****Adding at the top of this thread for those interested, I have a live stream running of parts if I'm currently printing any. It can be found here: https://www.seemecnc.com/pages/videostream
Hey all!
I'm beginning my scout build using 3D printing and a combination of Jesus Salmeron's helmet (found here) and MrPoopie's armor (found here). I work for a 3D printer company so ready access to printers and filament made this seem like a really great way to go for me. I'm using a combination of two different machines and materials to accomplish this. Setup 1: SeeMeCNC Artemis with 0.5mm steel nozzle printing Atomic Filament's Carbon Fiber PETG. This is for all the large parts that need to be rugged and withstand the occasional leaving-costume-in-the-back-of-the-car-after-a-troop scenarios. These parts are being printed with a 0.2mm layer height because the large smooth surface areas of the build will make sanding and filling really easy. The CFPETG material has an insanely nice surface finish that's easy to sand and smooth out too. More on that later.
Setup 2: SeeMeCNC Orion with 0.4mm brass nozzle printing whatever Atomic Filament PLA I have on hand, usually silver or black. This is for the smaller detail bits that need the higher definition printing and won't take up a whole lof of surface area. I'm using PLA because it's easier to print tiny detailed parts with, and since the parts are so small and non structural I'm not worried about them getting soft in a hot car, they should be fine. The Orion is printing at a 0.1mm layer height for added definition in the final print.
I started with the helmet, as that's usually the most exciting to have on display while armor and soft parts and being finished up. I printed it in a few different scales because I figured my tall fat body would make a normal scale helmet look like a pinhead. I eventually decided to just finish printing the helmet in it's native scale and sure enough it doesn't look dumb on me, it seems to be the perfect fit!
The snout greeble / aerator shown in the photos above is temporary, just for showing off the helmet so far. The helmet designer's files have a snout plate that's designed to fit perfectly within the shape and curves of the snout of his helmet. So the snout plate in MrPoopie's designs doesn't fit quite right. So I printed the plate from Jesus's designs, but printed the engine detail portion off of MrPoopie's plate to glue on to it later. This gets the accuraccy of MrPoopie's design with the perfect fit of Jesus's helmet plate.
Original MrPoopie plate:
Separately printed MrPoopie engine detail:
Test fit with the Jesus snout plate:
There are some extra seams on the helmet that are there only because I cut the files up a little more for easy printing. Those will be sanded off later while doing all the other sanding / filling that will be needed. I begun that process today, and I'm writing this as I'm waiting for paint to to dry so I can start sanding.
There was an issue with printing the visor portion that was really hard to avoid. The curling of the filament while printing and my very low support percentage (5%) caused some areas to be uneven, that I feel will be a problem when it's all white against a black visor. I'll have to fill this in with some putty and try to get the shape back to where it should be.
I've also begun printing shoulder bells, and after a test fit I've decided to scale them up to 105% to fit my body shape a little better. I'm printing the new upscaled versions as I type right now.
Thanks for checking out my WIP thread! I can't wait to show more progress as this project unfolds!