Resin/3D Printed/Aluminum Halo 4 Master Chief Upgrades

[VonSnake]

First major post. Have had my suit for 5 almost 6 years. Started off pretty good but fitment wasn't the best, paint colour was off and the undersuit was non-existent. A mix between 3D Printing and resin over an aluminum frame with entirely too much strapping and hot glue to make it work.

Ever since then Elyairis and I have been slowly learning and upgrading the suit. The biggest fight has been the undersuit in our quest to have it have a true 3d effect of the hexagonal design in Halo 4 while still being comfortable. From basic black clothes, to clothes with a hexagonal print on them, to 3 different trials of hand placed hexagons we've almost ironed out the effect as seen in the black and white photo. Just need to incorporate some suspenders or a vest to hold all the hexagons up.

With the undersuit almost done, and over 5 years of wear on the suit it's time to start replacing and upgrading pieces that have begun to crack and break. And what better place to start than at the feet that have broken twice already.

Anyone have any tips on how to get 3d prints to stop cracking apart so easily? All the bolts on the suit are actual functioning bolts used to keep the different pieces together and I've tried to reinforce them as best I can but some of them are cracking pretty easily.

 

[PlanetAlexander]

That's amazing, and I love your commitment to the suit too! There's a few factors to 3D printing to prevent cracking.

The first is material. PLA is a great starting material but isn't the best for cosplay as it's not the strongest and warps easily. I currently use PLA+, but will try and switch to PETG soon. PETG is much stronger than PLA, doesn't warp as easily and is easier to sand - though, can be tricky to print. From there on, there's a few more advanced materials you can use, but they are harder to print and generally require an enclosure to print (to keep the ambient temperature warm), such as ABS.

Next is the setup of the print. Wall thickness actually does a lot more for strength than infill does. I print all of my stuff with 3 walls (0.4mm nozzle) at 10-20% infill, but stuff that needs to remain strong I will bump up to 4 or even 5 if needed.
Print orientation plays a role too, as parts are more likely to crack at the layer lines. This is important for mechanical parts, however it usually isn't a big deal with the rest of the armour, and you'll also want to take into consideration print orientation in regards to details.

Make sure your layers are bonding well when printing, and there's no moisture in the filament, as that can cause a Pandora's box of problems with print quality.

 

[VonSnake]

That's amazing, and I love your commitment to the suit too! There's a few factors to 3D printing to prevent cracking.

The first is material. PLA is a great starting material but isn't the best for cosplay as it's not the strongest and warps easily. I currently use PLA+, but will try and switch to PETG soon. PETG is much stronger than PLA, doesn't warp as easily and is easier to sand - though, can be tricky to print. From there on, there's a few more advanced materials you can use, but they are harder to print and generally require an enclosure to print (to keep the ambient temperature warm), such as ABS.

Next is the setup of the print. Wall thickness actually does a lot more for strength than infill does. I print all of my stuff with 3 walls (0.4mm nozzle) at 10-20% infill, but stuff that needs to remain strong I will bump up to 4 or even 5 if needed.
Print orientation plays a role too, as parts are more likely to crack at the layer lines. This is important for mechanical parts, however it usually isn't a big deal with the rest of the armour, and you'll also want to take into consideration print orientation in regards to details.

Make sure your layers are bonding well when printing, and there's no moisture in the filament, as that can cause a Pandora's box of problems with print quality.

Never realized that there was an actual difference between PLA and PLA+. Neat. Ambient temperature is definitely an issue in my house, and unfortunately I haven't been able to find an enclosure that fits my printer cause it's a custom build. I just keep the room the printer is in closed (cause cat), and have a small space heater below it that helps prevent warping.

I've upgraded to a volcano 0.8 nozzle, and generally print at a hotter temperature with increased cooling and that seems to have made some difference from the first attempt at the feet that cracked within like two wears haha. Though for some reason those pieces cracked directly opposite to the print lines.... so no idea what actually happened there.

Thanks for the help!