Convince me not to. Mk6 1st build

[billeybob250]

voltage converters arrived yesterday, USB splitter arriving today and a multimeter bc i cant find mine. in theory if i can get enough time tonight i can have a rough circuit built.

Sadly i also have to fix my meat smoker tonight so it'll be a toss up on if i have time or not.

 

[billeybob250]

So i got the basic circuit set up last night.

5v lith ion battery, usb splitter to fans and to other electrons, other electrons are a voltage converter (everything past it runs on about 3V) 4 leds in parallel and my headphones also in parallel. There is technically a 10 ohm resister on the leds and headset but i haven't decided if im keeping that it depends on it i think the lights are to bright or not. the headphones still have their operational on off switch and volume control.



The voltage converter already has the 5v power and coms soldered on. and i removed one of the mics from the circuit and started putting it into the helmet.

Tonight i am going to solder the 3v hot and coms onto the converter and take the other mic off and put it into the helmet.

Now that i know my circuit works i can move full speed into installing everything and figuring out how i want to run wires and where to put the battery pack. My biggest issue now is how to install/keep stable the LEDS. the helmet has 4 led holes and they are all completely open i was thinking some EVA foam poke the LED through and back it with aluminum foil to reflect the light out the hole more.

 

[billeybob250]

29 days till cgc. Helmet is mostly done
I need to put padding in and ear perfection and affix the visor and the. Its done, rigging on the left thigh and shin are coming along. Rigging on the right thigh has started.

Weathering on the thighs, and butt have started.

My shotgun is sanded to 120 grit but i havnt had time to touch it in like 3 weeks it likley wont be dont by con but who knows.

 

[billeybob250]

15 days till con. Wife has added some weathering to helmet and thighs. I am reprinting the back plates as they are 10% smaller then the front. If I cant get tit done in time I'll make due with the mismatch scaling. I have rigging on the left shin and thigh done, rigging on the right shin and thigh started.

I have started painting my oddworks shotgun. Im calling the shotgun basically done sense I have so much armor work left to do.

 

[billeybob250]

10 days.

Shotgun is almost done. I had to reprint a few parts and used PETG. Should be fully assembled and painted today.

Saturday night wife helped with me a suit up as much as we could to figure out where we are with rigging.

I am reprinting the back parts as they are the wrong scale you can see the front plate on the floor to my right.

 

[MooseCast89]

Looking good bud. I am jealous of the pace your managing to keep but excited to see it develop!

 

[billeybob250]

Looking good bud. I am jealous of the pace your managing to keep but excited to see it develop!

I'm glad someone thinks so. i fell terrible about my pace. i had imagined this would all be done in may. or at least all wearable in may.

 

[MooseCast89]

Well its faster then me by leaps and bounds so you can put that in your belt.

 

[billeybob250]

Chest is now done, Cod should be done now, ( i had to add more glue last night cod may not survive the convention), shoulders should be done now as well.

Wife approved me getting a chest speaker and voice modulator so I'm loading up quick play sounds and will paly around with volume and voice adjusting later.

started adding elastic in my shoulder piece so i can hold a battery back up there.

 

[ArcaneGhoul]

Your suit and helmet look awesome so far!! It’ll be sick to see it complete, good luck with the rest!

 

[billeybob250]

Cgc weekend. 1st con.

 

[billeybob250]

So with my first con in the books. What have i learned.

1) my shoe covers are terrible. they are clanky, they dig into my heal. and i broke the toe cover part immediately after checking in at the front desk.

solution: I am reprinting the toe cover part to be longer and a bit wider, i am thinking of making it taller as well and then adding rubber matting underneath it to give it a real soul. Then the shoe inside it will probably be crocks. Thank you marinesniper for that idea.

2) my right gauntlet and left thigh were to small. i knew this going into the con but it wasn't terrible this likely wont be fixed in this version of the suit because its bearable just not optimal.

solution: suit V2 will have bigger more comfortable thighs and gauntlets. Additionally. i may slice out the inner thigh part (in black) and replace it with TPU for added walking confirm and to experiment with TPU.(this will require wife's approval due to cost).

3) Helmet is kind of hot and was only comfortable for 20-45 minutes at a time.

Solution: easy enough add more fans. i currently have 1 will do 2 minimum if not 3.

Wife required fix. integrate the battery pack and an on off switch into the helmet i had the battery pack in my shoulder and a cord up to my helmet and wife hated that as it was very hard to hook up my self.

4) parts of the armor could be uncomfortable in specific positions. There was absolutely no padding inside the armor just around places like my neck, or wrists.

Solution: Add foam padding inside armor. like shins so i can kneel, some on the butt pad for additional sitting comfort, and some inside the torso for better and more consistent body placement. The torso liked to shift backward or forwards on me making it uncomfortable in some positions.


I think this covers most of the major issues with version 1. As soon as i finish the toe covers and get this armor deployed i think i will be wrapping up this thread and beginning a new one for version 2. there are rumors version 2 will be part part foam but we will see.


Here are some of my favorite pics from CGC

Me infront of the small CGC lights.

My son, Marine sniper and myself at the booth.

And 9 of us Infront of the big CGC lights. I will forever be mad that i didn't have my weapon for this.

 

[BRVSTR]

What material did you print your boots out of?

 

[billeybob250]

What material did you print your boots out of?

Everything was PLA.

 

[BRVSTR]

Everything was PLA.

I suggest TPU for your boots. That's what I did for mine.

I originally printed them in PLA. Way too rigid. The moment I tried to take a step the toe guard cracked open. PLA's also too dense.

TPU is lighter and can flex with you. Way more comfortable to walk in.

You can even use your slicer to model in a shoe bottom, which will be even more secure. One way to do that is by generating a cube, scaling it to 3mm on the z-axis (or however thick you want it to be), and use the x and y axes to have it just cover the bottom of the boot. Then Boolean or assemble them together so they print as one piece. You can always just cut off the excess.
Or if you're able to use a modeling program (I used Fusion 360) you can draw a sole yourself and just fuse it within the slicer.
You can always glue some sole rubber to that, too. The increased surface area will hold up better.

I'm not at home right now but I can get some pictures of it later if you want.

 

[billeybob250]

I suggest TPU for your boots. That's what I did for mine.

I originally printed them in PLA. Way too rigid. The moment I tried to take a step the toe guard cracked open. PLA's also too dense.

TPU is lighter and can flex with you. Way more comfortable to walk in.

You can even use your slicer to model in a shoe bottom, which will be even more secure. One way to do that is by generating a cube, scaling it to 3mm on the z-axis (or however thick you want it to be), and use the x and y axes to have it just cover the bottom of the boot. Then Boolean or assemble them together so they print as one piece. You can always just cut off the excess.
Or if you're able to use a modeling program (I used Fusion 360) you can draw a sole yourself and just fuse it within the slicer.
You can always glue some sole rubber to that, too. The increased surface area will hold up better.

I'm not at home right now but I can get some pictures of it later if you want.

Thank makes perfect sense no need to example it for me. i was pondering doing the bottom sole idea. im also thinking i may use PETG. i don't have TPU currently and haven't printed in it before.


This is my current idea for a shoe reprint. The feet size are mine with shoes on. the toe covers seems clownishly large.

 

[billeybob250]

Does anyone know where i can get STL's or peprika files for the mk vi neck gasket or ab-wrap? im not ready to make them but it would be nice to have for when i make v2.