauntlets and other things)

[insultcomicdog]

2014/2015 is the year we’re FINALLY starting to see canon electronic builds (discolights, slinkytrips). It’s an exciting time to be a Daft builder. I’ve been building my own Daft Punk Thomas Discovery Era Helmet over the past year in my spare time, and finally have some bits and pieces I’d like to share.

I think we’ve all wanted to try a helmet build after seeing Volpin’s log, but the thing that really pushed me to act was Tekparasite’s method for building the electronics. The CHEAP cost of entry for this method (hacked Sure electronics matrix) is too irresistible not to try.

My build is a mash of Volpin’s, Tekparasite’s methods and new design mixed with modern digital fabrication methods (3D Printing) and tech (NeoPixels).

The pepakura helmet is a based on Bruno Osti’s model. Bruno helped with the Discovery ear silhouette and smoothing out the facets of my 3D models.

Agent Raybans has been an great resource, especially when it came to identifying the different styles of Discovery Era ears pucks and gauntlets.

I learned a lot from Crank729’s build about building a pepakura helmet. His build points out some geometries that are easy to mess up if you’re not careful. The flat steps on the top and bottom of the visor and the small triangles on the visor tips are details that can easily get lost under bondo if you’re not careful.

http://www.therpf.com/f24/thomas-bangalter-daft-punk-helmet-build-v2-157320/

Thanks everyone for sharing your tips and info.

I won’t dwell too much on and Volpin’s and Tekparasite’s methods, since they’re already well documented and you can look them up yourself.

http://volpinprops.blogspot.co.nz/2011/09/daft-punk-helmet-thomas-final.html

http://www.therpf.com/f9/daft-punk-thomas-helmet-skipped-few-chapters-112750/



If you want to see my matrix and temple EQ builds they are here:

https://vimeo.com/95632283

My matrix is modular and can be separated from the PCBs via headers. This is useful for maintenance and also if I want to swap in another matrix with different colours (Tron style?).

https://vimeo.com/100767340

The temple EQs have removable lenses, so you can have custom colours. The shrouds are lined with reflective tape and filled with magic erasers to maximize light diffusion.

In this thread I’ll try and focus on novel approaches to building Discovery style ear pucks and the gauntlets.

In my next post I show what I learned about the differences between the two styles of Discovery ears and V1 of my Discovery Style “A” ears build log.

 

[NathansPROPS]

Re: Daft Punk Thomas Discovery Era Build V1 (Style “A” Ears, Gauntlets and other thin

Congrats on your build thread friend! Cant wait to see your progress of your discovery Thomas helmet and gauntlets! I hope the template helps you in your build!

 

[insultcomicdog]

Re: Daft Punk Thomas Discovery Era Build V1 (Style “A” Ears, Gauntlets and other thin

Here’s a little background information and reference photos I picked up from Agent Raybans and Bruno Osti on the Daft Club forums. The Discovery Era helmets had two different type of ear pucks. The main difference was the positioning of the smaller light ring.


The version I’m working on, which is what we’ll refer to as “Style A”, looks like this:





The Discovery ‘Lite’ Era helmets with the narrow LED matrix display, had a smaller light ring that was visible when looking at it from the front. In the “Style A” ear pucks, the smaller light ring can only be seen from the side, and is inset.




Traditionally prop builders lathe the ear pucks from MDF and cast them in resin. I’m don’t own a lathe and have no experience casting with resin yet. I decided to 3D print the ears on my Prusa i3. The original silhouette of the ear was modeled by Bruno Osti. I remodeled it into individual parts that could be 3D printed and house the transparent light disks. I considered acetone vapor method to finish them, but ended up using Bondo putty, spray filler primer and sanding to get the finish I need for casting and chrome.

Here's the build log of V1 of my Discovery Style “A” ears:

https://vimeo.com/111584461

In my next post I'll show molding and casting of my Discovery Style “A” ears.

 

[insultcomicdog]

Re: Daft Punk Thomas Discovery Era Build V1 (Style “A” Ears, Gauntlets and other thin

The V1 Discovery Style “A” ears were cast with Smooth-Cast 300 using a one-part mold for the outer shell, and two two-part molds for the centre concave part and base. The centre piece was the trickiest to cast without bubbles because of the 90 degree inner stand offs. My only issues with the base was that the mold took a long time to fill (almost 3 mins!!) which doesn't help with a 3 min pot life. I thought I would have to switch to a slower curing resin, but was able to fill the mold eventually by reducing mix time. If I were do to it again, I would remove the floor from the base and cast the base and floor separately using one part molds. The only cleanup for any of these three parts is a single seam line on the base. These parts have walls that are 5mm thick.

https://vimeo.com/114938329

In my next post I'll show my V2 Discovery Style “A” ears. I remodeled, reprinted, remastered, and re cast my ears to allow for subdivisions in the inner and outer light disks.

 

[insultcomicdog]

Re: Daft Punk Thomas Discovery Era Build V1 (Style “A” Ears, Gauntlets and other thin

After studying the original ear pcbs with discolights, we determined the inner and outer light rings were segmented into eight different sections.

View attachment 472757

There are different approaches to segmenting the light disks. I ended up modifying the original model. It has four more locking supports for the inner core, increasing the inner disk segmentation to eight. I made an option insert for the outer ring, which blocks the light. The light disks were originally laser cut from acrylic and PETG. I ended up molding and casting the disks with Smooth-Cast 326. It took several days for the disks to cure because they were so thin. This ear pucks are smaller than my V1 ears, with a diameter of 88mm and height of 61mm. They are secured with screws, and can be disassembled for maintenance and further modding.

https://vimeo.com/126658264

In my next post I'll show something fun I made for Halloween using my WIP Thomas matrix.

 

[insultcomicdog]

Re: Daft Punk Thomas Discovery Era Build V1 (Style “A” Ears, Gauntlets and other thin

Daft Pumpkin Jack-O-Lantern – All You Do Is Put It Together

Last Halloween I re-purposed a discarded fibreglass visor chassis that was lying around. All of my electronics and code had been complete for a while so the most work would involve fitting everything into the visor. Since I started building the electronics first, I was never sure if it would all fit into the helmet. Daft Pumpkin was only going to live for a couple hours, so there was a lot less pressure give it a high level of finish.

There were two rules for this project:
1) There is no budget for this build, so materials were limited to found items only.
2) I would only have one evening to work in this project.

https://vimeo.com/127411828

In my next post I'll show my progress on the functional and wearable Discovery gauntlets.

 

[insultcomicdog]

Re: Daft Punk Thomas Discovery Era Build V1 (Style “A” Ears, Gauntlets and other thin

Here are some reference photos and progress shots on my functional Discovery gauntlets. You can control all leds, fans, music and vocoder sounds in my helmet with the gauntlets.













https://instagram.com/p/7fsnuOmDW8/

https://instagram.com/p/57RI1UmDRJ/

https://instagram.com/p/4ZsmlgmDed/





https://instagram.com/p/9bu0bWGDfb/

https://instagram.com/p/9hvBZ7mDfi/

 

[insultcomicdog]

Re: Daft Punk Thomas Discovery Era Build V1 (Style “A” Ears, Gauntlets and other thin

We at Calrissian Industries understand how important safety and security is for your droid. When combined with a restraining bolt, the Daft Punk Discovery gauntlets are an effective solution to limit your BB-8’s functions and enforce its obedience. We’ve redesigned the gauntlets from the inside out, borrowing cues from battle tested Mandalorian armor. Custom book hinges can be completely dismantled when it’s time to send the gauntlets to the chrome shop. A clam shell design allows you to slide hand through without damaging the expensive chrome finish on your glove plates. The Mark II gauntlets have been designed to be modulular both physically and via software. Each UI panel is removable and swappable. They communicate wirelessly to your droid via RF and I2C. An embedded IMU sensor allows you to control your BB-8 via Force gestures. A removable SD card allows you to load the entire Daft Punk discography and play it via a Class D Amplifier and speakers. Mark II Discovery gauntlets are completely stand alone and can function without your helmet and backpack. Stay tuned for more exciting demos as the BB-8 drive system and electronics come together.

 

[Zolous]

Re: Daft Punk Thomas Discovery Era Build V1 (Style “A” Ears, Gauntlets and other thin

Thinking about trying out a neopixel ring in place of my current set-up for my Thomas ears - are the ones you're using the 24 or 16 light ones, or would you have a recommendation on either one?

 

[insultcomicdog]

Re: Daft Punk Thomas Discovery Era Build V1 (Style “A” Ears, Gauntlets and other thin

I'm using the 24 pixel rings. They fit my pucks perfectly and illuminate the inner and outer light disks well. I'm not sure the 16 pixel rings would be big enough. If you have any other questions let me know.