1st Build 3D Printed Mk V(B) Build - First build!

[anklebiter]

Not long after talking to my boyfriend about them, I started playing the Halo games and immediately fell in love with them. I had also been wanting to make some sort of armor for a cosplay but I wasn't sure which armor to do- right up until I played Reach. Sooo here we are lol. I figured I'd start a thread for it while I'm here.
I didn't change up too much about my spartan because of how much I like the base armor. I might change a few small things but for now, this is what I'm going for (using MoeSizzlac's models):

So far, I've got the armor mostly scaled in Armorsmith and I also started printing the helmet. It's taken SO many attempts to even get the first layer to adhere, but after some bed leveling, speed adjustments, and persistence, I finally got to at least this point:

I'm praying that I can successfully do this- I've never printed anything that took more than maybe like, 8 hours before. This is going to be around 4+ days so I'm a bit nervous, especially after the terrible failure that I had the last time I tried to print something overnight. But with this, I've got past the point where it's just supports and a bit of the actual helmet is there! So this gives me hope, even though there are a few points that I'm a little nervous about.

That's all for now- expect me to talk wayyyyy too much on this thread. I'm excited about this project and hope that I can make it happen! If anyone's got any tips, do tell!

 

[N8TEBB]

I'm excited for this build! Welcome to the 405th!

It looks like your nozzle is really close to the bed- at least on the side of the bed that is closest to the camera. It might help to tighten the front two hand screws a quarter of a turn.

 

[blafftat]

Just so you know, you can print the helmet in pieces if you have trouble. I'm sure It'll look great either way! Excited to see how this turns out!

 

[JTF4]

using MoeSizzlac's models

Moe is an absolute legend. He's the reason I actually found the 405th. I can't wait to see how everything goes with your build!

 

[anklebiter]

I'm excited for this build! Welcome to the 405th!

It looks like your nozzle is really close to the bed- at least on the side of the bed that is closest to the camera. It might help to tighten the front two hand screws a quarter of a turn.

Thank you!! Also you're definitely right- thankfully, it hasn't caused any major problems and the helmet itself looks pretty good. Here's the progress as of now- I slowed it down for a while and then gradually brought the print speed back up and that seemed to work out.

 

[Cappyace86]

Good luck on your build and don’t get discouraged if you run into a print failure after a few days. It sucks but it’s happened to all of us. You’ll get there, and the helmet is a fun place to start. Good luck!

 

[KaeSpoon]

First off, scaling looks great- that's a hard thing to pull off. Good luck on your build, we will watch your career with great interest.

 

[DeltaAlphaZulu]

I'm excited for this build! Welcome to the 405th!

It looks like your nozzle is really close to the bed- at least on the side of the bed that is closest to the camera. It might help to tighten the front two hand screws a quarter of a turn.

Would that be too close or too far? Usually when I get thin lines like that it's from being a bit to far away. When it's too close I typically will have flat bits on the bed with ridges of overflow between them.

 

[anklebiter]

Good luck on your build and don’t get discouraged if you run into a print failure after a few days. It sucks but it’s happened to all of us. You’ll get there, and the helmet is a fun place to start. Good luck!

Thank you!! And that won't be a worry, I've had so many print fails that I'm just used to it lol. Like I said earlier, it took so many tries just to get the first layer to adhere and a few weeks ago I had a failure so bad that I had to replace the entire hotend and the printer was down for a while lol

First off, scaling looks great- that's a hard thing to pull off. Good luck on your build, we will watch your career with great interest.

Thank you! I was a bit worried about the scaling because I tried my best to make it as accurate to the game as I could while keeping practicality and comfort in mind. It's good to know that it looks good enough for someone to point it out

Would that be too close or too far? Usually when I get thin lines like that it's from being a bit to far away. When it's too close I typically will have flat bits on the bed with ridges of overflow between them.

I think it was just barely too close because it was thin/flat but on there. I'd think that it would have iffy/worse adhesion if it was too far? I'm not fully sure though- either way, it didn't really cause any issues lol

 

[Cappyace86]

All my stuff just turns to spaghetti these days, so you're doing better than me lol

 

[anklebiter]

Real brief update that I almost forgot to post- the helmet has been printed! It definitely feels a little large but I think it'll be fine once I put the padding in it and have at least the chest piece done. The pictures with me wearing it aren't the greatest but like, they get the point across lol

and yes, I do see that little support bit that I forgot to go back and get lol

I think I want to start printing the chest piece next- I'm gonna try and split that up into parts just to make things a bit easier. Hopefully I can spend less time and filament on supports that way, too. I'm going to wait to do the boot and hand pieces until I have a pair of gloves and boots to use for this project so that I can make sure everything ends up working fine.

 

[Cappyace86]

Nah man, I think that size is perfect. Once you get all the armor on, it’ll look even better because you’ll be so much bulkier. Very well done.

 

[N8TEBB]

Would that be too close or too far? Usually when I get thin lines like that it's from being a bit to far away. When it's too close I typically will have flat bits on the bed with ridges of overflow between them.

Hmmm you could be right… I am using the forums on mobile so it is a bit hard to me to see what exactly is going on there.

Well it’s either too close or too far, take a guess and if it makes things worse go the other way XD

 

[Clarkusmc]

Helmet came out great! scaling looks good too! I've found that if there's issues with the start of the print and bed adhesion, I use Rafts instead of the brim (it eats up more filament and takes longer because I had to slow down the speed for the first few layers, but my adhesion errors have gone down dramatically).

 

[barebones]

Helmet came out great! scaling looks good too! I've found that if there's issues with the start of the print and bed adhesion, I use Rafts instead of the brim (it eats up more filament and takes longer because I had to slow down the speed for the first few layers, but my adhesion errors have gone down dramatically).

99% of the time im using rafts lol. I just really dont want to deal with adhesion issues and it definitely costs more in the long run, but for me its worth it.

 

[anklebiter]

Helmet came out great! scaling looks good too! I've found that if there's issues with the start of the print and bed adhesion, I use Rafts instead of the brim (it eats up more filament and takes longer because I had to slow down the speed for the first few layers, but my adhesion errors have gone down dramatically).

99% of the time im using rafts lol. I just really dont want to deal with adhesion issues and it definitely costs more in the long run, but for me its worth it.

Thank you! Also reading these messages just made me realize that rafts and brims are two different things LOL- for the longest time I thought they were the same. Rafts definitely seem like a good idea but unless I'm trying to print a part that gives me nothing but problems after 6+ attempts, I'll probably be sticking to brims lol

 

[Clarkusmc]

Thank you! Also reading these messages just made me realize that rafts and brims are two different things LOL- for the longest time I thought they were the same. Rafts definitely seem like a good idea but unless I'm trying to print a part that gives me nothing but problems after 6+ attempts, I'll probably be sticking to brims lol

I've gone back and forth with them, because rafts add at least an hour to the print and uses up more filament, but I've had multiple prints fail or have issues that leads to more time/filament wasted than if I just had the rafts. I've just accepted that I'm gonna take a little longer and use more PLA, but filament is cheap lol

 

[anklebiter]

Aaand I'm back with just a little bit of progress- I've been a bit sick so I've been trying to rest and not work that much.

I sprayed like 2-3 lightish coats of filler primer after minimal sanding in certain places just to see how it would effect things and this picture is from when it was still drying:

Soo some places are actually almost already smooth while the majority will need a bit of sanding.

And another thing- I ordered a motorcycle helmet visor and like, 4 more spools of filament and they came last night! The visor's definitely gonna need some trimming to fit lol- if you guys have any tips on working with visors like this then I'd love to hear them

And last but not least for this post- I've got my boyfriend in on this project now and he's currently waiting on a new printer but wants to start working on things. So we decided that until he has his new printer and as long as it's his filament that I'm using, I'll print his stuff for him. I'll go back and forth with what I print- so this week, it's his needler and next week I'll be working on my chest piece. Last night, the second half of the front bit finished:

He's still mostly undecided between doing Master Chief or the MkV (B) armor- I think he should do the latter so that we can somewhat match lol

 

[Clarkusmc]

Helmets looking great! 2-3 coats of the filler primer is a good amount. Unfortunately I haven't messed around with the visors, so not sure the best way to trim that would be

 

[CosmoCornelius]

I'm also printing MkV(B)! Helmet looks great, keep it up. My experience has been one of patience since there's just SO MUCH to print, but I've been focusing on learning about my printer and really making the quality as high as possible.

For visors I was actually planning on doing a vacuum formed one, I'm really interested to see how a motorcycle visor will work though it could be a great option if the trimming gets it to sit flush!