Tonight I spent some time inserting thick yoga mat material inside the boot. It did a great job of making it snug and comfortable to wear! Take a look at the video I uploaded to Youtube as well for the first glimpse of the movement in the boot.

YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOtrWT0N74c

The mat is cut up to match well with the seams on the calf plate. A little extra at the calf makes it nice and snug.

The whole inside including the heel piece and the foot bottom is well covered inside. Much of the inner workings are covered up from rubbing on the foot.

The view before putting your foot in...

My foot fits in perfectly snug with a little extra room in the toe for movement.

Its taped for now because I am waiting on Matt to add the electronic locking mechanism we designed.

Check out the Youtube Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOtrWT0N74c

Today I am working on a much more workable ventilation system for the Afinia. While I'm doing that here are some pics of glow in the dark party glasses I designed and printed my little bro this weekend! The ear supports have working snap in joints too. This is just to show you the resolution capability of my printer.

Ok, here is the ventilation system I finally got around to finishing...

Three weeks of printing and one day of assembly! The Iron Man MK 42 boot is just about finished with the joints now! I went to the hardware store and picked out some supplies, then drilled some holes and fitted the boot up with the necessary mechanics (minus the electronic locking at the top). I also reinforced the pivot arms inside by cutting out some sheet metal and screwing it into the back of the shin plate. After all was just about done, I realized I was short one bolt for the calf plate (lol) but I will pick that up next time I'm out getting the stuff for the inside cushioning.

So there are round bolts outside for now, but I want to sink them in with flat heads soon.

Ah its a beaut already!

You can see where I welded all the pieces of the calf today. It will need some love still.

I was happy with how the plates matched up almost perfectly! Remember, there is a lip on the inside as well, which made it crucial to be right on.

Here the toe is pivoted to its stopping point.

Before the plates shift on the slider axis...

After the plates shift (some of the way) forward on the slider axis.

Taking off the calf plate to see the inner workings!

The heel plate at its max pivot back.

Pulling back the heel you can see the main joint and the springs, as they are screwed into the walls of the shoe and other plates.

I love the detail in the tread and holding it like this is so cool to imagine the led panel on the bottom yet to come.

Yes, I am a skinny dude, time to work out and fill the armor with some muscle ;)

One step closer to the real stark industries...

Tonight I'm printing out the last parts of the calf. This corner piece on the upper calf takes 10 hours to print one side. I will probably print the last two pieces overnight and then weld it all together in the morning! Also, I stopped by the hardware store to get a couple bolt screws to secure the joints. If they work in the toe joints then I will fit the rest of the joints with the same parts. This morning, Matt came over (electronics guy) and we talked about the servos and gears he ordered and read through a bunch of Make magazines. So, heres to a finished boot (in printing the parts) by tomorrow!

 

This piece is a 10 hour print! 

I am amazed at how easily and effectively the Afinia generates support structures. They come off like ribbon.

You can still see every polygon as I still need to learn how to better keep edges while setting models in smooth mode in Maya. I am not sure how to hold certain edges effectively without changing the whole shape of the boot inside and out yet. So, obviously I will have to create a smooth surface before painting the parts.

Here is the hole to fill in with the piece that is printing out, and then just above these are two more smaller pieces at the bottom of the knee that will complete the calf plate.

This morning I finished printing out the shin plate and spent time welding all the pieces since the shoe was put together. It looks like things are coming together nicely so far! I estimate finishing the calf plate sometime this week!! Please share, so when I make a video about my project there will be some viewership! :)

I taped on the top right piece for now. I will have to weld that later.

Here is a nice profile view so you can see the calf plate will be much larger than the shin.

Here is an angle view, that seam will be filled in with the weld so its np.

Here are the movements of the plates so far. The toe is capable of bending back at four Make Magazines high. The shin plate rotates forward for a smooth step, and the calf is pivoted back to its angle for the foot entry position. I came up with the articulations of the boot and where the joints are located. As far as I am aware in my research of people who are building "cosplay" suits, I am the first to design something like this boot.

I am eating those Pocky in the background... you can get a whole pack at Costco for a good price. :)

Well, I have been working and going to meetings so here is at least a show of what my printer has been doing in my absence. I have just had time to print out four more pieces for the boot, they aren't yet welded together but you can see where things are headed!

Here the heel plate (printed in two parts) is just placed on the heel where it should rest in the groove.

There are two more pieces I just put into place (not yet welded together) and I find that even without the joints attached this piece pivots to the precise limits I designed it to!

Here is the shin plate from above pivoted to where the design allows (less than 10 degrees forward).

So there we have it taking shape upwards from here. I will print out the last two pieces of the shin today and tomorrow and also get to welding these that were right off the press! :)

Stay tuned... 

This morning I finished printing the boot heel (below). Then before I left to the city I welded it together completing the shoe portion of the boot. Obviously its roughly welded together, but check out some proportions!

The heel printed out overnight, just a few cracks but I just fill them in. 

Here you see the two large welds so far. I'm a bit messy but it just sands off later. 

the boot is over 14 inches long, which is more than my normal shoe size.

I thought last minute to add some designs to the bottom of the boot, its not necessarily what is on the actual suit I'm sure, but at least there will be a spot for the booster light.

Here you can see my foot fits the boot just as I measured it to in the sizing program.

I am not limited by my build space ;)

Were off to a good start, and here is a blog to capture our progress!

Hi, I'm James. Welcome to the Project Mark 42 Prototype blog!

This all started with considering the possibilities of 3D printing at home last year. Then, when I drew up some blueprints in Photoshop with picture references, it stirred my curiosity to create a semi functional suit. I started dreaming about how something like the boot could work with moving parts, and then the rest of the body's functionality followed. I then talked with a friend of mine who is an electronics engineer undergrad about my ideas and we met up to brainstorm extensive possibilities for wiring up the suit with functions.

After attending a recent Maker Fair here in the Bay Area, I purchased an Afinia H-Series printer to use for this project as it is accurate and uses ABS. I did so much research on 3D printers, talked with many who own them, and explored all the vendor booths. I realized this printer was more affordable, had good reputation, responsive company, and a one year warranty. ABS is the only way to go in this project and I would need something that could have the capability of being welded together strongly.

So far, Matt (Electronics Guru) has been working on finding the right electronic basic motors/ servos etc. as well as the programming for the Rasp. Pi, Arduino, and some prospects for the Google glasses type interface in the helmet. We have an abundance of cool ideas for the suits' electronics, but one thing at a time.

Here are some pics of my progress! Video's will be saved for later as I hope to create a Youtube video at mile marker points of the project for upload on Youtube. I won't be sharing much of the inner workings or my design for functionality at this point, as I want to hold on to my original ideas for the time being. However, there will be a video to demonstrate how the parts will interact later! :)

My Afinia H-Series has a small build space, but it doesn't allow very much warping! Here the toe was able to fit on its edge in one print. 

Here is the boot design that I created based on the Mark 42 Suit. 

The block next to the boot represents the build space limitation I have.  Life is full of limitations, its how well we navigate through them that counts! 

Here is the toe with the second piece placed up where the joint meets. They lined up perfectly and the toe pivots exactly the way I designed it to in the computer. What a revolutionary thing to imagine melted plastic ABS could remain so accurate to the model! 

The third piece printed out now, which is the arch of the foot. All three of these pieces were around 10 to 13 hours of printing each. The whole boot could be around 15 separate prints, but these are much larger than the rest of course.

Now the arch is lined up with the front of the boot shoe portion. Matt came over, we talked about electronics and the minimal locking mechanisms on the boot. 

Matt and I went down to the garage and welded these two pieces. These welds, as I discovered with other trial pieces are almost as strong as if it were one solid piece! I'm amazed at the potential this brings for making anything at any  size. There is no limit to what I could create! :)

Ok, so I had to at least ask Josh for the suit... haha it was worth a shot.