Sandbagger's Iron-Man builds - Now in STEEL

Looking very cool, might have to install a sound system with some servo sounds to hide the metal noises:lol

Most of the metal noises were those darned battery packs swinging around hitting me in the back. I've since installed washers in the joints of the knees so they move completely silently now. Will do the same for the elbows and toes.

The rubber under the soles not only makes walking softer, but the foot rolls better as the heel crushes followed by the front of the toe as it moves through the step.

Once the padding goes in and I've filed and sanded down all the edges, noise should be noticeably less.

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Have to say the BEST METAL IRON MAN build ive seen!!(y)thumbsup Hats off sir! (subscribed)

Thanks mate. I might start another thread asking for links/photos to all metal builds.
 
It's all very beautiful work, it makes me wish I still had access to a machine shop so I could get to work with some real metals- I've got a question for SandBagger actually, it's not entirely related to your Iron Man suit but I'd like your opinion on it.

I'm looking into building a full body suit as well, something from Metal Gear Solid, specifically the new Diamond Dogs Sneaking Suit that's appearing in the Phantom Pain game. I've sorta come to the conclusion that the suit would look best as an "armored version" of itself as it seems to basically be a tactical suit with armored plates on it but with a MGS twist to it. Reading through your thread, I noticed you used a mannequin that was a taped, cut-out mold of your body as well as printing out pepakura blue prints (is that what they're called ?) to make sure everything was fitted.

I guess on to my real question though, the sneaking suit isn't entirely made of metal like Iron Man's is, I've researched for hours looking into how they make motorcycle armor suits for example (apparently they use a combination of steel plates and Kydex) and I still can't decide if those are the right materials to get for such a suit. The Main problem however, is the non-armored parts that comprise the rest of the suit- I'm not entirely sure what the plates would all be connected to so that they hold up on my body (a Kevlar shirt maybe?), other than maybe making the suit entirely of plates that all connect and lock in with each other, maybe by using rivets of sorts?

I'm curious about what you'd recommend as you seem to know what you're doing obviously, I've unfortunately never worked on armor myself and am having difficulty picturing it in my head how to go about it. (I apologize for the large post, I should probably just make a separate thread...)
 
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Those are, indeed, beautiful legs and pro-job on that project of yours! Keep up the good work, it'll be a great day when people's jaw will drop seeing that it's real steel and not foam/plastic/fiberglass, etc...
 
It's all very beautiful work, it makes me wish I still had access to a machine shop so I could get to work with some real metals- I've got a question for SandBagger actually, it's not entirely related to your Iron Man suit but I'd like your opinion on it.

I'm looking into building a full body suit as well, something from Metal Gear Solid, specifically the new Diamond Dogs Sneaking Suit that's appearing in the Phantom Pain game. I've sorta come to the conclusion that the suit would look best as an "armored version" of itself as it seems to basically be a tactical suit with armored plates on it but with a MGS twist to it. Reading through your thread, I noticed you used a mannequin that was a taped, cut-out mold of your body as well as printing out pepakura blue prints (is that what they're called ?) to make sure everything was fitted.

I guess on to my real question though, the sneaking suit isn't entirely made of metal like Iron Man's is, I've researched for hours looking into how they make motorcycle armor suits for example (apparently they use a combination of steel plates and Kydex) and I still can't decide if those are the right materials to get for such a suit. The Main problem however, is the non-armored parts that comprise the rest of the suit- I'm not entirely sure what the plates would all be connected to so that they hold up on my body (a Kevlar shirt maybe?), other than maybe making the suit entirely of plates that all connect and lock in with each other, maybe by using rivets of sorts?

I'm curious about what you'd recommend as you seem to know what you're doing obviously, I've unfortunately never worked on armor myself and am having difficulty picturing it in my head how to go about it. (I apologize for the large post, I should probably just make a separate thread...)

I actually look like I know what I'm doing, but as always I make it up as I go along, borrowing and mixing ideas from others. Having access to a machine shop is great, but most of it is done at home with a few basic hand tools. Tin snips, a hammer and some flat and shaped metal and wooden surfaces to beat it on are pretty much all you need. Granted, a welder is essential for much piecing together, but there are other ways depending on the style or suit. I am not an armourer, so perhaps looking up medieval armourers, blacksmiths etc would give you a better idea.

You can use rivets made yourself which are just short lengths of round steel bar stock, piened over with a hammer at the ends or squashed into the holes. You can use pop rivets from your hardware store with a cheap rivet gun. The most advanced bits of equipment I have thus far have been a welder, angle grinder and die grinder and a drill. Everything else is hand tools.

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Time to get serious on some of the suit. Soon I will be using one or both of these machines (mill and lathe, both old-school manual like me) to fabricate some of the details. Don't reeeeealy need them, but I can make the suit look that much cooler with some nicely turned custom parts and embellishments.


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"Time to get serious on some of the suit."

Oh, thank goodness! Because up until now it has merely been astounding, jaw-droppingly cool! Y'know, we have all be secretly complaining that you should kick this up a notch
 
Both legs have now been elevated and supported on pairs of solid steel struts welded to the boots and pivoting at the ankle. You can see an aluminium flat disk on the right boot - this will be replaced later with a more attractive steel turned toe-pivot. The flight control flap at the back of the ankle has been hinges so now it swings up as the boot and leg moves. The knee pivots will eventually be welded closed with an attractive cap once I'm happy I don't need to take the legs apart again. Rubber soles have been glued onto the bottom of the boots to save flooring.


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The rib features have now been filled in from behind with scratch-built steel caps. It looks untidy with the positioning spot welds from the front and the rest of the welding from behind, but this will all be cleaned up later.


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The steel sheet is only .95mm thick, so to give the illusion that it is thick armoured plate I have welded in some 8mm edging all around. Welding from behind except in spots I couldn't get the welding gun into. Edges will be cleaned up last.


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The lighting is great, but the eyes are too bright for indoors and night. They overpower the dark so much you can't see the face, so I'll be adding a resistor/dimmer so I can vary the brightness as needed.


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Incredible work of art.I am still trying to let it sink in that I am actually looking at a real 'Iron'-Man suit...amazing
 
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