I UPGRADED Iron Man's Helmet (100% Carbon Fiber!!)

If you're new around here, welcome! I build lots of whacky stuff with composites but had never tried forged carbon. Realistically for what I generally build, it's not got a fantastic practical/engineering use case because it is neither stronger nor lighter than a cloth layup, BUT! It looks SO COOL and is pretty hip right now. Let me know what else you'd like to see in carbon!

That is an epic helmet!!!

So, the last video was "I'm getting evicted," and now it's "I'm building Iron Man armor"... Is this Xyla's supervillain origin story?

looks incredible!!

10:52 An alternative to those gloves is something disposable like nitrile. It won't tear holding the parts, but it will tear and save your finger if it hits the blade.

If you don't care too much about reusing the molds, highly recommend leaving then in a heated chamber/oven at 70c or so, it peels away really well after. Boiling in a pot full of water also works. If you get the temperatures right, the glass transition zone of pla can make it soft, moldable like clay or almost gooey based on where you are on the curve.

The final piece looks SOOOO COOL!!!

As long as he’s not going to the bottom of the ocean, Carbon Fiber is perfect.

Carbon Fiber Man doesn't have the same ring to it though 😆

I have two comments that might help you. 1) I use Walmart vacuum storage bags as vacuum bags, they work really well, cheap, and they peel easily from cured resin. 2) For carbon I've used black "Featherfill" to fill pinholes. It's easier to sand than a flood coat, and you sand everything away but the pinholes, and you don't see them when you clear coat the part.

I’m surprised you don’t have InstaPak foam for doing shipping. It’s 2 part foam in a plastic bag so you just break the inner package, mix the 2 parts, then put them in the box with your project. It expands and hardens, moulded around the part. The Maker Christmas seems like the perfect videos for them to sponsor ( as all the makers suddenly have odd shaped pieces to ship)

That carbon fibre looks Soooooo good in the sunlight! I never would have imagined you’d get such amazing crystaline/flake reflection effects. Just gorgeous. And with your new forging skills, your next wild instrument build is going to incredible 😉

Tech tip from a resin material manufacturer here: With 3D printed molds and epoxy, you will usually want a 2-stage release application to ensure your parts don't try to weld themselves to the mold. The liquid wax is a good start, but a follow up layer of water soluble PVA release would have prevented a lot of that sticking problem. If you are going to sand and clear coat the pieces anyway, wax and PVA is the gold standard for decades for making composite parts from rigid tools. 3D printed FDM molds have a ton of micro-porosity, so they really need to be sealed (tons of work) and/or do the wax/PVA treatment. We have a couple videos on our channel that discuss all of this. 🙂👍

His suit consists primarily of Nitinol, a nickel-titanium alloy which is lightweight and possesses shape memory properties. :) great build btw!

A suggestion for releasing parts from moulds is to include a tyre valve facing the part. (Ideally in the middle.) When it has set, apply an air line to the valve, and you should be able to exert an even pressure all over to force it out.,

From personal experience, I find mixing the tow and the epoxy before applying it to the mould gets a far better uniformity of the finished part. also, the “acne” is not only caused by the pressure, but by the heat that’s generated by the epoxy curing (it’s not much but under the pressure, it’s enough). Pro tips: slow cure epoxy, thicker walls on your moulds, mix it before you layup and try to get the material in position before you squish. It doesn’t like to move much in the mould. Draft angles are your friends and add bleed holes for the excess resin for an easier time squashing it.

As a bonus, send your printing castoffs to Brothers make, letting them know what the material is, and they can then turn them into something else, giving them a second life!

I don't think the mold being crushed necessarily had to do with your clamping the clamps too hard.. The resin likely got warm in the curing stage which then heated the plastic up causing it to deform around the infill.

14:00 I love how those big ass screw drivers always say "Do not use as chisel or pry bar" when that is the ONLY thing they are ever used for.

HI!! I Just stumbled upon your videos today! I'm a retired Air Force Aircraft Structural Maintenance Technician and you just took me back to my days of working with carbon fiber on the C-17. You did an outstanding job on this build! I would have loooooved working with someone like you in the service! Keep up the good work!!!