Show me your Iron Man gloves.

[BuildsByBaz]

I've has several attempts at the gauntlets for my steel Iron Man MK IV. Paper pep/fibreglass, foam of all thicknesses, cast aluminium, steel, plasti-dipped foam, (disaster). Not trying to be too much of a perfectionist, but these things SUCK BALLS!

I'd like to see your solutions folks, all the little ideas together on one thread, that might help me and others down the track to solve the most difficult part of the suit.

Photos would be great, links, tutorials, whatever. Let's see what you've got.

SB.

Here's my last two in cast aluminium, then steel. Both are not working as well as I'd hoped. The problem is that while they might look good, I can't perform simple tasks with them, like picking things up, making a full fist etc. Joining the fingers so they still move is also a challenge.

 

[SavedbyGraceG12]

Sandbagger

My assumption is that the newer palm is rounded out which sits up a little higher compared to the older version. The older version seems to give you more room to make a fist. I was thinking maybe the finger tips are casted in aluminum, which is way thicker than the other finger plates that rest on the other joints of the finger. Which seem to be a good thickness, although maybe making them a little more narrow on the bottom side where the bends are underneath your fingers. Hope I'm making sense.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

My assumption is that the newer palm is rounded out which sits up a little higher compared to the older version. The older version seems to give you more room to make a fist. I was thinking maybe the finger tips are casted in aluminum, which is way thicker than the other finger plates that rest on the other joints of the finger. Which seem to be a good thickness, although maybe making them a little more narrow on the bottom side where the bends are underneath your fingers. Hope I'm making sense.

The problem comes when you have lots of people with fanciful ideas of how something could work, versus the harsh reality of wrapping a flexible organic appendage in a rigid external shell. Without EXTREMELY complex engineering or soft hybrid materials where needed, one simply loses all but basic range of motion.

Big problem number one comes from the hand plates front and back. If you enclose from the wrist all the way to the webs of the fingers and thumb, there is a straight fold 3/4 of the way up on the inside of your palm that is now blocked. Similarly, when you bend your fingers and hand, the knuckles automatically raise. A rigid back-shell also stops this, restricting a full bend.

Have a look at my hand study video below.

Big problem number two is the fingers. How to fully enclose the fingers, hide the gaps underneath and join them to the rest of the glove so they don't fall off.

Big problem number three is getting them on and off. All well and good to make an entire one-piece or even three-piece glove, but how do you get it on and off without first running your hand under a truck to crush it to mush so you can squirt your hand into a form-fitting rigid exoskeleton. You can see my attempts above are OK, but there are still these problems.

Do I just live with it, or has someone got an answer? People have been wearing metal gauntlets for centuries, but most of them were plates riveted over the top of a leather glove, leaving the palm just leather.

An Iron Man glove is radically different in that the metal is fully enclosing.

 

[SavedbyGraceG12]

Hopefully I didn't disappoint with response? Just trying to help. Sorry if I did. Didn't realize it would be a little more technical with the functionality of getting a handplate to work properly. Before watching the video I totally understand what you meant after explaining the issue with the raising of the knuckles. And again sorry, wish I had the answer, or a solution to the appending issue at had.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Hopefully I didn't disappoint with response? Just trying to help. Sorry if I did. Didn't realize it would be a little more technical with the functionality of getting a handplate to work properly. Before watching the video I totally understand what you meant after explaining the issue with the raising of the knuckles. And again sorry, wish I had the answer, or a solution to the appending issue at had.

It's all good mate. I really do appreciate you answer. All answers are useful, even if they get me to think in different directions. Thanks for taking the time!

SB