Sandbagger's Iron Man builds - Now in STEEL.

[BuildsByBaz]

A couple of hours in a stinking hot tin shed carving fine details ready for casting in aluminium tonight.

Using blocks of household insulation foam.

A bit of patience with an exacto knife and some sandpaper.

Burying a couple of M6 studs in the foam to be cast inclusive.

Some of the neck details to set it apart from the rest.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

I'm a bit nervous about this pour. Pretty fine detail and ages spent carving the pieces. I'll try to get the aluminium way above melting temp to see if it gets right into the corners.

Here you can see all the parts with the inlet and breather sprues glued on, then buried in compressed green-sand.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

A video of the aluminium casting.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Three worked perfectly, one not quite all the way to the end, one lost a leg, two studs didn't embed and one piece didn't come out at all. I'll use the ones that worked and make the others out of sheet aluminium instead. Failures teach more than success.

Polishing up ok. I have a bit to fix, but I'm happy I at least made some progress tonight.

 

[rorywatts]

This is amazing. I look forward to seeing updates each time

 

[Reclaimara]

You always amaze me more and more.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

You always amaze me more and more.

Thanks!

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Unfortunately I don't always have access to a high-end mill or lathe, so I have to get inventive. Drill press bearings are not built for side-loading, but as I have a spare end-mill bit and if I just go lightly and slowly, I might be able to mill a gallery in the reactor frame to house the glass lens over the top.

 

[Harri51]

Excellent work as always. It is so close to finish i am on the edge of my seat.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Finally got my hinges sorted out!!! So baby-smooth!

I modified the hinges with parallel bends to conform with the shape of the helmet angles, while keeping the rotational axis at 90 degrees to the shafts.

The threaded rods all the way through ensures that once I weld the ends in place, I can cut the middle out of them, leaving perfectly aligned studs to mount the hinges on.

Not far off motorising them now!

 

[BuildsByBaz]

To attach the cable sleeves inside the helmet for pulling on the faceplate hinges, I will need to be able to change them when they wear out, so I've come up with this little low-profile clamp that can be loosened to change cables.

The long end will be welded flush on the inside of the helmet.

 

[Benton188]

Seeing the bolts for the hinged face plate makes it look less Ironman and more Iron Maiden lol.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Seeing the bolts for the hinged face plate makes it look less Ironman and more Iron Maiden lol.

Once welded in place they will be ground flat so you won't even know they are there.

 

[comics1996]

*******Updated EDIT: I'm now onto my THIRD Iron Man suit which has been the goal to eventually build in metal.



Wow I hope you could help me in the future if I do a metal armor.

Suit 1 - Pepakura and fibreglass/bondo.

Suit 2 - Cardboard

Suit 3 - All Steel!

I am now progressing very well with a FULL STEEL SUIT. Go to the last page for current updates.*****

Suit 1 - fibreglass/bondo
http://i.imgur.com/aIIGKGD.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/WXs0Ctu.jpg

Suit 2 - Cardboard

http://i.imgur.com/2fkjVTU.jpg

Suit 3 - Steel

http://i.imgur.com/fam5VNf.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/WW09LTE.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/w8oOKOQ.jpg


In the meantime, back in the beginning..... read on.




Not sure if I will do the whole suit yet. This is my first helmet and i am enjoying the heck out of it. Currently I am building an observatory in my front yard, but when I run out steel, I move into the shed and continue with the helmet.

I have made a few mistakes in the folding and gluing, but I didn't know about the lines that represent hill and valley folds, nor did I know you could switch on the numbers and have them print out on the cutouts, until AFTER I had guessed it all. In any case, this one will be good practice. If I stuff it up, I am sure I will learn heaps in the process!

That considered, I think I did pretty well and I know that the bondo (car-body filler of any kind really?) will hide all manner of sin in the shaping process. This is Australia and I haven't checked if Bondo exists here or if we have an equivalent. I'm sure we do.

If all goes well, then we will see if I move onto the rest of the suit.

Here's where I'm at so far. I used 200GSM card stock to print on. Glued all together with superglue. What a God-send that stuff is!

The shuttle you see in the pictures was done with normal A4 printer paper and PVA wood glue. What a pain in the butt that was, holding paper together and waiting for each bit to dry.

The helmet now has two coats of resin on the outside. Ready to lay fibreglass on the inside.

Baz.

http://i.imgur.com/7dYy6.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/mKE80.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/xqbsX.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/OIEFs.jpg

Wow I hope you could help me in the future if I do a metal armor.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

^^^^ That's what threads like this are for mate.



I wasn't happy with the casting of the finer detail so I fabricated it out of thick aluminium sheet instead. Looks much better held together with socket-head cap screws too.

I also have amassed a number of very small and light cooling fans to be placed into the suit, as well as a small but powerful stepper motor to hopefully run the cables from the chest to the faceplate hinges.

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Drilling positioning holes for spinal plates.

Spinal plates installed.

 

[Rooster]

Have you considered eventually motorizing individual body pieces a la the control surface check from iron man 1?

 

[BuildsByBaz]

Have you considered eventually motorizing individual body pieces a la the control surface check from iron man 1?

Yes I have, but as a father of four with a full time job there is only so much time and money I can afford to invest in this project. Maybe later.

SB

 

[BuildsByBaz]

After many attempts at getting the hinges right, I have come up with a new design. The hinges are now bent and formed so they swing at 90 degrees to the parallel-aligned pins they are mounted on.

 

[Rooster]

Yes I have, but as a father of four with a full time job there is only so much time and money I can afford to invest in this project. Maybe later.

SB

Makes sense. I'm sure once this is complete you'll get the itch again shortly. You should definitely make a trip to some comic cons once it is finished. You might win some contests and make back your investment.