Elysium Kruger Exosuit WIP

Ziga · Aug 14, 2015

Hey guys,

This is my first time making a costume. I started this build last year in October and I have till this year's October to finish it.
The exo-skeleton is made mostly of styrene with some wooden and PVC pieces and of aluminium. Most of the back, arms and legs parts are done, what's still missing of the bigger parts are the pistons and forearm computers.
The chest and back parts of the vest have a core of thin camping mat foam for rigidity and added thickness. The carabiners on the stomach are attached to reels, so they function as the ones in the movie.

Daniel Nelms · Aug 14, 2015

You should talk to zombcom

Matrix2db · Aug 14, 2015

Great detail work! How are you going to do the actuators on the front they make it hard to put your hands above your head?

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Ziga · Aug 23, 2015

Matrix2db said:
Great detail work! How are you going to do the actuators on the front they make it hard to put your hands above your head?

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I'll make the actuators the way the ones in the movie look and see what kind of shoulder mobility I get. And if I won't be able to lift my arm above my head, I won't lift arms over my head, I guess.

I finished the housing on central back piece and made the angled shoulder piece, which I was hesitant to do, because they're pretty tricksy. I made the first two of the actuators and they turned out pretty great. These are the cylindrical ones on the central back. The cylinder housing is PE plastic and the rod is aluminum.

I also made most of the little flat bent brackets, that serve as mounting points for the actuators. I have most of the block actuators 3D modelled, so I'll start churning those out after some last dimension-checking.

Matrix2db · Aug 23, 2015

I read that the hero prop from the movie the front actuators were cast in rubber so they had better mobility for stunts ect.

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guitarpirate · Aug 27, 2015

Would you mind sharing some of your mad styrene skills? I don't think I've seen anything this impressive before. Were they layered, with pieces for each layer cut on CNC, or hand cut? It's especially interesting because the quality is outstanding, but equivalent parts would cost something in the region of 8k to print - and even after that there would be finishing.

Ziga · Aug 28, 2015

guitarpirate said:
Would you mind sharing some of your mad styrene skills? I don't think I've seen anything this impressive before. Were they layered, with pieces for each layer cut on CNC, or hand cut? It's especially interesting because the quality is outstanding, but equivalent parts would cost something in the region of 8k to print - and even after that there would be finishing.

Yeah, my budget is nowhere near yours, Guitarpirate. The styrene for the whole skeleton plus endmills probably cost less than 150 euros. The pieces are all cut on my CNC router and are layered, because I couldn't get styrene sheets thicker than 5mm. And the parts require only minor sanding afterwards to hide the layer lines. This is actually my first styrene build, so I have no tips to share, I just cut layers on my machine and glue them together. Extra thin styrene cement <- this stuff is amazing.

I started making the rectangular actuators out of PVC. I so wish these were just normal round cylinders, so I could make them on my lathe. But since my lathe is the only machine, that can make a nice hole, that's parallel to the actuator body, I have to drill the holes on it anyway. The rectangular actuators are just a pain to grip in a 3 jaw chuck.
I tried to drill on my father's horizontal drill press, but it has so much RPM that I ruined two parts because of drill vibration. Then I switched to my lathe.

And I got a pair of camo army trousers. Not the right camo pattern, but pretty close. The actual camo that Kruger is wearing in the movie, if anyone is wondering, is South African Soldier 2000 camo. And it is apparently impossible to get a hold on. Here's a picture of the pattern:

joberg · Aug 30, 2015

Beautiful work and with minimum budget. Keep up the great work:cool

Ziga · Sep 1, 2015

joberg said:
Beautiful work and with minimum budget. Keep up the great work:cool

I don't want to be misunderstood, this build is budget if you compare it to guitarpirate's exosuit build. Actually it's more than ten times as expensive as my other builds. When is said the skeleton costs 150 euros, I actually ment just the styrene parts, without the actuators, aluminum parts, the vest ... I bought 200 euros (+shipping) worth of styrene and I'll probably use more than half of it on this build. The price of the nuts and bolts is actually also quite significant and the rod ends for the actuators alone were 100 euros.

Anyway I spent my weekend lathing and polishing alu pistons and testing the actuators. I tried to make the length of actuator bodies screen accurate, but I'm finding, that some of them (considering how much movement I need in that area) are too long (which is okay) and some are way too short (which is bad). What I'll probably do is switch them around a bit to get better degree of movement without redoing parts. I might sacrifice a tiny amount of accuracy, but I don't mind. The rest of the suit is pretty accurate.

clonesix · Sep 1, 2015

Very clean work. Nice job.

How big is your CNC table, and was it expensive, or did you build it yourself?

guitarpirate · Sep 1, 2015

Can you share what CNC machine you have? It was great to see your method at work since I have no idea what I'm doing and you nailed the right approach to this kind of project immediately. It was very rough for me to come from game development discipline and convert myself into a mechanical engineer. If I didn't have the extra bit of headroom I would have given up, since I have no prior experience even in model-making. Being able to bake ambient occlusion and unwrap UVW islands doesn't help you here

Ziga · Sep 3, 2015

My CNC machine is home-built. I used an old EDM machine as a base, because it has a nice X-Y table (although it has developed a few gremlins, probably due to wear). It's usable area is about 380×290mm, which is not as big as I would like and need. And it's pretty slow and not rigid enough. But it is an incredibly useful tool for learning and prop-making.

Ziga · Sep 6, 2015

Here's the latest update. The actuators are mostly done, apart from the hip ones. That area still needs work.
I don't have a great deal of range of shoulder movement. I can't put my arms over my head or reach far across my chest, but it's manageable.

joberg · Sep 6, 2015

Looking very good all around! As for budget, you know how it goes, despite plans the cost can climb real fast when you go for accuracy and functionality. My 2001 Space Station was budgeted at around $800, but I'm already at $1200 despite being careful. Keep up the good work and eager to see your next update!

tmax · Sep 26, 2015

Looking good! Now you just have to shave your head and mount an interface in the back of your skull and you're good to go!

Mobjack · Sep 28, 2015

Looks great. I especially like the work on the spine section. Excited to see the finished piece.

Ziga · Sep 29, 2015

tmax said:
Looking good! Now you just have to shave your head and mount an interface in the back of your skull and you're good to go!

No no, it's Max that has shaved head. Kruger has a beard. Which is why I started growing a beard a month ago.

Sorry for not updating this thread regularly guys, but I'm in a rush to finish the suit enough that it's wearable as it's supposed to debut this saturday. I've dropped the building of everything not essential like forearm computers, lights, cables, and I spend my evenings sanding and painting like crazy. I hate to rush a project like this because it makes me drop my standards, but I really want to wear it at the convention on saturday.

And thanks for your nice comments. I really put a lot of work into this.

tmax · Sep 29, 2015

Ziga said:
No no, it's Max that has shaved head. Kruger has a beard. Which is why I started growing a beard a month ago.

Ha ha, right you are, I should've read the title better - Kruger not Max... just don't forget the face implants above that new beard!

CLOTHAR · Sep 30, 2015

Nice looking build! Looks like a great CNC project.

CZMarty · Sep 30, 2015

Impressive work with styrene, projects like this make me want to invest in a CNC router. I'm attempting something vaguely similar as I'd like to finish the basic parts for my exosuit in 5 week, fingers crossed that you finish before your deadline.
Have you found a particular brand of solvent glue that works best for styrene? Or are you just using straight acetone/toluene?

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