Sandbagger's Iron Man builds - Now in STEEL.

[SuprWeenieHutJr]

I'm simply amazed by this entire build, those pictures from the back are awesome. I can't wait to see it painted. Is it hot? I would think after wearing it for awhile it would get really warm.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

I'm simply amazed by this entire build, those pictures from the back are awesome. I can't wait to see it painted. Is it hot? I would think after wearing it for awhile it would get really warm.

No, it's not hot at all. It likely would be in full sun, but I'm not planning on doing much outdoor stuff in it. Mainly children's hospital wards indoors. The spring-suit underneath is quite light and I'll be cutting parts out of it and replacing with mesh/breathable material.

 

[Jobe Devian]

In light of the recent Oz Comic Con, where the prop and weapons screening was super picky (they were reluctant to allow a lightsaber hilt made of aluminium, with no blade in it just because it was metal) what will you do if they say "it's metal and too dangerous...."

I wanted the chance to use;
security: "you can't have that it could be used as a weapon"
Me: *points to spartan armour* "I am a weapon"
tacky as it may have sounded

 

[BuildsByBaz]

In light of the recent Oz Comic Con, where the prop and weapons screening was super picky (they were reluctant to allow a lightsaber hilt made of aluminium, with no blade in it just because it was metal) what will you do if they say "it's metal and too dangerous...."

I guess it would be a good idea to forward plan and phone ahead.

SB

 

[TheOneWithNoName]

In light of the recent Oz Comic Con, where the prop and weapons screening was super picky (they were reluctant to allow a lightsaber hilt made of aluminium, with no blade in it just because it was metal) what will you do if they say "it's metal and too dangerous...."

I wanted the chance to use;
security: "you can't have that it could be used as a weapon"
Me: *points to spartan armour* "I am a weapon"
tacky as it may have sounded

In this case, I'd pull out a pic on my phone from several years ago when I took tae-kwon-do, and say "But I can kill someone 23 different ways with my pinkie finger without even thinking. I am listed as a deadly weapon in all 50 states in the union. This thing here, it's a toothpick. Speaking of toothpicks, there's you a deadly weapon."

 

[arma358]

As a con chair for security, I honestly don't know what I'd do if someone showed up in full metal armor....

 

[BuildsByBaz]

As a con chair for security, I honestly don't know what I'd do if someone showed up in full metal armor....

Well then, this IS worth exploring then. Any way you could find out what the scenario would be? No way I'm spending an hour getting dressed only to be turned away at the door.

 

[arma358]

I know that our con (which is like super tiny, mind you) has a "no live steel" rule. I personally feel like you'd be OK, so long as edges were smoothed appropriately, and you weren't just randomly flailing your arms in crowds of people. I have a staff meeting this weekend, so I can chat with the rest of the department heads and see what they think about a situation like yours.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

That would be very useful thank you. I'll also ask around and post any results back here.

Cheers mate.

SB

 

[WandererTJ]

Sandbagger, from a safety standpoint, there is something I want you to consider, which is surely (hopefully) something that they think about at conventions, and that is...

First, you are Iron Man which is awesome enough on its own, but not only that, you are also made of metal which is even more awesome
So, if I'm a kid (or hell, anyone), of course I'm going to want to take a picture with you, which may involve my body coming into contact with you.

That contact is the concern. You don't want to cut anyone, the people running the convention don't want to be liable for you cutting anyone, and heaven forbid a kid accidentally get cut in front of their parents, who don't want their kid to be hurt, accident or not.

So here's what you can do:
Start with a full-point safety inspection. Sand EVERY edge before you even run your hand over every edge to begin with, and then ones that still feel sharp, sand them some more.
If all else fails, you can try to roll the edges, I know that this would affect the look of the suit, so you'll want to avoid it where possible, but it should help with the safety.
For points you cannot avoid, you can always add a rubber cap (or something similar to one).
You might want to put a rubber cover on your knees and elbows even if they don't have any nasty edges, because those are the joints that are most likely to accidentally hit someone.
Your knees... could hit a short kid that runs horizontally in front of you that you might not pick up in your vision while walking.
Your elbows... could hit someone when you turn around or point or when you put your arm around someone for a photo.

I still absolutely love your suit, and I hope you can get into every convention you take it to, but I thought you might enjoy a few thoughts from someone who has worked with a competitive robotics team for 9 years, where safety is a major focus.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Sandbagger, from a safety standpoint, there is something I want you to consider, which is surely (hopefully) something that they think about at conventions, and that is...

First, you are Iron Man which is awesome enough on its own, but not only that, you are also made of metal which is even more awesome
So, if I'm a kid (or hell, anyone), of course I'm going to want to take a picture with you, which may involve my body coming into contact with you.

That contact is the concern. You don't want to cut anyone, the people running the convention don't want to be liable for you cutting anyone, and heaven forbid a kid accidentally get cut in front of their parents, who don't want their kid to be hurt, accident or not.

So here's what you can do:
Start with a full-point safety inspection. Sand EVERY edge before you even run your hand over every edge to begin with, and then ones that still feel sharp, sand them some more.
If all else fails, you can try to roll the edges, I know that this would affect the look of the suit, so you'll want to avoid it where possible, but it should help with the safety.
For points you cannot avoid, you can always add a rubber cap (or something similar to one).
You might want to put a rubber cover on your knees and elbows even if they don't have any nasty edges, because those are the joints that are most likely to accidentally hit someone.
Your knees... could hit a short kid that runs horizontally in front of you that you might not pick up in your vision while walking.
Your elbows... could hit someone when you turn around or point or when you put your arm around someone for a photo.

I still absolutely love your suit, and I hope you can get into every convention you take it to, but I thought you might enjoy a few thoughts from someone who has worked with a competitive robotics team for 9 years, where safety is a major focus.

Thank you so much! That is VERY good information and handy to know. It gives me a bit to think about and its good to know now before I have started on the finishing.

Bless ya mate.

SB

 

[BuildsByBaz]

I've been so strapped for time lately. This non-daylight savings is pissing me off. Stuff-all done on the suit in a while.

Today I made a start (only had 20 minutes). Reinforced the knee pivots with some heavy pipe welded in, some M10 cuphead bolts and washers in between the layers to smooth out the pivot. They move silently now.

Hopefully tomorrow I can weld a couple of struts into each side of the boots, to push the leg up high and enable the weight of the leg to rest on the ground, rather than hang on the suit.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Leg on the right now supported on a steel strut either side of the boot and pivoting at the ankle. The weight of the entire leg now sits on the ground instead of hanging off the suits torso. The gap between the top of the leg and the cod-piece is now a lot smaller and realistic looking.

Won't be scratching up the hospital floors now! Glueing on rubber soles.

 

[elementfx]

Killer work are you going to be able to ware it when it is complete and I can't wait to see what kind of electronics this will have !

 

[arma358]

So, had a chat with the rest of the staff for the convention that I help run for you, Sandbagger. The consensus that -I- got is that you'd be OK, so long as you were not sharp, and didn't have any spikey protrusions on the armor that could be dangerous to the attendees. Now, this is just for my con, so take it with a grain of salt, as we only had about 300 people last year. Larger conventions may have different rules, and you might want to contact them before hand to make sure that you are good.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

So, had a chat with the rest of the staff for the convention that I help run for you, Sandbagger. The consensus that -I- got is that you'd be OK, so long as you were not sharp, and didn't have any spikey protrusions on the armor that could be dangerous to the attendees. Now, this is just for my con, so take it with a grain of salt, as we only had about 300 people last year. Larger conventions may have different rules, and you might want to contact them before hand to make sure that you are good.

That's awesome. Thank you for putting it out there. Valuable insight and obvious common sense really, but still good to highlight. Yeah your right, other cons may have other caveats so I will certainly ring ahead when the time comes.

SB.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Time to get serious on some of the suit. Soon I will be using one or both of these machines (mill and lathe, both old-school manual like me) to fabricate some of the details. Don't reeeeealy need them, but I can make the suit look that much cooler with some nicely turned custom parts and embellishments.

 

[transmut1]

Dude, that mill, I could really use that! So jelly of you!

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Both legs have now been elevated and supported on pairs of solid steel struts welded to the boots and pivoting at the ankle. You can see an aluminium flat disk on the right boot - this will be replaced later with a more attractive steel turned toe-pivot. The flight control flap at the back of the ankle has been hinges so now it swings up as the boot and leg moves. The knee pivots will eventually be welded closed with an attractive cap once I'm happy I don't need to take the legs apart again. Rubber soles have been glued onto the bottom of the boots to save flooring.

The rib features have now been filled in from behind with scratch-built steel caps. It looks untidy with the positioning spot welds from the front and the rest of the welding from behind, but this will all be cleaned up later.

The steel sheet is only .95mm thick, so to give the illusion that it is thick armoured plate I have welded in some 8mm edging all around. Welding from behind except in spots I couldn't get the welding gun into. Edges will be cleaned up last.

The lighting is great, but the eyes are too bright for indoors and night. They overpower the dark so much you can't see the face, so I'll be adding a resistor/dimmer so I can vary the brightness as needed.

 

[RobTC]

If I was Disney, I'd be flying you in for the premiere of Civil War!