Thor & Ironman (arm construction costume pg.8)

[MightyJohn]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo talk pg.3)

you demand?

I just wrote it off as a "Prince" thing :lol

My servos came today, however, no one was home to accept them :cry

I got the lower section of dome fitted up. I used (3) pair of small magnets from Jo-Anns to attach it.

Please, don't mind the paint job.

Hopefully picking up the servos tomorrow.

 

[mizuno hadouken]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo talk pg.3)

Nice stuff.... how'd you make the lip on the back piece, mighty?

 

[AsgardAssassin]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo talk pg.3)

MightyJohn, your work is awesome!

What do you use to give your helmet 5 o' clock shadow round the chin section?

Also, are the magnets still as effective when you have covered them in paint?

Keep up the good work!

 

[MightyJohn]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo talk pg.3)

Nice stuff.... how'd you make the lip on the back piece, mighty?

When I was fiberglassing the section, I just extended the fiberglass out further. Once it cured, I trimmed it and mudded it smooth to fit.

MightyJohn, your work is awesome!

What do you use to give your helmet 5 o' clock shadow round the chin section?

Also, are the magnets still as effective when you have covered them in paint?

Keep up the good work!

Thanks, Man!

The faceplate gold is "sunburst" (and un-weathered), which is brighter then "Pure Gold" (and weathered) which is on the chin section. Also the Red on the chin section is weathered and the dome section just got a fresh base coat of red.

The magnets have a very light coat on them. I'm sure they are not as strong as if they where bare, but they work fine. They don't need to be painted. They don't show when the helmet is together. I was just too lazy to cover them prior to painting.

I came in late to work today, because I had to pick up my servos for USPS. I've been playing with them in my cube :lol.

I've got them powered-up and moving. However I don't know the code yet, so the only way I can move them is with the slide bar that comes on the set-up program (Pololu). If anyone knows the code to open and close these with a push of a button (preferably a "copy/paste" job) it would save me some time.

I'll be working on them more later tonight.

 

[AsgardAssassin]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo talk pg.3)

Thanks, Man!

The faceplate gold is "sunburst" (and un-weathered), which is brighter then "Pure Gold" (and weathered) which is on the chin section. Also the Red on the chin section is weathered and the dome section just got a fresh base coat of red.

What did you use to get the black wash effect? It creates a shadow look around the chin section and looks awesome!

 

[MightyJohn]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo talk pg.3)

What did you use to get the black wash effect? It creates a shadow look around the chin section and looks awesome!

Oh...I take a small art paint brush (1/8" wide, maybe) and dip the tip in flat black paint. Then a lightly brush the paint off onto some newspaper until almost nothing is left...and thats when I use brush in all the deep corners.

One thing I learned in my High School years of Stage Managing the school plays..."To make things look good from a distance, you must exaggerate the details".

There is 2 types of paint jobs you can do:

1. The close-up detail paint job.
This paint job is using high gloss paint and tight/light weathering and looks awesome "live" or in-person.
2. The Crowd/Photo Paint job.
This paint job is done with semi gloss or less (because gloss and flash bulbs don't like each other). It also involves deeper/larger shadows and weathering effects (so the people in the back of the room can get to see some detail/depth to the costume).

So you need to decide if you want to paint for the "in-person" look or the "photogenic" look. I always like the photogenic look, because photos last longer:lol

 

[jayjayn]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo talk pg.3)

LOVING IT JOHN!!! great work, hope to send you mine to get looked at =D , i'll test out the servo setup i showed you and hopefully get it to work.. im not as creative as you so bare with me lol

 

[AsgardAssassin]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo talk pg.3)

Oh...I take a small art paint brush (1/8" wide, maybe) and dip the tip in flat black paint. Then a lightly brush the paint off onto some newspaper until almost nothing is left...and thats when I use brush in all the deep corners.

One thing I learned in my High School years of Stage Managing the school plays..."To make things look good from a distance, you must exaggerate the details".

There is 2 types of paint jobs you can do:

1. The close-up detail paint job.
This paint job is using high gloss paint and tight/light weathering and looks awesome "live" or in-person.
2. The Crowd/Photo Paint job.
This paint job is done with semi gloss or less (because gloss and flash bulbs don't like each other). It also involves deeper/larger shadows and weathering effects (so the people in the back of the room can get to see some detail/depth to the costume).

So you need to decide if you want to paint for the "in-person" look or the "photogenic" look. I always like the photogenic look, because photos last longer:lol

Thanks for the insight, I really appreciate you taking time to help us out!

I like the idea of the photogenic look with deeper shadow effects. My skills are very limited but if I can get somewhere near 10% of the outcome of your work I will be more than happy!

Keep up the good work man!

 

[MightyJohn]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo talk pg.3)

LOVING IT JOHN!!! great work, hope to send you mine to get looked at =D , i'll test out the servo setup i showed you and hopefully get it to work.. im not as creative as you so bare with me lol

Thanks jayjayn. Yea, send your helmet my way. I think pivot "D" is misplaced. Should be a quick fix.
Where you able to ge the servos installed inside your helmet? Great idea! That is the route I'm going to try. That way, we can use rods instead of cables for the hinge connection. Push and Pull.

Thanks for the insight, I really appreciate you taking time to help us out!

I like the idea of the photogenic look with deeper shadow effects. My skills are very limited but if I can get somewhere near 10% of the outcome of your work I will be more than happy!

Keep up the good work man!

Thanks, Man! Anytime! Good luck on your paint job. I'm sure it is going to turn out great. Just keep it slow and steady. I've noticed that some people confuse skill with patience - Most people have the skill...they just lack the patience to use it.:lol

 

[MightyJohn]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo talk pg.3)

I got my servos to open and close at the push of a button. I haven't mounted them but I held one inside to get a feel for the torque. Looks like the numbers I gave are correct. I could almost lift the whole faceplate on one 20kg servo. And with a rod (old coat hanger) to connect the servo to the hinges there is a push AND a pull force. This is gonna be good!!

So, the items I need to address this weekend:
1. Can (2) 20kg servos fit inside my helmet with my head (they are huge:lol).
2. Look into 15kg servos (size). Will it make a difference?

questions for servo experts:
1. Is there a way to program servos to go past 90 degrees?
2. How can I make (2) servos rotate in opposite directions?

 

[mcabrera1275]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo talk pg.3)

Everything looks great!

 

[Zabana]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo talk pg.3)

I got my servos to open and close at the push of a button. I haven't mounted them but I held one inside to get a feel for the torque. Looks like the numbers I gave are correct. I could almost lift the whole faceplate on one 20kg servo. And with a rod (old coat hanger) to connect the servo to the hinges there is a push AND a pull force. This is gonna be good!!

So, the items I need to address this weekend:
1. Can (2) 20kg servos fit inside my helmet with my head (they are huge:lol).
2. Look into 15kg servos (size). Will it make a difference?

questions for servo experts:
1. Is there a way to program servos to go past 90 degrees?
2. How can I make (2) servos rotate in opposite directions?

About the servo´s questions, if you mean to go ahead of 90 degrees of movement I can help. Firstly try carefully to move the servo from side to side with your hands, if it ha near 180 degress then you will do it. I coded my servos with an arduino and I reach with them the 180 desires degrees. The second question can be done easily with an arduino too.

 

[AsgardAssassin]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo talk pg.3)

Thanks, Man! Anytime! Good luck on your paint job. I'm sure it is going to turn out great. Just keep it slow and steady. I've noticed that some people confuse skill with patience - Most people have the skill...they just lack the patience to use it.:lol

Patience, that is the KEY word! Not that I have it :lol

 

[MightyJohn]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo talk pg.3)

Everything looks great!

Thanks!

About the servo´s questions, if you mean to go ahead of 90 degrees of movement I can help. Firstly try carefully to move the servo from side to side with your hands, if it ha near 180 degress then you will do it. I coded my servos with an arduino and I reach with them the 180 desires degrees. The second question can be done easily with an arduino too.

I'm using the Pololu controller. When I use the test slider thing I can get 180. But when writing the script it won't let me pass 90. It might not matter; It looks like it might open with 90. And I could always go with a longer arm, I guess (currently 1" arm).
I'm going to need to figure out the opposite rotations if I'm going to have them fit in the helmet.

Patience, that is the KEY word! Not that I have it :lol

Absolutely!

So...After sleeping on all this...
I'm thinking that 20kg servos are going to be too large for the helmet, but I'm going to mount them anyway to be sure (and to get a base line test). Even if they do fit, my helmet is large; this system might not work in other helmets. for smaller helmets, I'm thinking: (2) 15kg servos, (4) 8kg servos, (6) 5kg servos...(10) 3kg servos :lol

I'll start mounting the 20kg servos tonight

 

[MightyJohn]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo talk pg.3)

First servo installed (And the helmet is still wearable).

It is still too soon to tell, but I think I'm going to be 'just shy' of fully open; with the set-up I have. I think a longer servo arm will do the trick.

jayjayn is correct: there is plenty of room for servos in the Sharkmark (lots of space behind the head).

Some Ironman Helmet Background:
The WIDTH of an Ironman Helmet detemines the size for the user. A proper fitting Ironman helmet will fit as snug as possible to your ears. If not, the helmet will look like a bobble head.

So...the only possible problem I see (only 1 servo installed so far) is the rod that connects the servo to the hinge. It passes right by the ear. I might have to cover the rod to protect my face from "something not good".

Don't quote me but, I think anyone with a default size Sharkmark could fit (2) 15oz servos.


Hopefully, more tomorrow...

 

[MightyJohn]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo talk pg.3)

For those interested in the Pololu script:
I used the example they gave on their website (with MINOR changes). I also got the servos to work opposite. Here is the script to use for a Pololu Controller:

goto main_loop

sub button
0 get_position 500 less_than
return

sub wait_for_button_press
wait_for_button_open_10ms
wait_for_button_closed_10ms
return

sub wait_for_button_open_10ms
get_ms
begin
button
if
drop get_ms
else
get_ms over minus 10 greater_than
if drop return endif
endif
repeat

sub wait_for_button_closed_10ms
get_ms
begin
button
if
get_ms over minus 10 greater_than
if drop return endif
else
drop get_ms
endif
repeat

main_loop:
begin
2250 9000 frame
9000 2250 frame
repeat

sub frame
wait_for_button_press
1 servo 2 servo

return

If you have a button properly wired to channel 0 and a servo on channel 1 and 2, copy & paste the above script to your Pololu controller and you should be good to go. The only thing that might change is you servo max/min. movement.

Note the lines:
2250 9000 frame
9000 2250 frame
That means servo 1 starts at postion 2250 and servo 2 starts at 9000. Push the button and they switch position.

I can't seem to go below 2250. If anyone knows what to do to make it go past 90 degrees....I'm all ears!

Now, off to install second servo...

 

[MightyJohn]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo Script pg.4)

Both servos are up and running!! I have a few small issues that need to be address, but first the good stuff...

I thought the weight and size of the servos would make it unwearable and out of balance (I was thinking a chin strap might be required). However, it is the exact opposite. The large servos keep my head forward in the helmet and the added weight in the back makes the helmet perfectly balanced.
I couldn't be happier with the outcome!!!

I happened to find a hobby shop close to my office, so I browsed the aisles and picked up a few things to link the hinges/servos:

Here is a pic with the servos installed in the helmet.

Now, the issues:
1. The hinges don't fully open. I'm thinking 1 1/2" arms might do the trick.
2. I'm thinking of installing some low powered magnets to help the faceplate seal when closed.

I'll post a video once I address the problems.

 

[kayo00]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo Script pg.4)

very interesting all this MightyJohn :love.. so I try to make this system even on my helmet!:love
Thank you.
keep it up!!!thumbsup

 

[wrroca]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo Script pg.4)

very very nice ..

ironman helmet is very good, but... with the lights, you can see well to the helmet put?

 

[MightyJohn]

Re: Thor & Ironman (Servo Script pg.4)

very interesting all this MightyJohn :love.. so I try to make this system even on my helmet!:love
Thank you.
keep it up!!!thumbsup

Thank you! Can't wait to see it on yours!

very very nice ..

ironman helmet is very good, but... with the lights, you can see well to the helmet put?

I made my lights adjustable, so you can change to vision depending on the lighting/area you are in. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't most helmets made like this (with the vision slit under the eye)?

I got my servos fully operational.

All I needed were longer arms. I used 1 1/2" servo arms, using the second to last hole (so slightly under 1 1/2").

I'll get a video up this weekend.