MBD's Praetor Suit (Doom 2016) Build Log

[MrBlueDot]

Your helmet will be pretty awesome with all the tech inside when it is all done. I mean fans, speaker and voice amplifier? What comes next a head up display and J.A.R.V.I.S as OS ?

Well, if I said I haven't looked into a HUD I would be lying

The CR-10 is a solid series of printer. Got it's quirks, but what machine doesn't? My big problem is I can't make a sandwich without turning it into an overkill build. I mean, all this was planned! I didn't even attempt to run the x5sa stock lol.

And it's never too late to buy another printer, I still have a tax return coming, don't tempt me!

 

[MrBlueDot]

Definitely not suit related, but maybe soon?

I enrolled in a composite materials course at my community college. Gonna be learning fiberglass and carbon fiber fabrication over the next 6 months. Students get a chance to do their own projects, so, maybe a piece or two of the suit ends up carbon fiber, who can say?

I'm super excited! Classes are gonna be starting in April, and that's just around the corner

Edit: This doesn't count as another project! Because school I'll actually finish

 

[Kahn 319]

Whos ready for some ugly fiberglass work?

I printed all the pieces for the helmet, and acetone welded them together. So... Funny thing about FDM 3D printing, it's not really precision manufacturing like a CNC machine, or laser cutter. The printed pieces line up alright, but there are gaps between the Y axis edges of the pieces.View attachment 308662

I was expecting little gaps, but these were bigger than I thought they would be. Not a problem really, just going to take a little more bondo and dremel work than I originally planned.

I put two layers of fiberglass on the inside of the helmet. The first layer was just some strips covering the seams from the inside, and the second layer was for full coverage.
View attachment 308657
View attachment 308658

The helmet is very strong now. I was debating adding a third layer of fiberglass, but then I dropped the helmet. Didn't scratch or crack, came out fine, so I decided it didn't need the 3rd layer.

The next steps are a dremel to carve out a few details near the seams that got filled in with fiberglass resin, then sanding the seams down, and bondo.

View attachment 308659
View attachment 308660

The gloves are going slowly however. I'm fairly new to resin printing and I'm having problems printing ABS-like resins. From the reading I've done, it seems that the UV in the printer I have is over powered, and going off of manufacturer recommendations for layer times just isn't going to work. I keep getting results like this:
View attachment 308661

This is even happening with the grey abs resin in my last post. Hopefully I can get the resin dialed in here soon, but every failure takes a long, gooey time to clean up and reset from, so I've been concentrating other places to avoid that lol.

I have another 3D printer on the way! This one has a 400x400x400mm (almost a 16" cube) build volume, so after some modifications I should be able to print full armor panels without having to slice them apart like I did for the helmet. One thing I'm going to try is printing the shoulder padding in TPU so it will be flexible. With the new printer I can easily fit the model on the bed and print it in 1 piece
View attachment 308665

This next week is probably going to be a lot of printer maintenance and building for me. Once the resin printer is back on track I'll be able to continue working on the gloves. My Ender 3 is currently printing out parts and modifications for the new printer coming in. So I'll try to get the helmet all the way up to primer by next week, but we'll see. If only I didn't have to go to work, I would have so much time to work on this!

what did you use for the fiberglass, like specifically? is there like a paint on fiber glass did you buy strips how does that work? what brand would you recommend? oh i found the tutorial i will give that a watch

 

[MrBlueDot]

It's fiberglass mat and resin, you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells auto repair stuff, like Autozone, or even Walmart or Kroger. I got mine at the same Fred Meyers I do my grocery shopping at. Specifically its this:

3M Fiberglass Mat

3M 401 Bondo Fiberglass Resin

Other useful tools: plastic cups for mixing, stir sticks, paint brushes, sharp scissors, black sharpie, and anything you would use to draw a pattern with, straight edges, round edges, ect.

Read the instructions, read the warnings, read the warnings again, READ THE WARNINGS AGAIN, then prep a workspace in a well ventilated area, preferably outside. It's simple to do, but it's messy, wear cloths you don't care about, shirt, pants, and shoes. Don't work over any surface you want to keep nice, like floors, tables, ect. Also PPE, don't even think of attempting fiberglass work without gloves, goggles, and a respirator.

 

[Kahn 319]

It's fiberglass mat and resin, you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells auto repair stuff, like Autozone, or even Walmart or Kroger. I got mine at the same Fred Meyers I do my grocery shopping at. Specifically its this:

3M Fiberglass Mat

3M 401 Bondo Fiberglass Resin

Other useful tools: plastic cups for mixing, stir sticks, paint brushes, sharp scissors, black sharpie, and anything you would use to draw a pattern with, straight edges, round edges, ect.

Read the instructions, read the warnings, read the warnings again, READ THE WARNINGS AGAIN, then prep a workspace in a well ventilated area, preferably outside. It's simple to do, but it's messy, wear cloths you don't care about, shirt, pants, and shoes. Don't work over any surface you want to keep nice, like floors, tables, ect. Also PPE, don't even think of attempting fiberglass work without gloves, goggles, and a respirator.

Got it, ppe, is a must, thanks i appreciate the help!

 

[MrBlueDot]

Got it, ppe, is a must, thanks i appreciate the help!

I just realized you asked about the process! Sorry!

So that stuff is just a patch kit, you don't need to worry about the advanced stuff like gelcoats, vacuum bags, ect.

Start by taping over all your seams with masking tape. Put your tape on the "show" side that you want to be nice. The resin will leak thru any gaps, so make sure you get complete coverage. Also 1 continuous, straight piece of tape is better than multiple pieces, but multiple pieces work better than trying to curve the tape to the side. If you have an indent like -_- you can fill in with kneadable eraser, or use a dremel to get the resin out after it's cured.

Then you need to decide how you are going to layout your FG mat. With my helmet I started with about 1"strips over the seams as my first layer, kinda like you did with the masking tape on the other side, then a second full coverage layer. Note, this isn't the "proper" way to do this, but it's going to be walking around a convention, not Mars (not yet). The important part is, decide your layout, draw your pattern up on your mat and cut out all your pieces before you go on to the next step.

Next mix your resin in a disposable cup. it's only a few drops of activator per ounce of resin. It's not exact, the more you put in the less work time you have, but the cure is faster, and the less you put in is pretty much the opposite on both counts. Either way you will still have a long work time, and the cure is going to be 1-2 days.

Get your brush and start applying resin to where you will being putting your first piece of mat. You don't need to go heavy on the first coat of resin, you're aiming to get the mat to stick at this point. After you get all your pieces laid up, take your brush and DAB the mat with more resin, because if you stroke your brush you are likely to shift the mat. This coat you can go thicker on, you are looking to completely saturate your mat, no dry spots, and try to get any bubbles you see behind the mat squeezed out.

And that's it! put it somewhere it can cure, or do a second layer. I would recommend a second layer personally, especially if you did like me and only did the seams on the first layer, but again, we're cosplayers not actual space marines.

Hope this helps!

 

[Opherox]

It looks very nice, what did u use to glue the parts together? Is it resistant to impacts? Or its relatively fragile?

 

[MrBlueDot]

It looks very nice, what did u use to glue the parts together? Is it resistant to impacts? Or its relatively fragile?

Lol, it's fiberglass reinfoced ABS, it's almost bulletproof It's even 100% infill because I'm just extra apparently, and have more plastic than sense

But to "glue" the pieces I used acetone. It's called acetone welding: ABS melts in acetone, so I took a q-tip and went over the edges then taped them together while the plastic fused and solidfied. This was the most fragile part of the process, plus the most careful since I had to line everything up. The acetone weld stage probably wouldn't have survived much abuse. But as soon as the fiberglass was applied and cured, durability went thru the roof. I did have to sand a kinda bad scratch out of the bondo once after dropping it, but I've dropped it a few times haha, and that's pretty much the worst that has happened to it.

 

[Opherox]

Lol, it's fiberglass reinfoced ABS, it's almost bulletproof It's even 100% infill because I'm just extra apparently, and have more plastic than sense

But to "glue" the pieces I used acetone. It's called acetone welding: ABS melts in acetone, so I took a q-tip and went over the edges then taped them together while the plastic fused and solidfied. This was the most fragile part of the process, plus the most careful since I had to line everything up. The acetone weld stage probably wouldn't have survived much abuse. But as soon as the fiberglass was applied and cured, durability went thru the roof. I did have to sand a kinda bad scratch out of the bondo once after dropping it, but I've dropped it a few times haha, and that's pretty much the worst that has happened to it.

So, its kinda impossible to do that with pla right? Im trying to a suit, just like you, and im using pla, because idk xD seemed ok, should I instead buy abs rolls and start over? (my pla pieces are glued together with superglue, and it isnt very resistant).

 

[Kahn 319]

I just realized you asked about the process! Sorry!

So that stuff is just a patch kit, you don't need to worry about the advanced stuff like gelcoats, vacuum bags, ect.

Start by taping over all your seams with masking tape. Put your tape on the "show" side that you want to be nice. The resin will leak thru any gaps, so make sure you get complete coverage. Also 1 continuous, straight piece of tape is better than multiple pieces, but multiple pieces work better than trying to curve the tape to the side. If you have an indent like -_- you can fill in with kneadable eraser, or use a dremel to get the resin out after it's cured.

Then you need to decide how you are going to layout your FG mat. With my helmet I started with about 1"strips over the seams as my first layer, kinda like you did with the masking tape on the other side, then a second full coverage layer. Note, this isn't the "proper" way to do this, but it's going to be walking around a convention, not Mars (not yet). The important part is, decide your layout, draw your pattern up on your mat and cut out all your pieces before you go on to the next step.

Next mix your resin in a disposable cup. it's only a few drops of activator per ounce of resin. It's not exact, the more you put in the less work time you have, but the cure is faster, and the less you put in is pretty much the opposite on both counts. Either way you will still have a long work time, and the cure is going to be 1-2 days.

Get your brush and start applying resin to where you will being putting your first piece of mat. You don't need to go heavy on the first coat of resin, you're aiming to get the mat to stick at this point. After you get all your pieces laid up, take your brush and DAB the mat with more resin, because if you stroke your brush you are likely to shift the mat. This coat you can go thicker on, you are looking to completely saturate your mat, no dry spots, and try to get any bubbles you see behind the mat squeezed out.

And that's it! put it somewhere it can cure, or do a second layer. I would recommend a second layer personally, especially if you did like me and only did the seams on the first layer, but again, we're cosplayers not actual space marines.

Hope this helps!

This helps alot, I did an attempt on my shin peice, it went kinda well, when doing multiple layers do you do it all at once or do you wait for it to dry first? And do you glue it before you do the inside or do you use the resin as a kind of glue?

 

[MrBlueDot]

So, its kinda impossible to do that with pla right? Im trying to a suit, just like you, and im using pla, because idk xD seemed ok, should I instead buy abs rolls and start over? (my pla pieces are glued together with superglue, and it isnt very resistant).

Nah, it'll work just fine on PLA and PETG too. Although, one nice thing about ABS is that it's easier to sand than other plastics! About the glue:

This helps alot, I did an attempt on my shin peice, it went kinda well, when doing multiple layers do you do it all at once or do you wait for it to dry first? And do you glue it before you do the inside or do you use the resin as a kind of glue?

So the "glue" was only a temporary thing to hold the helmet together while the fiberglass was applied. The fiberglass is going to hold the helmet together way better than any glue could. I would not recommend using the resin as a glue because you will need to fix any drips and leaks with a dremel. Super glue would work, glue your pieces together, line them up, then put your masking tape along the seam. You can add a few strips cross the seams as well to hold it together better. As soon as your first layer is cured you won't need anything to hold it together so you can remove the tape at that point.

I did the 2 layers on 2 separate days. The first layer wasn't fully cured when I did the second layer, but it was set up and solid, so it was ok to layer over it. In total, took about 3 days to do the fiberglass work for the helmet, although it was only like 2 hours worth of actual work.

Note, that's not how it would be done in a professional setting, everything would be done at once then probably thrown in an autoclave to cure, but, this method works well enough for hobby stuff.

 

[Opherox]

Nah, it'll work just fine on PLA and PETG too. Although, one nice thing about ABS is that it's easier to sand than other plastics! About the glue:


So the "glue" was only a temporary thing to hold the helmet together while the fiberglass was applied. The fiberglass is going to hold the helmet together way better than any glue could. I would not recommend using the resin as a glue because you will need to fix any drips and leaks with a dremel. Super glue would work, glue your pieces together, line them up, then put your masking tape along the seam. You can add a few strips cross the seams as well to hold it together better. As soon as your first layer is cured you won't need anything to hold it together so you can remove the tape at that point.

I did the 2 layers on 2 separate days. The first layer wasn't fully cured when I did the second layer, but it was set up and solid, so it was ok to layer over it. In total, took about 3 days to do the fiberglass work for the helmet, although it was only like 2 hours worth of actual work.

Note, that's not how it would be done in a professional setting, everything would be done at once then probably thrown in an autoclave to cure, but, this method works well enough for hobby stuff.

Wow, you surely work hard and know a lot of stuff, really looking forward to see it till the end.
Also, massive thanks for the tips, ill try and do that too.