Irom Man helmet made of aluminum sheet

[laellee]

Re: Irom Man helmet made of alluminum sheet

It's great to see someone trying this. You could braze your seams with a propane torch and a low-temp rod like Alumaweld, then tweak the curves with your rubber hammer. I did this on a set of armor pieces before smoothing, and it worked really well.

 

[Giu]

Re: Irom Man helmet made of alluminum sheet

Genises - I´ll assemble all pieces with tape, just to see the what I have to fix, cut ,etc. Then I´ll disassemble, work with the rubber hammer, and mount with epoxy, without tape.

laellee - That´s a very good information you said. Weld could be a fine solution to this project.

 

[closet batfan]

Re: Irom Man helmet made of alluminum sheet

It looks great but seems very tight on your head, are you sure it'll be big enough to fit your head once complete?

 

[Giu]

Re: Irom Man helmet made of alluminum sheet

If I try to make another piece instead of this one with this cuts, the forehead piece, It would be much more beautiful and smooth, and there´s need of paint.

However, If I paint, I was thinking to paint the face plate with clear yellow, resulting in a golden finish. Let´s see..

 

[Giu]

Re: Irom Man helmet made of alluminum sheet

It looks great but seems very tight on your head, are you sure it'll be big enough to fit your head once complete?

So, I downscaled with photoshop, cause the default size was a bit large. I hope not to have diminished too much.

 

[Shade]

Re: Irom Man helmet made of alluminum sheet

Shade - Those joints in the top will be set together after I use a rubber hammer to make it more rounded. After that, the joints will have less than a millimeter. And I´ll put epoxy to finish.

Ah, I see. It's looking more beautiful by the day! I can't wait to see it finished!

 

[Giu]

Re: Irom Man helmet made of alluminum sheet

Hello again. Seems like the size it´s a bit small, f@%*, but I´ll keep with the project. After all, may be a nice souvenir. Also, this is the first... building and learning

 

[Giu]

Hi again. It´s impossible to get rounded using the hammer. Because the sheet is to thin, so there´s no material enough to work. I can bend to one a side, but not rounded, as you can see on picture. Maybe I have to use the pepakura paper model, instead the foam model, which I chose to use in this project.

 

[jessec]

Wow amazing.... Love seeing builds like this, that take a new approach towards old tricks..

Keep it up..!

 

[Ryzzix]

it is possible to get a nice rounded finish. but you will need a few things.

1: bench vise or something similar to hold the next item.

2: trailer hitch - ball style probably a 2" ball. or --

2b: a steel stake with a 2" steel ball welded to the end of it.

You can then put the mask over the ball and use the rubber mallet to achieve a nice rounded curve. May take some practice since you need to make sure you hit the mallet square. any deviation of angle will cause problems , so make sure you hit it softly with a lot of hits rather than pound away at it with fewer strikes.

Yes... this is a lot of work, but so worth it it in the end.

Awesome job by the way. Will keep my eye on this thread for sure.

 

[RiFph]

There are rods you can buy to weld aluminum

Aluminum Welding Rods - Pack of 8 Low Temperature Rods

I work and shape thin brass and silver and wold recommend welding some of the seems to shape them, and a raw hide mallet should work better than rubber. More force into the material and less bounce back.

I wold also use a mandrel a little smaller than the actual curve you want. A cheap car body work set from harbor freight would work. They have different curved mandrels, just don't use the steel hammers on the mask, it's too soft and won't get the results you want, it may stretch the aluminum quickly and destroy it.

 

[Giu]

Hey guys, thanks for the hints. Well, I´m shure I can´t get a rounded finish. Not because of the techniques, but the sheet is too thin, only 0,5mm. So there´s no material to stretch. I tried , believe. Anyway, I´ll finish this helmet, and start another one, with the pepakura paper model, instead the foam model.

The weld is a good option.

 

[rexel13]

i want one

 

[rexel13]

I think this is doable. If you design a different model that is a little less rounded.
Look at something like this.

If you put your faceplate on a head like this it could look very cool I think. You could then use a mig welder set to an extremely low voltage and weld the seams together and just go over with a light buffer.

 

[rexel13]

sorry, accidentally sent before I was finished.

Alternatively, why not use compound (like you would use for body work on a car) to round out edges? You could apply compound and smooth over.

 

[Giu]

Hi Rexel. Well, a less rounded model could work better, but we all love this model, rigth? So, I´ll keep trying.

If I will paint, the plastic resin should be the best finish i can get.

By the way, I have already disassembled the pieces, now it´s time to set together with the epoxy clay.

 

[Giu]

The epoxy clay, didn´t work so well. I´m thinking about

 

[jolive]

Paper files are gonna be way too angled for your metal.... Also dangerous to work with! I think your best bet is to stick with foam templates with less cuts. In my opinion you should do a aluminum face plate andrest in foam?

 

[Giu]

this helmet was base in foam model. But I´m unable to make it more rounded, not even with the rubbet mallet. That´s why I´m thinking about the paper model

 

[ironmaided]

Re: Irom Man helmet made of alluminum sheet

Hello again. Seems like the size it´s a bit small, f@%*, but I´ll keep with the project. After all, may be a nice souvenir. Also, this is the first... building and learning

this is the most awesome thing i'd ever seen, :thumbsup