3D printed armor... how do y'all deal with arm mobility issues?

[CasuallyFlacid]

So like the title says..... arm mobility. Fuuuu I'm kinda bummed as my first "suit up" in my newly finished (fully printed) armor has left me with... issues. I have very little mobility in my arms. Only about 90° bend at the elbow and poor shoulder movement. The bicep and forearm are single pieces, so I'm probably gunna have to either cut them up or completely restart. Any suggestions?

 

[Marty Falco]

As opposed to foam I don’t think you’re supposed to have a lot of mobility with hard 3D printed parts. That’s just kinda how it is. The mobility with my first suit-up was not great. You just have to move slowly. I did not experience what you’re describing with the arms however. Maybe your scaling is off and your parts are too small? Too big? 90 degrees sounds right for the elbow bend however. The bulk of the parts will not allow you to do a full range of motion bicep curl for example where your forearm is basically touching your bicep.

 

[Marty Falco]

Straight arm, bent arm, shoulder raised. The parts collide at 90 degrees. If you bend further it will just push the forearm closer towards your hand

 

[CasuallyFlacid]

View attachment 324971View attachment 324970View attachment 324972
Straight arm, bent arm, shoulder raised. The parts collide at 90 degrees. If you bend further it will just push the forearm closer towards your hand

Ya that's basically the same as my arms are. My only worry is being to remove my helmet without assistance. I might have to make the bicep part removable or something just so I can do that.

 

[JuryRigged]

I see what's going on, it's a more widespread problem with 3d designs in general I've noticed. A lot of designs in video games and animated shows that they create are really cool designs but a lot of it is non functional. The bicep is a common mistake. It fails because the plate digs in to the bend of your elbow as opposed to leaving a gap there for your arm to bend like it's supposed to.
The only ways to get around that would be to set the armor higher up on your bicep for clearance, modifying the design for clearance, or making the part out of a flexible material that can take being crushed between your arm and bicep.

 

[crackhead09]

You will need to practice. If you have a toy of a spartan, you can see how it moves and just realize that you and that toy will have the same mobility, more or less.

 

[CasuallyFlacid]

Thank you for the replies, Ya'll. I made some slight modifications to the biceps and it made a huge difference in mobility.