3D Print Halo Armor

[TayS321]

I'm still in the cardstock phase of making armor but my friend recently lent me his 3D printer. He's leaving CA for a couple years and doesn't see himself using it that much while he's out and about, lucky me!! It's a Solidoodle printer and I've made some test prints of different objects but I'm now gunning to see if I can make some armor parts.

First off, let me know if I'm breaking any taboos about printing from these models. This armor is for personal use only and I have no intentions whatsoever to start some kind of assembly line.

This first test is of the shoulder from Halo Reach. It's scaled down from the actual size I have here in paper so I could see how well it printed before wasting material on larger pieces. I opened the obj file in Maya, extruded the piece inward to give it form and then converted it to an stl file for print.

The messy tangle of thread is just from lack of a support structure while being printed. Though the bottom part that was in contact with the printer bed actually warped, making it come away from the bed and come loose in the middle of printing. Because of that, it didn't actually get to finish.

I'm still looking up ways to keep the bottom from warping during print, it's been pretty consistent on everything I've made. If anyone has any recommendations they could make it'd be appreciated =D

 

[Katsu]

Hi! The only time you run into trouble is if you try and sell these. When we print and build pepakura, it's the same thing as this just with a different medium, same rules apply.

I don't have much experience with your specific printer, but I am a fairly experienced teacher of 3d printing at TechShop.

I am assuming you're printing in abs. Curling and popping off the bed are VERY common problems with ABS and there are a number of ways you can address it. If you have control of the heated build plate, making sure it's at 110 degrees Celsius (If it's within the safe range of your machine) is one step. Another is, most 3d printers are open air. This lets heat escape easily from the machine, and it also leaves the printed object exposed. Simple acts like opening a door, open windows, or fans can cause adhesion problems in ABS and make it detach from surfaces or itself. A poor-man solution would be to get a big cardboard box and put it over the machine while it's printing. If you want to see in you can cut out the sides and cover them with a good quality saran wrap, but it won't trap heat as well.

You also want to be sure you're printing at the best temperatures for ABS, it varies a bit for machines, but is usually around 230 degrees Celsius.

The last thing is to see if your software has a "raft" option that you can activate. These are nifty intermediary layers that act as an anchor to prevent the object from detaching, but it can only do so much to help if the machine is exposed. Covering it with a box is absolutely the best thing you can do to improve build quality. Our makerbot was open-air for a long time, and it was very difficult to get prints that didn't detach, or had curled bottoms, or just didn't have layers attach to each other. We built an acrylic box that encases ours, but a cardboard one works just as well if you don't have a laser cutter!

It is looking really good so far, good job on the thickness. Now you need to figure out how to break the model apart -> print -> snap back together without horrible seams!

If you want a cool inspiration that is somewhat related, this scout pistol is on Thingiverse and it is designed to print in sections and snap back together:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:42811

I just printed it out myself!!

(If you don't know about thingiverse, it's youtube for 3d printing, you can download that file and print that pistol yourself)

Edit: If you ever have more questions, feel free to ask, I love to give my opinions on 3d printing!! Hahaha! But I do like to help, and it's pretty new technology for regular consumers. We're done some prop stuff with ours.

 

[KingRahl]

That's a good first try. When you try a full scaled print, you may want to try with a model that's a little more high def. After all, one of the benefits if using 3d printing is not having to use bondo and add the details later.

 

[TayS321]

That's a good first try. When you try a full scaled print, you may want to try with a model that's a little more high def. After all, one of the benefits if using 3d printing is not having to use bondo and add the details later.

I actually didn't know that was the low res file, LOL. I'll try to scrounge around for the more high def one, since you're right, if I'm printing it I might as well make it the super awesome pretty version. TY for the heads up.

Hi! The only time you run into trouble is if you try and sell these. When we print and build pepakura, it's the same thing as this just with a different medium, same rules apply.

I don't have much experience with your specific printer, but I am a fairly experienced teacher of 3d printing at TechShop.

I am assuming you're printing in abs. Curling and popping off the bed are VERY common problems with ABS and there are a number of ways you can address it. If you have control of the heated build plate, making sure it's at 110 degrees Celsius (If it's within the safe range of your machine) is one step. Another is, most 3d printers are open air. This lets heat escape easily from the machine, and it also leaves the printed object exposed. Simple acts like opening a door, open windows, or fans can cause adhesion problems in ABS and make it detach from surfaces or itself. A poor-man solution would be to get a big cardboard box and put it over the machine while it's printing. If you want to see in you can cut out the sides and cover them with a good quality saran wrap, but it won't trap heat as well.

You also want to be sure you're printing at the best temperatures for ABS, it varies a bit for machines, but is usually around 230 degrees Celsius.

The last thing is to see if your software has a "raft" option that you can activate. These are nifty intermediary layers that act as an anchor to prevent the object from detaching, but it can only do so much to help if the machine is exposed. Covering it with a box is absolutely the best thing you can do to improve build quality. Our makerbot was open-air for a long time, and it was very difficult to get prints that didn't detach, or had curled bottoms, or just didn't have layers attach to each other. We built an acrylic box that encases ours, but a cardboard one works just as well if you don't have a laser cutter!

It is looking really good so far, good job on the thickness. Now you need to figure out how to break the model apart -> print -> snap back together without horrible seams!

If you want a cool inspiration that is somewhat related, this scout pistol is on Thingiverse and it is designed to print in sections and snap back together:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:42811

I just printed it out myself!!

Thanks! I'm certain I'll have a lot of questions as I learn this medium, haha. It is indeed ABS and my temps I've been using so far have been 195C for the extruder and 95C for the bed. I'll double check my printer specs and do another test print with a higher temp as well as your box trick. Maybe a cardboard box with a seran wrap viewing window for it? I've seen a few images of the acrylic casing on printers like you described but I never knew that it was for that kind of function. I've made sure not to alter the temperature while it's prints but it's really funny because all my experience with computers and electronics always yells at me to keep the machine cool. Glad I made sure not to =P

The tough party will def be blowing it apart when I enlarge it into a life size print. KingRahl's vid should give me a good start on that. Funny that you gave me the pistol link, I've downloaded and got this rail gun file saved to make alongside the armor. This one seems less "snap together" and more of a not as cool "glue it and hope everything lines up without ugly seams."

 

[Jason 078]

That is why I have always been in favor of adding nubs and holes for my 3D files. It makes things easier to line up and glue together.

As for the armor, have you thought about commissioning a 3D set rather than using a pep set? It would mean less edges where there should be smooth curves. Also, look at adding little dovetails to the back for some plastic resin when you get them together (to hold them better). Perhaps also a layer or two of fiberglass (in plastic resin, not poly) to the back to hold it together in case it gets bumped hard when warm (i.e. the glue might not entirely hold).

 

[TayS321]

Never occurred to me that I could do that, hahaha. I was just sticking with the tutorials and pep database so far, would I just make a thread asking about it? Also, what would have happened if I tried to coat it in poly resin?

Also, my ghetto heat insulator is ready to roll! Will upload results when they're done printing.

 

[TayS321]

Tests actually finished this time! The top part that was adhered to the printer bed still warped a tiny bit, but at least this time it stuck. Printer bed temp was set to 105 so I'm sure if I just add a raft it will solve the issue. Still need to figure out how to turn on support structures in Slic3r so I can keep overhangs from being tangled messes.

 

[KingRahl]

Are you using Pronterface? Click settings, slicing settings, this will open up Slic3r. Depending on which version you use... Either;

Click print settings tab, scroll down until you see support material section and check mark the box next to generate support material:

or click on print settings tab. On the left, click support material. This will open the settings on the right. Find the generate support material box and check it.


You drag and drop your file you wish to print into the "plater" window. And export g-code...

If you want to use these settings all the time, click file on the top left and export config...

 

[TayS321]

Got it working. I was actually saving it under the wrong printing profile, haha. I'm going to be taking some time to get familiar with Blender. After fiddling in Maya for an afternoon, it feels harder to edit objects in it than Blender seems to be. It's gonna be a long road learning it, then perfecting breaking down armor pieces into printable files, but I'm starting to enjoy it. I think this may be more of my medium as opposed to strictly pep and resin.

 

[PolyEngineer]

Question for ya, where are you getting the material for that specific type of 3D printer? We have a similar printer at the lab I work in, but hardly anyone uses it. It's "unreliable" (AKA: nobody truly knows how to use it), and above that the material is bloody expensive.

 

[TayS321]

Question for ya, where are you getting the material for that specific type of 3D printer? We have a similar printer at the lab I work in, but hardly anyone uses it. It's "unreliable" (AKA: nobody truly knows how to use it), and above that the material is bloody expensive.

http://store.solidoodle.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=62
This is the ABS filament that I use with my printer that's also sold from their store. I haven't used up my first spool yet (only about a 1/3 of the way through it) and haven't shopped around to compare prices for a replacement, but for the amount I've been able to print so far, the price seems pretty decent.

 

[KingRahl]

Amazon usually has some good prices. Keep an eye on the shipping cost though.

 

[Katsu]

One of the sellers on Amazon is Octave, they're operated down the street from me so I just go over there and buy from the warehouse with no shipping... bwahaha

 

[KingRahl]

I buy from Octave as well. They have great shipping rates when you buy 4 rolls at a time.

 

[Katsu]

Not to talk them up too much, I just love the convenience of living close to them, and their really good customer service. They also massively undersell Makerbot spools (30$ octave vs 50-60$ makerbot).

They also recently started stocking 4-color rolls. A few months ago I bought a spool of glow in the dark and it was really fun, but now I'm like "What the heck do I use it for now that I've printed twenty glow in the dark storm troopers?" It's nice to get a 1/3 kilo of each color.

 

[1337]

If you are doing your own .stl files, and you have the money, you could send the file out to Shapeways or some such like that and have it printed for you. that way you are not limited by the printing surface size of your printer. it would still be your own work since you made the models. kinda expensive though.

 

[Bioshutt]

You might want to take a look at this guy's 3d printed minigun on the RPF http://www.therpf.com/f9/3d-printed-minigun-replica-186044/ for help with your 3d printer questions and about the plastic as well

 

[TayS321]

You might want to take a look at this guy's 3d printed minigun on the RPF http://www.therpf.com/f9/3d-printed-minigun-replica-186044/ for help with your 3d printer questions and about the plastic as well

Thanks for the link! It answered a couple questions I had for farther down the assembly line.