FABRICATING a real IRONMAN suit out of STEEL.
- Thread starter mrjbarl1
- Start date
laxman09
Active Member
exactly! i heard that the 405th was mean to people about certain projects but i never imagined there'd be so much doubt on here! we all dream about making great things, and then we make those great things and its sad to see people trying to tell you that your dream isnt achievable ya know? hell its just a faceplate right now, but its not like you should have gotten the whole suit done before posting pictures, because that's not the point of these forums! your progress is great and the pictures are awesome (the more the better (; ) I can't wait to see the rest of the helmet come together, and one thing you can do for all of us is when your done, do an unpainted photoshoot, shiny steel iron man aw yeah
crabra comander
Master Member
Just multi-quote everyone who doubted you when you're finished so they can come back and see your advacnded suit...
But seriously, keep it up! Don't forget we want to test the bullet proofness as well...:lol
But seriously, keep it up! Don't forget we want to test the bullet proofness as well...:lol
Here you go! the very FIRST part of my suit! My Iron Man MARK VII face plate, made out of 16 gauge sheet metal with pepakura files!!!
As you can see in the pictures, I slightly modified and printed my ironman MARK VII pepakura files onto card stock for my templates. I then applied layout due to my piece of 16 gauge sheet metal from which my patterns would be cut from.
Next I used a strong magnet to hold the templates in place while in scribed the fold lines, and around the temples. By using a scribe and layout dye, the lines are very sharp and clear to see while cutting the steel. I then Cut the various parts out with a band saw and a cut off wheel and deburred all the parts.
Next, I began hammering and bending the various cut lines together until they touched at the tips and then tack welded them. Once this step was finished, I then peened the seems together on all the pieces To eliminate flat spots and keep a smooth surface. Next I tacked all the seems together on each piece, and then dry fit them to each other for a perfect before I began tacking the pieces together, using my pep helmet for A guide.
Finally, I ground all spots if weld down to a smooth finish and removed the layout dye.
The welding will be finished after the whole helmet is tacked together, to prevent warpage.
I'm very pleased with the outcome of the face plate and really look forward to finishing the rest of the helmet And suit!
***For those of you that doubted me and my abilities to do EXACTLY what I said I could do; here's the proof. I DID IT.
Quote of the day: "Haters make you famous"
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mrjbarl1
Active Member
ironmaided
Sr Member
i love that quote "haters make you famous" :lol great job on that faceplate :thumbsup
mrjbarl1
Active Member
Lol I hear that! I find it humorous that even after being knocked on my ideas and talked down to the whole time, that even after posting pictures of doing exactly what I said I could and proving them wrong; that I still hear negative feedback. Like I said, "haters make ya famous!" Lol. I will indeed be take pictures of the suit before it's all painted too. Thanks bro!
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mrjbarl1
Active Member
FINALLY!! I have some more free time this evening and I'm gonna start on the full helmet! I will be firing up the ole MIG welder this time around which will be considerably faster than the TIG welder for assembling the pieces. In case anyone was wondering, I was out of wire for the mig when I built the first faceplate, which is why I used the tig. Anyway, I'll be making some more sparks fly tonight and taking plenty of pictures so stand-by for more progress!
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rjaykus
Active Member
I'm definitely supportive. I love metal and quite a novice myself. Can't wait to see more or your work.
mrjbarl1
Active Member
I love this! Reminds me of a movie where everyone doubted the dreamer, and looked like fools in the end. Funny how they are all quiet now. If it gets too heavy, just add some linear actuators and gyroscopes
Right?! How ironic is that?? lol! They quit runnin their mouths because I proved I'm not full of crap. I LOVE being doubted because all it does is add fuel to the fire and make me work harder. I like to think of it as being confident, not cocky.......but.....I will say that I am damn good at what I do (which is definitely cocky) lol. Honestly, this sheet metal work is child's play to me but that's because I know how metal works from years of experience!
As for the weight, there's a bit of a misconception going on.. It is NOT going to weigh THAT much. I can pick up a 4'x8' sheet of 18 gauge sheet metal with one hand. not to mention I'm well fit and in shape So I will handle it just fine.
Thanks for the support tho bro! Much appreciated! Let me know if there's anything I could maybe help you out with!
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mrjbarl1
Active Member
Quick update on progress!
Got all the parts cut to begin assembly of the helmet. As you can see in the pictures I used a new method I came up with for cutting the parts out of steel. Instead of making temples out of card stock and scribing around them on to the steel, I printed out the parts on regular computer paper and glued them to the sheet metal with spray adhesive. HUGE time saver.
I then cut out the parts with the band saw (just like the first faceplate I did). Also what I did to save time, was stacked the various pieces that I would need two of (one left and one right) and cut both pieces at the same time. It is not shown in the pictures but I just tacked the edge of the stacked sheets together so they wouldn't move.
Now that the parts are cut out. I can scribe the fold lines through the paper onto the sheet metal to ensure that all the folds (or in this case, bends) are In the proper places. This all went very smooth and if time allows, I will work on it some more tomorrow!
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Murdoch
Sr Member
First off i'm really liking this build now that pics are up. But not to rain on your parade, the last pic of you wearing the mask. The angle i am looking at the plate appears to be large on your face, mostly at the bottom. That can be my perception from the angle but i would hate to see you go so far and then realize that it has to be redone...GM
Onephattsi2
Well-Known Member
Lookin good man, practice makes perfect, once you get the scaling down, you should be good......
I think as far as the "haters" are concerned, most of them were just talking because the thread reached what, 5 pages with no pics..... Now I am sure they are just sitting back and observing...
A 4x8 sheet of 18ga steel weighs about 64lbs.... I would estimate this thing to take atleast 2 sheets, maybe 3... I will stick to to an estimate of this thing weighing 200-250lbs.... (My original of 400 was a little exagerated, just threw a number out there, but adding your weight, it will probably be around there combined) haha. Even using a lot of 20-22ga this thing will be in the mid 150lb area.... I couldn't imagine trying to carry that around for any amount of time... My fiberglass suit is roughly 25-30lbs and it doesn't take very long, 30-40 minutes, to feel it in my shoulders and hips.... Not to mention killing my feet. Lol.
But I am still curious to see the end result of this.... Keep up the good work.
I think as far as the "haters" are concerned, most of them were just talking because the thread reached what, 5 pages with no pics..... Now I am sure they are just sitting back and observing...
A 4x8 sheet of 18ga steel weighs about 64lbs.... I would estimate this thing to take atleast 2 sheets, maybe 3... I will stick to to an estimate of this thing weighing 200-250lbs.... (My original of 400 was a little exagerated, just threw a number out there, but adding your weight, it will probably be around there combined) haha. Even using a lot of 20-22ga this thing will be in the mid 150lb area.... I couldn't imagine trying to carry that around for any amount of time... My fiberglass suit is roughly 25-30lbs and it doesn't take very long, 30-40 minutes, to feel it in my shoulders and hips.... Not to mention killing my feet. Lol.
But I am still curious to see the end result of this.... Keep up the good work.
-VERTIGO-
Well-Known Member
I wanted to touch on this for a couple days now with everyone saying, "Where are the doubters now?" No one truly doubted his ability to do this, sure there was hesitancy to believe anything would become of the thread with a lack of imagery and being 3 pages in. The flack he got was for the attitude he entered the community with, which has been cleared up now. I can't really recall one person that said, "Hey you can't do this." We just all have seen threads in the past where people made grand statements and the thread goes cold and dies out. It was more a waiting game of proof than actual doubt toward his skill, which he possesses in ample amounts. Very good job so far. Can't wait to see more.
It wasn't about doubting, but more being turned off by your attitude toward the community. Between the "hey look at me! I'm going to do something so amazing that's never been done before!" and shots taken at current and former members, as well as the entitlement of "hey, somebody find the files for me because I'm not good with computers!"... That's why I've avoided this thread.
That being said, what you've done so far looks good. I'll be interested to see if you actually follow through on the whole suit, much less all the "extras" you have planned.
Edit: Great minds think alike, -VERTIGO-
That being said, what you've done so far looks good. I'll be interested to see if you actually follow through on the whole suit, much less all the "extras" you have planned.
Edit: Great minds think alike, -VERTIGO-
Manhattan
Active Member
It wasn't about doubting, but more being turned off by your attitude toward the community. Between the "hey look at me! I'm going to do something so amazing that's never been done before!" and shots taken at current and former members, as well as the entitlement of "hey, somebody find the files for me because I'm not good with computers!"... That's why I've avoided this thread.
That being said, what you've done so far looks good. I'll be interested to see if you actually follow through on the whole suit, much less all the "extras" you have planned.
Edit: Great minds think alike, -VERTIGO-
I agree, I'll admit I was one of those doubters of this project, so many that come by with no photos & so many claims it's actually nice to see bloody photos! :thumbsup
Onephattsi2
Well-Known Member
Agreed.... This is kinda what I was getting at..... I love seeing the pics too, I like seeing people build different ways, and this is very interesting to me..
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