Rage's first build!!! The MK IV and Halo 3 Assault Rifle

[Bird]

Well ... The past few days have been interesting. I was successfully able to glue all the pieces of my helmet together and got the magnets all oriented the correct direction. I did struggle a bit figuring that out and had to pry some magnets out to fix the polarity.
I was very excited to have a completed helmet and put it on without verifying the glue was dry.
Needless to say, my husband and I spent 35 minutes getting super glue out of my hair so I didn't have to cut it all off.
Now comes the million hours of sanding before priming.

I have also changed the order of my printing schedule. I will focus now on printing the under suit first. I'm using tpu. This will be a fun adventure figuring this out!

I talked to blafftat at Dragon Con and got to see his TPU suit and I got inspired to order some TPU for some test prints. I was thinking the same thing about using TPU for an undersuit, I like PETG for the hard parts but man now I can make a believable and flexible undersuit without having to mess with leather (my sewing is a bit rusty lol) and I currently dont have the experience or equipment/materials and space to use rubber/urethane! I'm excited to see how your TPU parts come out!

 

[RageGoblin]

I talked to blafftat at Dragon Con and got to see his TPU suit and I got inspired to order some TPU for some test prints. I was thinking the same thing about using TPU for an undersuit, I like PETG for the hard parts but man now I can make a believable and flexible undersuit without having to mess with leather (my sewing is a bit rusty lol) and I currently dont have the experience or equipment/materials and space to use rubber/urethane! I'm excited to see how your TPU parts come out!

So the TPU printing has been a HUGE learning experience. It's definitely something you can't buy the cheaper option and expect it to turn out well. I've been happy with the Overture brand.
There's also different hardnesses of TPU. The typical one (and in my novice opinion the best one) for the main part of the under suit is the 95A type of TPU. However, the big issue you're going to run into is when you try and print you joint pieces. 95A is great for being 'squishy', but it's terrible at bending or flexing. So you won't be able to bend your knees or elbows if you use it for those. If you try to put too much stretch on it the print will tear or split apart.
There's a foam type of TPU that is supposed to be much more flexible and very slightly stretchy, but it's much more expensive and I would assume much more difficult to get the parameters right for a successful print.
For my under suit, I cut the bendy parts out and am not going to try and have anything around my knee caps, elbows or shoulders for that. For my next suit, or after this suit is completed, I may go back and attempt these components with the foam TPU, but we'll see.

 

[Brother Drim]

So the TPU printing has been a HUGE learning experience. It's definitely something you can't buy the cheaper option and expect it to turn out well. I've been happy with the Overture brand.
There's also different hardnesses of TPU. The typical one (and in my novice opinion the best one) for the main part of the under suit is the 95A type of TPU. However, the big issue you're going to run into is when you try and print you joint pieces. 95A is great for being 'squishy', but it's terrible at bending or flexing. So you won't be able to bend your knees or elbows if you use it for those. If you try to put too much stretch on it the print will tear or split apart.
There's a foam type of TPU that is supposed to be much more flexible and very slightly stretchy, but it's much more expensive and I would assume much more difficult to get the parameters right for a successful print.
For my under suit, I cut the bendy parts out and am not going to try and have anything around my knee caps, elbows or shoulders for that. For my next suit, or after this suit is completed, I may go back and attempt these components with the foam TPU, but we'll see.

This is actually something I had an issue with even with my silicone pieces. I dropped the shoulders and elbows for the Dragoncon parade just to have the extra flexibility (and to not die to heat... >.>)

I have seen the self foaming TPU and have been curious about it myself. If you try it out let us know how it works out!

 

[Bird]

So the TPU printing has been a HUGE learning experience. It's definitely something you can't buy the cheaper option and expect it to turn out well. I've been happy with the Overture brand.
There's also different hardnesses of TPU. The typical one (and in my novice opinion the best one) for the main part of the under suit is the 95A type of TPU. However, the big issue you're going to run into is when you try and print you joint pieces. 95A is great for being 'squishy', but it's terrible at bending or flexing. So you won't be able to bend your knees or elbows if you use it for those. If you try to put too much stretch on it the print will tear or split apart.
There's a foam type of TPU that is supposed to be much more flexible and very slightly stretchy, but it's much more expensive and I would assume much more difficult to get the parameters right for a successful print.
For my under suit, I cut the bendy parts out and am not going to try and have anything around my knee caps, elbows or shoulders for that. For my next suit, or after this suit is completed, I may go back and attempt these components with the foam TPU, but we'll see.

I think I saw you have a P1S? Is one of the brands you tried Bambu's own filament? I've used their PETG for my ODST build and the print quality was fantastic so I was going to try their TPU out but if you've tried both and Overture's is better I may have to try it out instead!

 

[RageGoblin]

I think I saw you have a P1S? Is one of the brands you tried Bambu's own filament? I've used their PETG for my ODST build and the print quality was fantastic so I was going to try their TPU out but if you've tried both and Overture's is better I may have to try it out instea

Yes. I have a P1S. No, I haven't tried Bambu's own filament. I will order a roll when I run out of the TPU I currently have and update on the differences, if I notice any. I know the Overture brand is a little cheaper, which is why I switched to it.

 

[Bird]

Yes. I have a P1S. No, I haven't tried Bambu's own filament. I will order a roll when I run out of the TPU I currently have and update on the differences, if I notice any. I know the Overture brand is a little cheaper, which is why I switched to it.

Awesome! And yeah I was looking at that price, like double most standard filaments oof. Well I'm excited to see how they compare and if I get my printer set back up soon enough and order some (in the process of moving) before you get to it I'll share my results too! Maybe save you some extra bucks if its not any better if not worse!