Rapid Prototyping and the MkIII Ironman Helmet

A while back I won an Objet30 3D Printer in a contest on instructables.com.  This is an amazing machine that turns a digital 3D model into physical object by slicing it into very fine layers, then printing layer after layer of a photosensitive resin on top of one another until it has built the entire thing.

I've been watching 3D printing technology develop over the past couple of years, but this is the first one I've seen that has high enough resolution and seems reliable enough to make it worth owning.  I named mine "Jarvis."

Because it seemed apropos, this is the first thing I had Jarvis build:


In case you don't recognize it, this is the Mark 3 Ironman helmet from the first movie. 

On that note, if you don't recognize it, you're wrong.  What rock have you been living under?  If you've been living in a country with electricity at any point in the past five years you should've seen at least one of the three movies that have come out with this character.  If not, get yourself a copy of each film by clicking HERE, HERE, and HERE, lock yourself in a room, watch them all, and catch up with the rest of the planet.  There's a fourth one coming out this weekend, so get yourself educated.

For more details on the build process for my helmet, read on...

Victory is Mine!

Last month I sat down and wrote out a tutorial article describing the construction of the Space Marine costumes on Instructables.com and entered it in their "Make it Real" challenge. 

You can read the whole tutorial HERE.

The contest guidelines: take something that started out as something on the computer (a 3D model, CAD drawing, or even a Photoshop sketch) and make it into a tangible, real-life something. I figured the Space Marine project really fit the bill. It turns out the contest judges agreed with me and I was selected to win their grand prize:  

I'll admit that I was more than a bit surprised.

The prize in question is a very impressive 3D printer.  This is a device that will take a 3D object file from the computer and actually build it out of seven different materials in real life.

So now I'm dreaming up all sorts of frivolous uses for it. First I'll be printing 3D models of my own head in various sizes to replace the heads on action figures to match costumes I've built. Then I'll need an MRI so I can get a 3D model of my own skull to print out and set on the shelf. I think my skull would make a great bookend.  I may also make a mold of it so I can cast copies in flexible foam.  Then I can throw my skull at passers-by without harming them.

Somewhere along the way I'll be doing more practical things with this new toy as well.  Any suggestions?  Feel free to leave them in the comments.