Gloves?! Gloves.

[OFiveTwo]

Howdy kids! Thought I'd post on here and search the minds of those who know 3D modelling better than I.
Working on my current Mk VII build, and I'm really looking to elevate what I can do costume wise. One of the things I've been wanting to implement the most is highly-detailed. I've been using InstinctCreative's files from Etsy, and the detail is absolutely fantastic. The challenge currently is bringing them into the physical world.

Here's what I've tried thus far, and what I've learned:
3D Printing!
Obviously my first love, and the method I'm most comfortable with. Started with TPU that has a shore hardness of 92A, is not nearly flexible enough to really be usable for this (its more akin to the material a shopping cart wheel is made of). Working my way down to more flexible filaments, but the lowest I can find is 60-75A, which is SUBSTANTIALLY more expensive, harder to use, and STILL not a guarantee that it'll end up soft enough.
Image is PRILINE TPU, which is kinda my go-to for TPU stuffs. Definitely too hard for this tho (1 wall, 5% infil)

Silicone!
This is a cool one that I'm just starting to dip my toes into. Had pretty decent success with this over the past year, certainly learned a lot, and ended up getting some pretty decent results from it! This would be my new focus if not for two issues; the cost and the MESS. Not sure if anyone else has found cheaper silicone to be used, but most of what I'm finding is proving to be pretty pricey (Dragonskin silicone is like 40 bucks for their pint size). Considering going down this route would lead to more full body silicone stuff, I'd definitely need to find a more economical brand. Second is obviously how messy it is. As I don't currently have a garage, all the silicone work would have to be within my apartment (or in the parking lot ). Obviously not ideal.

However, the drip can't be denied.

Printed Pattern?!
Here's a new thought that I want to get some other brains on. Since 3D printing on top of fabric is possible (tricky, but possible), I'm wondering if it would be possible to take a 3D model, flatten it out and slice it to match up with a glove pattern such as this one.

I want to find out if there's a way to take this 3D glove model, flatten it to almost a texture (keeping the different armored raises) and using THAT as a pattern to 3D print onto some cloth. Then it would just need sewing together, theoretically. Obviously this comes with it's own issues, but if it's actually possible/successful, this may be an awesome way to make cosplay soft parts for cheap, and with a relative amount of ease.

If anyone out there with more 3D modelling experience has got any wisdom or opinions on this, let me know! Still experimenting with the other options as well, will update on any findings I come across. Next update will probably be with softer TPU/TPE.

-052

 

[MarrowofStar]

I really look forward to your progress! While I don't know much about printing to fabric, but I do know it typically is printed on sheer or mesh fabrics. You might have luck printing onto a mesh and then sewing the mesh to a glove?? Printing in TPU and experimenting with latex is also impressive, ngl.

 

[OFiveTwo]

I really look forward to your progress! While I don't know much about printing to fabric, but I do know it typically is printed on sheer or mesh fabrics. You might have luck printing onto a mesh and then sewing the mesh to a glove?? Printing in TPU and experimenting with latex is also impressive, ngl.

Thanks! Very excited to do some R&D and hopefully come up with a solid result.
Had a little epiphany this morning thinking about the issues with printing a functional glove, and I think I've broken down the problem into three requirements for success:
1. Glove must be usable. Putting the glove on, maintaining dexterity is a MUST.
2. Glove must have high accuracy and quality. If the glove does not have either, then this project is moot.
3. Glove must be cost-effective. Breaking the bank and having to use costly materials inhibits me and others from elevating our craft and is a wall to be broken down.

Update so far today: Thinking one of the issues I can attempt currently is actually dividing the printed hand along the seams, printing the individual parts, and attaching those to a glove.
Currently working on this. I'll let ya know how it goes!

 

[rickrtickr]

depending on the use case you might be able to get away with mounting the underplates to a more standard glove.

I bypassed that to simply mount the hand plate (the outer colored plate) directly to some decently textured gloves.

I used these as a base: (see image)

I liked the textures that mimic the Halo gloves without the insane amount of work that would have been required to do the sewing with several variations in both seams and fabric.

Might be up the wrong tree for your use but I try to make the suggestion whenever gloves come up. (The only downside is they aren't touchscreen compatible)

 

[MarrowofStar]

Thanks! Very excited to do some R&D and hopefully come up with a solid result.
Had a little epiphany this morning thinking about the issues with printing a functional glove, and I think I've broken down the problem into three requirements for success:
1. Glove must be usable. Putting the glove on, maintaining dexterity is a MUST.
2. Glove must have high accuracy and quality. If the glove does not have either, then this project is moot.
3. Glove must be cost-effective. Breaking the bank and having to use costly materials inhibits me and others from elevating our craft and is a wall to be broken down.

Update so far today: Thinking one of the issues I can attempt currently is actually dividing the printed hand along the seams, printing the individual parts, and attaching those to a glove.
Currently working on this. I'll let ya know how it goes!

That makes sense! You might even be able to separate the little plates on the top of the finger and the different knuckle plates?

 

[OFiveTwo]

Update for this week! Had a pretty successful print after dividing up some of the pieces and printing them out of a 82A TPU I tracked down. Though the stringing is crazy and the surface quality leaves something to be desired, I find the concept here to be pretty solid! Not just for making the glove either, but for sizing the glove as accurately as possible. This print used such little material, it was like 20 grams or something.

(As you can see, the pinky needs some adjustments to fit thanks to my sausage fingers.)

I think right now the biggest hurdle for FDMing this would be the surface finish. The stringing is leading to other issues, and though retraction, speed, heat and humidity are all technically dialed in, I think the softer you go with TPU, the more you'll have to fight with surface finish.

However, since the models are good and the concept for glove pieces is solid, I think this project may benefit from an attempt with flexible resin!
May have a means of getting some, but more testing must be done first.

 

[Wraith0912]

Watching this project with great interest. I've seen some great models for gloves and undersuits (Moe's stuff comes to mind), but they've never seemed viable outside of using TPU, which like you've said can be very finicky. One point you made, though, did catch my eye:

I want to find out if there's a way to take this 3D glove model, flatten it to almost a texture (keeping the different armored raises) and using THAT as a pattern to 3D print onto some cloth.

Maybe UV Maps could be of some help to you here.

UV Maps are almost exactly like the Pepakura or foam unfolds that we use to assemble our stuff IRL; they are flattened out representations of the model to illustrate where the textures are going to appear on the model. I've attached an example in the form of Marcus Lehto's Mark V model and the UVs for the helmet (mainly because it has actual color textures whereas the Infinite ones would be infinitely harder to look at), and you can more or less see where every face of the model is supposed to go.

If you want to give this a go for your glove model, then you can import it into any program that handles textures (I use Blender) and UV Unwrap the model, which will split it into components like the image above. You might need to indicate where certain parts of the glove actually end; these are called "seams," and you set these up per polygon before you actually unwrap the model. Bear in mind, though, that models intended for 3D printing are usually much more heavy on polygon counts, so marking the seams will likely take a lot of time and the unwrap itself might end up being very visually cluttered.

Once you do have it, though, you can export the unwrap as its own image and you'll have a template you can experiment with. While I'm not sure this would be the best approach for handling your issue specifically, it is one that I think could work should you give it a try.

 

[MarrowofStar]

Update for this week! Had a pretty successful print after dividing up some of the pieces and printing them out of a 82A TPU I tracked down. Though the stringing is crazy and the surface quality leaves something to be desired, I find the concept here to be pretty solid! Not just for making the glove either, but for sizing the glove as accurately as possible. This print used such little material, it was like 20 grams or something.

(As you can see, the pinky needs some adjustments to fit thanks to my sausage fingers.)

I think right now the biggest hurdle for FDMing this would be the surface finish. The stringing is leading to other issues, and though retraction, speed, heat and humidity are all technically dialed in, I think the softer you go with TPU, the more you'll have to fight with surface finish.

However, since the models are good and the concept for glove pieces is solid, I think this project may benefit from an attempt with flexible resin!
May have a means of getting some, but more testing must be done first.

This is looking WONDERFUL! Im certain with some tweaking of the print settings you can get this looking clean AF. The parts on the palm might pinch or cause some friction against each other which might be of concern?

 

[PlanetAlexander]

Update for this week! Had a pretty successful print after dividing up some of the pieces and printing them out of a 82A TPU I tracked down. Though the stringing is crazy and the surface quality leaves something to be desired, I find the concept here to be pretty solid! Not just for making the glove either, but for sizing the glove as accurately as possible. This print used such little material, it was like 20 grams or something.

(As you can see, the pinky needs some adjustments to fit thanks to my sausage fingers.)

I think right now the biggest hurdle for FDMing this would be the surface finish. The stringing is leading to other issues, and though retraction, speed, heat and humidity are all technically dialed in, I think the softer you go with TPU, the more you'll have to fight with surface finish.

However, since the models are good and the concept for glove pieces is solid, I think this project may benefit from an attempt with flexible resin!
May have a means of getting some, but more testing must be done first.

Looking great! I haven't used TPU, but I recently started using flexible PLA for a creature project. Same Shore hardness, but it's been quite easy to print (though that is on a Bambu printer). It seems to not be too difficult to sand, but I'll be using Leak Seal over it anyway. I think the main thing to consider would be if it gets too hot and warps.

 

[OFiveTwo]

Watching this project with great interest. I've seen some great models for gloves and undersuits (Moe's stuff comes to mind), but they've never seemed viable outside of using TPU, which like you've said can be very finicky. One point you made, though, did catch my eye:

Maybe UV Maps could be of some help to you here.

I have actually been looking into this! I was thinking that it may be possible to unwrap the model I'm currently using and sort of piece-meal it together in blender. The big hurdle here would be to figure out how to assemble the unwrapped glove post-print to allow it to have the 3D features. Maybe the UV map could serve as a template for a flat modeled glove? I'll play with this idea and get back to you.

This is looking WONDERFUL! Im certain with some tweaking of the print settings you can get this looking clean AF. The parts on the palm might pinch or cause some friction against each other which might be of concern?

Thanks! I noticed that too, and I'm actually thinking it may be a decent idea just to have the palm underneath the rest of the pieces, and have them slide over one another. This of course leads to other issues, but maybe worth exploring some variations.

Looking great! I haven't used TPU, but I recently started using flexible PLA for a creature project. Same Shore hardness, but it's been quite easy to print (though that is on a Bambu printer). It seems to not be too difficult to sand, but I'll be using Leak Seal over it anyway. I think the main thing to consider would be if it gets too hot and warps.

I haven't tried out any flexible PLA yet, but it's been catching my eye! Can you send me a link to the stuff you use? If I can get something in the 80A-ish range to print well on my Bambu, we may have a winning combination!
As far as printing on the Bambu, are you able to get it up to speed? I'd love to hear how it runs!

 

[OFiveTwo]

No photo update as of yet, still fine-tuning the new kind of TPU I got.
Now that we've got the pieces divided up, I'm actually working on scaling them a bit closer to the actual dimensions of my hand. The main culprit right now is the pinky (apparently InstinctDesign thinks I have sausage fingers ).

At this point, the TPU I'm working with is definitely too soft to really have success on my Bambu, much to my dismay. I'm gonna take one of my older CR10s with a direct drive and pretty much dedicate it to TPU R&D.

Final thoughts for now: I like how flexible the thinner pieces of TPU are turning out, even my harder TPU that the Bambu can use. I've got the pieces down to around 1mm thickness with good print quality, and now the siren call of a full TPU undersuit is echoing through my mind once more.
Picked up a can of sprayable Flex-seal with the idea of printing some undersuit parts and spraying them to add some level of durability.
Anybody used Flex-seal before?

 

[marinesniper]

this stuff is really good real flexable but you have to print slow with it here is a video for the filiment

 

[SgtSaint]

this stuff is really good real flexable but you have to print slow with it here is a video for the filiment

I got some. So did another guy here in AU.
Personally, I'm trying to figure out advantages over TPU. Is it just more paintable?
Plus its still a form of PLA and thus still has the low glass-transition point which I personally find an unwarranted risk for outdoor things including armor.

So wondering... What have you found to be an advantage of it over established flexibles like TPU?

 

[marinesniper]

I got some. So did another guy here in AU.
Personally, I'm trying to figure out advantages over TPU. Is it just more paintable?
Plus its still a form of PLA and thus still has the low glass-transition point which I personally find an unwarranted risk for outdoor things including armor.

So wondering... What have you found to be an advantage of it over established flexibles like TPU?

Hey SGT. i have found it is easier to print it is more easy to paint and the paint sticks really good, the tpu i use i had trouble getting paint to stay on the print it kept flaking off now if you over bend this stuff you will get the same out come as tpu. so i would say it is a little cheaper then tpu but im leaning more so to the paintable factor.
here its like 21-28 usd for tpu and the asa (flexable pla ) is about 12 -13 a roll. but i do agree with you i like the tpu for some things ab wraps man they get stiff after a while the pla does the same.

 

[SgtSaint]

Hey SGT. i have found it is easier to print it is more easy to paint and the paint sticks really good, the tpu i use i had trouble getting paint to stay on the print it kept flaking off now if you over bend this stuff you will get the same out come as tpu. so i would say it is a little cheaper then tpu but im leaning more so to the paintable factor.
here its like 21-28 usd for tpu and the asa (flexable pla ) is about 12 -13 a roll. but i do agree with you i like the tpu for some things ab wraps man they get stiff after a while the pla does the same.

Very comprehensive. I really appreciate hearing from someone that's actually used it for this context.
I've never bothered to try to paint TPU. I have black, blue, red, white, gray on the shelf. All my existing products are fine like that so I've never needed to try to paint it.
When you painted did you use off-the-shelf cans, automotive plastic paint, or flex paint that one would use with foam? Just wondering about the 'pop-ability'.

 

[marinesniper]

you can use kylon paints they seem to bond very well with it. but if you can afford it the paint for the bumpers work even better i got a pint at a auto painter stanley was the guy who looked at what i had and then showed me how well it adhers. i know he said a automotive adhesive promoter will real work well but you do not have to use it for what we use it for.

 

[PlanetAlexander]

Can you send me a link to the stuff you use?

Oops, sorry, forgot to get back to you! Since I'm in Australia I used this stuff here. Just recently finished all the printing with it I need so far. It's all glued together with Shoe Goo, which is a strong but flexible adhesive. I sprayed a test piece with Leak Seal and it worked quite well, though, I'd suggest sanding the piece first to get better adhesion, so it doesn't peel off.

Like Marine and Saint were saying (Saint and I have also been talking about the advantages of one over the other), the flexible PLA is - at least slightly - easier to sand, and takes paint better (though as I said I covered mine in Leak Seal anyway, which helps fill out layer lines). It also seems to be a tad cheaper and easier to print. Though, it's likely not as durable as TPU is.

I applied a couple of layers of PlaidFX to the test piece and it flexes really well. Unfortunately for me though, I can't find PlaidFX in the colours I need.

 

[fredyLine]

Would like to give it a go if you have a file to work from. Started to print more stuff for my son HALO custome. Definetly would like to work on the hands. PLA is flexible but also need to know how to tune the printer to work from it.

 

[barebones]

Final thoughts for now: I like how flexible the thinner pieces of TPU are turning out, even my harder TPU that the Bambu can use. I've got the pieces down to around 1mm thickness with good print quality, and now the siren call of a full TPU undersuit is echoing through my mind once more.
Picked up a can of sprayable Flex-seal with the idea of printing some undersuit parts and spraying them to add some level of durability.
Anybody used Flex-seal before?

I'm currently printing my undersuit in tpu, and you're definitely going in the right direction with the thicker tpu and not using infill(if that's what you're doing), I've wasted so much tpu because the infill just shows through the walls, which looks terrible, but are thin so that the tpu can be reasonably flexible, as with thicker walls, it wouldn't be able to flex very much, much less function as an undersuit. For my undersuit, I am doing spiralize or vase mode or whatever you want to call it, but I'm not too sure about the thickness yet, as I want it to be flexible obviously, but also sturdy. Also thinking about the fact that tpu is damn near indestructible (except by heat) once printed. About how flexible is the 1mm tpu piece ? I was contemplating going from 1-3mm thickness. Sorry, I know this isn't my thread, this is just me thinking lol.

Flex seal is absolutely genius !!! I was going to use the Nikko Industries sanding and painting tpu method, and I'll link the video, but basically, it's just spraying the tpu piece with filler primer then putting flexible sandable spackling on it, sanding that down, painting it, and then you're done, but the end result looked mediocre at best and I think flex seal would just go on a ton smoother and fill up layer lines faster because I have used it, to try to seal a hole in a garden hose, and it didn't work for that, but judging by the consistency and surface once it was done, I think it might be a good paintable surface, and a ton cheaper than casting urethane and a lot less of a mess. Do you have a link to what you ordered ? Might need to order some for myself if what you got was relatively cheap...


Edit: On second thought, you could even just use any rubberized paint or undercoating paint instead of flex seal because that stuff is VERY expensive, and the Rustoleum rubberized paint is half the price (at least in the US where I'm at).

 

[OFiveTwo]

Wednesday update: As we are approaching the Cleveland Gaming convention, I'm shifting my focus to upgrading my torso undersuit of my Mk IV! Still sort of applicable as it's TPU that will be covered in Flex Seal, I've aimed for 1 wall thickness and 3% infil. A crazy number, I know, however I'm banking on the Flex Seal to really hold it together. I'll give another update if all goes well!

Would like to give it a go if you have a file to work from. Started to print more stuff for my son HALO custome. Definetly would like to work on the hands. PLA is flexible but also need to know how to tune the printer to work from it.

The file I'm basing this off of is actually InstinctCreative's Mk VII Undersuit, which I highly recommend. Maybe I'll work on a file of my own in the future once I've nailed down a glove process, but for starting out I'm happy to use a pre-made base.

Flex seal is absolutely genius !!!
Do you have a link to what you ordered ? Might need to order some for myself if what you got was relatively cheap...

I literally just grabbed the first can of the stuff I found at Menards! I think it's this one.
I'd hold off on getting some until I've tried it out and get back to ya'll! This is all theoretical for now, and I'm happy to be the guinea pig to see if the maths be mathin. Plan for tonight is to finish fusing the undersuit, then do a small tester of Flex Seal and go from there.

Additionally, I maaaay have a glove-related surprise update tomorrow (if all goes well). Stay tuned!