Halo Reach Armor Build (First Project)

zyamaha

Member
Hello and welcome to the page that will be archiving my experiences and progress during the build of my Halo Reach armor!

To start, I am going to relay "the plan," which consists of the armor and the weapons.

The armor that I am going with is a mix of my armor for Halo Reach on the Xbox360 and my armor from the MCC. This consists of the following:

Armor:
Operator Helmet (with attachments)
EVA Shoulders
FJ/PARA Knee Guards
HP Chest with Grenades on Belt
Default Mark V Armor

Weapon(s):
Needle Rifle
Grenade Launcher

We will see how either of these change as the project goes on, but for now those are what I want to do.

All of the pieces will be 3D printed using an Ender 5 Pro.
 
Hello and welcome to the page that will be archiving my experiences and progress during the build of my Halo Reach armor!

To start, I am going to relay "the plan," which consists of the armor and the weapons.

The armor that I am going with is a mix of my armor for Halo Reach on the Xbox360 and my armor from the MCC. This consists of the following:

Armor:
Operator Helmet (with attachments)
EVA Shoulders
FJ/PARA Knee Guards
HP Chest with Grenades on Belt
Default Mark V Armor

Weapon(s):
Needle Rifle
Grenade Launcher

We will see how either of these change as the project goes on, but for now those are what I want to do.

All of the pieces will be 3D printed using an Ender 5 Pro.
*senator Palpatine voice* we'll be watching your career with great interest
 
The Helmet
Okay, so I printed this sometime ago, but wanted to say a few things about the process leading up to and after the printing.

Complications :)
When I first started printing the helmet from NerdForgeDesigns, I had chosen not to resize the helmet. After printing half of it out, I realized that it was going to be absolutely massive on me, so I started over. I measured my head using some methods I learned on here combined with 3D Builder to make my head (I use the armory now). This was a royal pain, but technically worked fine. The operator helmet is a smaller helmet than a lot of the other helmets in Halo Reach, so I sized it to just fit my head through the bottom opening. After the new helmet pieces were printed, I realized that my head would not fit through the neck seal, which I had printed at a later point (oof). I have it connected through Velcro right now so that I can put the helmet on and reattach it, but I think I'll be swapping to elastic so that I can just stretch it as needed and have it hug the helmet again.

Definitely an amateur mistake, but during the last of my helmet print I ran out of filament. I thought that the Ender 5 Pro would automatically stop when the filament ran out, but boy howdy was I wrong. To correct this, I made some adjustments to the helmet file and split it at the exact point where the print ended and then reprinted that piece. Of course, my measurement was off by just the smallest amount, but I will be sanding/cutting it until it fits proper... or I'll just splice and reprint again.

When joining the parts together, I tried to use super glue. It seemed to go pretty well, so I just rolled with that for the upper half of the helmet. After a day, I tested the strength and found that it just came apart immediately. So then I thought "Gorilla Glue must be the answer!" Short answer: No, no it was not. After Gorilla gluing the helmet together, I found that it held together pretty well. Little did I know that I had it all over my hands without noticing. While handling the helmet, I got glue all over the outside of it, but I couldn't tell until it was dry. I washed my hands and waited a few hours where I thought "It has to be dry by now... I'm gonna put it on." Bad idea. Very, very bad idea. So, then I spent my evening cleansing my hair of the gorilla, wondering if it would be a part of me forever. Thankfully, it came out after using lots of alcohol to deactivate the glue (thanks internet). I then decided to look on YouTube for recommendations to join prints together (yeah, I probably should have done that before attempting it with every glue in the drawer) where I found that plastic welding using a soldering iron can be done on the inside of the helmet. I then joined the pieces using that method and got the final result.

Aftermath
So I got my helmet all welded up and then had what is shown below (you can still see the glue ;)). I still don't have the chunk in the back, but it is printed and ready to be cut to length. Some of the pieces were slightly off (specifically the jaw piece), since I did not have anyone to help me hold them when I welded them at the time. But I did minimal welds so that I could disconnect them later when I do have a helping hand.

Overall, this print has been a learning experience, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

Next up will be the forearms because I go in weird orders, lol. :lol:

Edit: The attachments will actually be next... since I already have those printed out.
 

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What a ride. Helmet is looking good though! I can't wait to see how the rest of your armor goes!
 
The Helmet
Okay, so I printed this sometime ago, but wanted to say a few things about the process leading up to and after the printing.

Complications :)
When I first started printing the helmet from NerdForgeDesigns, I had chosen not to resize the helmet. After printing half of it out, I realized that it was going to be absolutely massive on me, so I started over. I measured my head using some methods I learned on here combined with 3D Builder to make my head (I use the armory now). This was a royal pain, but technically worked fine. The operator helmet is a smaller helmet than a lot of the other helmets in Halo Reach, so I sized it to just fit my head through the bottom opening. After the new helmet pieces were printed, I realized that my head would not fit through the neck seal, which I had printed at a later point (oof). I have it connected through Velcro right now so that I can put the helmet on and reattach it, but I think I'll be swapping to elastic so that I can just stretch it as needed and have it hug the helmet again.

Definitely an amateur mistake, but during the last of my helmet print I ran out of filament. I thought that the Ender 5 Pro would automatically stop when the filament ran out, but boy howdy was I wrong. To correct this, I made some adjustments to the helmet file and split it at the exact point where the print ended and then reprinted that piece. Of course, my measurement was off by just the smallest amount, but I will be sanding/cutting it until it fits proper... or I'll just splice and reprint again.

When joining the parts together, I tried to use super glue. It seemed to go pretty well, so I just rolled with that for the upper half of the helmet. After a day, I tested the strength and found that it just came apart immediately. So then I thought "Gorilla Glue must be the answer!" Short answer: No, no it was not. After Gorilla gluing the helmet together, I found that it held together pretty well. Little did I know that I had it all over my hands without noticing. While handling the helmet, I got glue all over the outside of it, but I couldn't tell until it was dry. I washed my hands and waited a few hours where I thought "It has to be dry by now... I'm gonna put it on." Bad idea. Very, very bad idea. So, then I spent my evening cleansing my hair of the gorilla, wondering if it would be a part of me forever. Thankfully, it came out after using lots of alcohol to deactivate the glue (thanks internet). I then decided to look on YouTube for recommendations to join prints together (yeah, I probably should have done that before attempting it with every glue in the drawer) where I found that plastic welding using a soldering iron can be done on the inside of the helmet. I then joined the pieces using that method and got the final result.

Aftermath
So I got my helmet all welded up and then had what is shown below (you can still see the glue ;)). I still don't have the chunk in the back, but it is printed and ready to be cut to length. Some of the pieces were slightly off (specifically the jaw piece), since I did not have anyone to help me hold them when I welded them at the time. But I did minimal welds so that I could disconnect them later when I do have a helping hand.

Overall, this print has been a learning experience, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

Next up will be the forearms because I go in weird orders, lol. :lol:

Edit: The attachments will actually be next... since I already have those printed out.
Oh my god that’s quite the story! Glad it all worked out in the end, you helmet looks great!
 
The Helmet
Okay, so I printed this sometime ago, but wanted to say a few things about the process leading up to and after the printing.

Complications :)
When I first started printing the helmet from NerdForgeDesigns, I had chosen not to resize the helmet. After printing half of it out, I realized that it was going to be absolutely massive on me, so I started over. I measured my head using some methods I learned on here combined with 3D Builder to make my head (I use the armory now). This was a royal pain, but technically worked fine. The operator helmet is a smaller helmet than a lot of the other helmets in Halo Reach, so I sized it to just fit my head through the bottom opening. After the new helmet pieces were printed, I realized that my head would not fit through the neck seal, which I had printed at a later point (oof). I have it connected through Velcro right now so that I can put the helmet on and reattach it, but I think I'll be swapping to elastic so that I can just stretch it as needed and have it hug the helmet again.

Definitely an amateur mistake, but during the last of my helmet print I ran out of filament. I thought that the Ender 5 Pro would automatically stop when the filament ran out, but boy howdy was I wrong. To correct this, I made some adjustments to the helmet file and split it at the exact point where the print ended and then reprinted that piece. Of course, my measurement was off by just the smallest amount, but I will be sanding/cutting it until it fits proper... or I'll just splice and reprint again.

When joining the parts together, I tried to use super glue. It seemed to go pretty well, so I just rolled with that for the upper half of the helmet. After a day, I tested the strength and found that it just came apart immediately. So then I thought "Gorilla Glue must be the answer!" Short answer: No, no it was not. After Gorilla gluing the helmet together, I found that it held together pretty well. Little did I know that I had it all over my hands without noticing. While handling the helmet, I got glue all over the outside of it, but I couldn't tell until it was dry. I washed my hands and waited a few hours where I thought "It has to be dry by now... I'm gonna put it on." Bad idea. Very, very bad idea. So, then I spent my evening cleansing my hair of the gorilla, wondering if it would be a part of me forever. Thankfully, it came out after using lots of alcohol to deactivate the glue (thanks internet). I then decided to look on YouTube for recommendations to join prints together (yeah, I probably should have done that before attempting it with every glue in the drawer) where I found that plastic welding using a soldering iron can be done on the inside of the helmet. I then joined the pieces using that method and got the final result.

Aftermath
So I got my helmet all welded up and then had what is shown below (you can still see the glue ;)). I still don't have the chunk in the back, but it is printed and ready to be cut to length. Some of the pieces were slightly off (specifically the jaw piece), since I did not have anyone to help me hold them when I welded them at the time. But I did minimal welds so that I could disconnect them later when I do have a helping hand.

Overall, this print has been a learning experience, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

Next up will be the forearms because I go in weird orders, lol. :lol:

Edit: The attachments will actually be next... since I already have those printed out.
Quite the ordeal. Many of us have been there, and kudos to you for powering through the difficulties. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress with the rest of the build. It's gonna look amazing!

One tip I've learned over the years, when using super glue to join 3D prints together... Its essential to rough up the edges with some 120-grit sandpaper before you glue them together. Just enough to scuff up the surface (especially if you're not using a textured build plate). I had quite a few pieces pop apart early on. Now, I use superglue to get everything held together in proper alignment, then bust out the soldering iron for some plastic welding and added strength.
 
Quite the ordeal. Many of us have been there, and kudos to you for powering through the difficulties. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress with the rest of the build. It's gonna look amazing!

One tip I've learned over the years, when using super glue to join 3D prints together... Its essential to rough up the edges with some 120-grit sandpaper before you glue them together. Just enough to scuff up the surface (especially if you're not using a textured build plate). I had quite a few pieces pop apart early on. Now, I use superglue to get everything held together in proper alignment, then bust out the soldering iron for some plastic welding and added strength.
Thanks! I sure hope it turns out good!! I'll have to give that method a shot, that way I don't always have to have someone hold the part so I can weld it.
 
The Helmet (Continued)
Printed out the accessories for the helmet with minimal issues. I was able to get everything printed perfectly aside from the two side lenses on the helmet optics, which I had to print twice. I chose a bad print angle when printing them the first time, so there was a lot of failed layers.

These are definitely going to need treatment later on, since some of the layer lines are pretty large. But overall, I'm pretty happy with how they printed.

Next up will be the forearms/wrists...
 

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Forearms
Both of the forearms went really smooth! No complaints here!

PXL_20231007_024152940.jpg


Only issue is that after the forearms, I was able to print out the chest pieces (also turned out great) but when I went to print the back pieces, I realized that my hot end was clogged. Upon closer inspection, it was a really bad clog that completely ruined it, so I ordered the MicroSwiss upgrade kit for my Ender 5 which is working great!

I had to order a different extruder motor for the kit to work though, so now I have a spare motor with a metal extruder attached that I don't need.

More updates to come.
 
the more you learn about the printer the better things get dont get me wrong there will be set backs but it just makes us stronger. great job on thing i will be watching
 
Forearms
Both of the forearms went really smooth! No complaints here!

View attachment 336784


Only issue is that after the forearms, I was able to print out the chest pieces (also turned out great) but when I went to print the back pieces, I realized that my hot end was clogged. Upon closer inspection, it was a really bad clog that completely ruined it, so I ordered the MicroSwiss upgrade kit for my Ender 5 which is working great!

I had to order a different extruder motor for the kit to work though, so now I have a spare motor with a metal extruder attached that I don't need.

More updates to come.
This looks great! You and I are using some of the same files, I'm excited to see how yours turns out too.

What scale is this at? I'm about to start printing forearms and I've been trying to dial in the sizing for them. I wasn't sure if I was going to need to use the optional "two part" prints for the forearms, but yours looks great in one piece!
 
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