Wake up, John... I need you... to build something.

[Koothulu]

[Disclaimer: sort of a long post]

Hello everyone,

It's been a while. 2017/18 I believe was the last time I had been working on something, and believe me a lot of life events and career changes occurred since then. I haven't been on the cosplay scene since 2014, and haven't build a full suit of armor since 2013 I reckon. It's led to many unfinished and unsuccessful, abandoned, projects. All you need is to check out my feed and you will see the bread crumbs. Moving several times, family emergencies, career changes, basically life taking a u-turn in the middle of the freeway kind of stuff, of and covid took a toll on the world, It felt as though I had taken my hobbies and gone into cryo-sleep...

But then....

Life slowed back down and I woke up! feeling creative and itching for making things (I promise its not just the cryo-fleas). With some money I have saved I was finally able to get myself a 3D printer. It might not be like making pepakura, but it definitely saves me time that I am spending crafting.

For those curious I bought the kit version of the MK4S. Here are some specs of the printer itself:

Build Volume	250 x 210 x 220 mm | 9.84 x 8.3 x 8.6 in
Filament diameter	1.75 mm
Layer height	0.05-0.30 mm
Printer dimensions (without spool)	7 kg, 500×550×400 mm; 19.6×21.6×15.7 in (X×Y×Z)

So far I have no complaints about the printer. It feels easy to use, and Prusa is all open source from what I gather and parts can be modified and changed via the users capabilities. My only issue I have had so far is the wireless capabilities seem to not function properly, and I don't know if it's a faulty part or something. If anyone has any clue what I'm talking about or might has had similar issues please let me know. Here is a snapshot of when I was building the thingy thing:

Anyways, All this printer construction and fuel from my love for halo led me to acquire some 3D files, and thus began my great journey...

At this point I was still learning how to position files and manipulate the settings to get the highest quality out of my printer. I also wanted to mimic the scaling of what I saw on screen for Halo infinite when chief holds Joyouse chip. The next step was to take it up a notch and print something a little larger.

With a few benchies and AI chips printed up, I felt it was time I got some files and started printing up something. I went and purchased (On sale if I remembered correctly) the MC infinite files from galactic armory, and I started to print up my next halo cosplay!

I was using armorsmith for scaling my armor which I want to say is very clunky at times, and crashes a lot for me. I am a part of the Facebook group and am currently looking into troubleshooting for myself. scaling however is and will be the bane to all of my costumes and pieces I have ever built.. I've never been able to scale things properly no matter how much time I've spent. I don't really know what I do wrong with my measurements or what I need to be looking for with the scaling factors, if there is a try and true method that works every time, please someone tell me.

I got everything prepared and started printing. I will go on to say right now that this is soooooooo much faster than building via pepakura. While I will always have a love and desire to cut and glue the paper out, this is saving my joints a significant amount of pain that occurs during the paper and glue process.

apologies for the orange sunset lighting.... but here was the final shot of the print!

From this photo above ^^^ the helmet seems a little large.

Now part of me feels so excited to see the rest of the build and how a full suit of armor will feel on my person again. I keep feeling though that this helmet is gigantic compared to my actual head. I have paused on prints recently because I am back in school to become an electrician, and I also wanted to make sure that I am scaling things correctly. maybe its all in my head, but if anyone agrees the size seems rather large please feel free to comment.


My goal for this project are simple... make something and have fun. Since it's my first project in a long time I'd rather make it and have fun making it rather than attempt to rush to the finish line for a con or premiere. I do have a vision for things I want to add to the costume, but for now I will keep the ambitions to just printing and getting all the parts together. Finishing touches with come later.

Be well, be kind, and play Halo everyone!

 

[arma358]

Yay! Glad to see you coming back. That's something I've recently done with just a repaint of my last, most recent set of armor, while I try to figure out what I might actually want to build.

 

[YTunz]

Welcome back friend! If you feel that your helmet is a bit too big, I recommend filling it up with some foam or one of those airsoft helmet foam kits. I've used them on both of my ODST helmets, and it turns a bobble head into something well fitting.

 

[Koothulu]

Thank you!

It’s good to be back, it’s been way too long!

arma358 I have some helmets left that I could dig out of boxes and repaint. I can see myself customizing my armor and Interchange things like in the good old H3 days with this current build. I’ll give that a try!

YTunz I’ll have to give that a shot as well, I think for my last helmet I just cut a bunch of foam out and shoved it in the helmet. I do look forward to the final steps and fitting everything, so I’ll keep this on the todo list

 

[Koothulu]

Hey everyone,

[Disclaimer: another, much longer, long post]

Happy holidays! I hope you all are doing well. I figured I'd post a little update on the build and show what I have built so far. I have been busy with school and the holidays, as well as unforeseen maintenance issues both with the printer and vehicle. Only some minor technical difficulties all which were resolved.

Without further delay, here's where we are at.

I guess I should start with how me being my picky self decided to print (reprint) a second helmet. This time I wanted to try sizing the piece a little better, and use a different filament. This filament would be the same that I will be using for the entire build. I am really happy with the results. Not only did the print fit just right, but I also had little issues with the supports this time. I intend to still use the first helmet print, just as a testing model to practice techniques and methods before moving onto the new helmet. Here are some photos of the new helmet!

Also, at my workplace I have the luxury of using some of the facilities in the maintenance department as well as some of the scraps from leftover projects. With some of those scraps and parts I brought from home I built my own vacuum forming table, with the help of a colleague.

With the helmet complete it was time to move on to the arms.

With the entire left arm complete I was ready to move on to the next arm.

alas.... this is where I ran into some trouble...

I started printing the right bicep (an 18 hr print...I realize I probably could have reduced the time) while I was at work. I came home to my printer screen frozen and bicep plates 3/4 of the way finished. Unfortunately I wasn't sure how to remove the extruder unit without canceling the print altogether- so unfortunately I had to scrap/cancel the print. If there was a way to do it and still salvage the print please let me know as I am still new to the 3d printing game.
I ran my meter on both the thermistor and the heating element and found that the thermistor had fried.

I ended up ordering the part and remained crafty and optimistic. I used the opportunity to order a bunch of other equipment I would need, including a 5kg spool of polymaker version B filament on sale. This is the filament I mentioned earlier that I was making the whole suit with. I found it to be durable, yet sandable. I had to modify my printer setup a little bit in order to utilize this monster spool. I ended up using a lazy susan under a cardboard box because I was lazy and didn't want to make a moisture box to contain the spool.

The thermistor came in relatively quick thankfully so I was able to get that installed and fire the printer back up. I then started printing the right arm- as well as started printing up the torso!

Unfortunately this is where I neglected to take pictures in between prints, but here is where I currently am at. Up in the left corner of this shot you can see the complete right arm all glued together. The scattered pieces are of the front torso.

I have started to notice some bed adhesion issues, and some wobbly lines appearing (left). If anyone has suggestions on how to troubleshoot this please leave a message here. I don't consider this piece a complete loss, so I have continued using it for the build.

I have two more pieces for the front torso then that portion is complete. I figured I should post something though due to the amount of stuff I have completed since the last update.

Until next time, be well everyone, have the happiest holidays, and I will post again soon!