Hand to Forarm Joint

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OJ102

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Hey there,

I'm in the process of building an Iron Man Mark 50 Suit, im working my way through modifying the templates and building it with low density foam, adapting them until perfect then making them in High Density foam. I've hit a snag however and thought someone else might have a work around.

I'm working on the section from the shoulder down to the hand currently, its all to the right scale, been modified for hinges on the elbow and such, but I'm not happy with the wrist. The hand plate ends at the base of the hand (as it would) and the forearm starts at the base of the arm, I know, shocker!

But I want to incorporate the wrist somehow. It needs rotational flexibility as well as pivoting up and down. Initially I made it on a long glove and glues the end of the glove inside the forearm, but the twisting on the rubber glove was nasty. I was thinking of extending the glove up the forearm using a smaller diameter thinner foam so it would slot up the arm, but the forarm is a snug fit by design and the extra 2mm all round makes it grind.

Under the suit is a full body Red Unitard with a zipper up the back, this will take care of any joins that cant be covered in armour, but id like to do what I can about most of them with foam so it looks better.

Anyone got any suggestions for a EVA foam wrist. ive got 2mm and 5mm foam in both low and high density to work with.
 
Can you show us a picture of exactly what you're trying to achieve? I know I could look it up, but I'm at work.
 
Its a component to connect these 2 parts together. Ideally attached to the glove. So the glove can rotate like your hand naturally and pivot with the wrist
 

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You will need a flexible material (obviously) that sits between your forearm and the armor, and again under your hand armor and above your hand. ExCeLLuR8 has been experimenting with upholstery foam covered in leak seal, I know. Obviously that'd be too thick, but if you thin it down a lot, that would probably work. Let's see what he says first, though.

ExCeLLuR8, I beseech thee! RISE!!
 
I've got a new supply of materials arriving any day now, among them is 2mm high density foam which im planning to use for fingers, neck and other tight areas. I suspect ill use that for the wrist as its tough but flexible. The image was still of the test arm made of low density foam so I can alter that as well if needed. The hand plate will cover the top of the hand as well come to think of it, so its really the lower wrist thats the issue! although the handplate could pose a headache for rotation too... since the forearm doesn't rotate....

I dont know if my expectations are maybe a little too high.. after all it is foam!
 
Are you looking for this joint to slip under the forearm and be concealed, be a separate plate or to overlap the forearm?

Gauntlet and bracer interactions of 15th and 16th century armour may be a good bit of inspiration for you here. Pins and hinges are probably a bit more restricting of movement than you're looking for but elasticized strapping and nylon webbing is an option to introduce a bit of play into your movement.
 
Ive been going over youtube clips of people wearing these suits and from what i can see, they rely on an undersuit coloured red to mask gaps left for usability.

As this is my first project i dont know where to draw the line between asperations of building what i imaging and building to the limitations of what you can expect from foam lol

Ive been looking at medieval designs but armour back then wasnt designed for dancing in, its motion was restrictive to swinging a bloody great weapon in the general forward direction, not drinking a cup of tea.
 
Can you provide a reference image for the exact version of the ironman suit you're going for?
I found this one, and it looks like the whole joint is covered by a bracer plate, which would restrict his movement in canon, and then you can see undersuit at the bottom of the wrist. If you're targeting a different suit... then what does that look like?
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You will need a flexible material (obviously) that sits between your forearm and the armor, and again under your hand armor and above your hand. ExCeLLuR8 has been experimenting with upholstery foam covered in leak seal, I know. Obviously that'd be too thick, but if you thin it down a lot, that would probably work. Let's see what he says first, though.

ExCeLLuR8, I beseech thee! RISE!!
I have to agree with all the comments below, I actually went out and looked up all the IM cosplays that I could find on Instagram for references of what other people have done. None have completely joined the hand to forearms that i can find, there is just so much movement there, I think it would be difficult to pull off. I think most people solve the issue with scaling the forearm in a way that it butt's up pretty close to the glove but still allows movement while minimizing the gap. I really like Turbos idea of foam plating backed with elastic, probably really your only option and even that would take some engineering to pull off correctly and be reliable. I doubt my upholstery foam/leak seal combo would work here. The only other option i can think of is if you're willing to sew, perhaps getting a 4 way stretch material and sewning it in such a way that it creates like a pleated ribbed seal that is flexible and joined that way, but I still really think you'll want those two pieces to separate for ease of getting suited up and movement. Also, btw, great foam work so far, really looks great!
 
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Its a component to connect these 2 parts together. Ideally attached to the glove. So the glove can rotate like your hand naturally and pivot with the wrist
I know adam savage did a video on something like this somewhere, and I thought he got it to flex, but maybe that was someone else... I'll try to dig around, but I know his rotated good and gave excellent movement
 
I have to agree with all the comments below, I actually went out and looked up all the IM cosplays that I could find on Instagram for references of what other people have done. None have completely joined the hand to forearms that i can find, there is just so much movement there, I think it would be difficult to pull off. I think most people solve the issue with scaling the forearm in a way that it butt's up pretty close to the glove but still allows movement while minimizing the gap. I really like Turbos idea of foam plating backed with elastic, probably really your only option and even that would take some engineering to pull off correctly and be reliable. I doubt my upholstery foam/leak seal combo would work here. The only other option i can think of is if you're willing to sew, perhaps getting a 4 way stretch material and sewning it in such a way that it creates like a pleated ribbed seal that is flexible and joined that way, but I still really think you'll want those two pieces to separate for ease of getting suited up and movement. Also, btw, great foam work so far, really looks great!
Check out this method of keeping semi-rigid plates in the correct place but mobile about a given direction using strapping and rivets.
P.S. I may be currently researching a few methods of making comfortable medieval style armour for reasons.
 
Check out this method of keeping semi-rigid plates in the correct place but mobile about a given direction using strapping and rivets.
P.S. I may be currently researching a few methods of making comfortable medieval style armour for reasons. 3d print flexible armor pieces would be very useful as well!
Yeah this is great and sorta has me wanting to start building things in leather too.. that articulation is perfect. That guy that did the spartan Locke undersuit sort of followed this design using eva foam.
 
Thos was actually one of the options i have earmarked for joining the suit together.

Make underlapping panels on ajoining parts and use elastic buckela to join them so they can slide under each other.

In regards to the wrist since as you say its such a small a small area, im thinking using a scale effect plating attached to a forearm length glove. Once the structure is done ive got electronics to add, and i suspect a removable will make that easier. The handplate extends from the top of the forarm over the hand to the nuckles so would hide and join needed for the glove. The glove itselt is red, and the same material as the body suit so it wont be obviois its removable.

That leather motion effect with the armour looks very cool, i think the concept woild work great with something fluid like the ironman armour where he appears so flexible yet heavily armoured.. maybe painted leather would make a good medium for a heavy detailed version! But i bet it would get hot inside!
 
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