Random Progress

Polish:

The "camera lens" in the mohawk is a bit dull. So, I grabbed my bottle of 'fine scratch remover'. It was for polishing up tiny scratches on my rear plastic window on my convertible. Grabbed a towel and rubbed the face up with lots of elbow grease.

LED test:
While I was wiring some of the LEDs, I noticed one of them had a bad flicker. So, I cut it out of the system. As decided to use it for experimenting. I wanted to see if I could diffuse the LED bulbs a bit. And I know hot glue dries cloudy. So, I put the two together....

I globbed some hot glue right ON the LED bulb. And let it dry. You can see in the pic... the LED bulb is completely "submerged" inside the wad of hot glue.

Test wired it to my battery... and voila! A nice diffused glow! Success. I'll do this to a few of the bulbs in the "camera lens"




Wire connectors:

Bought some quick-release wire-to-wire connectors for some parts of the electrical work. The fins are separable, so these are needed. I'm not really liking these types. But I couldn't find any better alternative. These were pretty prices too. Don't like pricey.

Hook me up

Wiring:

Back on the electric work. Had to figure out how I wanted the switch to turn on/off. And how to wire all of the fans and millions of LEDs

Use my vice and alligator clip (held in place by a piece of placticine) to help me hold the wires so I can solder them together. Everything is multipurpose! hehe

Heat shrink wrapped the connections. Not necessary. I just want to do it right.

LEDs:

I had to sample test the LEDs in the mohawk lens. Needed to know how many I would need to make this thing look cool.

Maybe just a few more.. hehe

Man, there's so much more electrical work to be done:
- the fans
- the machine guns
- eyes
- V-fins (still waiting for more LEDs to come in the mail)
And all these needs to be hooked up with quick release connectors. For easy battery swap outs.

SUB-PROJECT: Spray booth

DISCLAIMER: This project involves electricity and spinning blades of death. Please don't attempt, if you're not 100% sure of what you're doing!! (Young or old!)

A mini project that came out of necessity. I am nearing the painting part of the helmet build. It's wet and cold outside these days. I don't like to wait for mother nature to accommodate my needs. So, I needed to find a way to paint indoors.

But, it gets messy and really smelly. I needed a spray booth. But, they're too expensive to buy. They range from $250 - $5000! Can't justify the price for the amount I need to use it. So, I'm building one myself!

It's a very simple build. Only requires a few elements:

- To be a box large enough for projects
- Needs a fan in the back
- Needs a light
- Needs piping to vent out the bad air
- Needs to be able to be plugged into typical AC outlet
- Standard home air filter
- Optional: A Turntable
- Optional: Switches for the fan and light

Budget: Nothing. Zero dollars. That's my goal!

How am I going to accomplish this wizardry?!? Craigslist!!!! Specifically, the free section of Craigslist.

I went looking for a washroom vent, but found something 1000x better. A complete stove top hood range! The range includes a working fan, light, switches, AND a box that already houses all of them!!! This one item saved me from 80% of the build right there. Love repurposing old items.

A little oily from the previous owner. But, a few good wipes of the Magic Erasure... it was like new! Really, I can't believe that sponge works so well!

Power cable:

Have a few old computer power cables around the house. Perfect for this project. Repurposing again!

I just cut the outer black wire wrap to expose the 3 coloured wires. They're industry standard colour-coded: Black = Negative, White = Positive, and Green = Ground.

This would be connected either with electrical tape or wire connectors

 Turntable:

I have an old lazy susan I use for sculpting. It can definitely share duties here. I had drilled random holes everywhere. 2 sizes. They're for sticks with alligator clips at the end to hold my pieces I need to spray.

Venting:

The back was really oily... like really thick caked on grease. Cleaned it up with some degreaser. 

Leaving a rectangular exhaust port behind the fan. My hose is round, so I need to make an adaptor.

 Plastic again! Love the stuff.

Line a good bead of silicone around the hole. Glue my adaptor right on.

Hose:

I cut a 1" piece of old PVC pipe and silicone it to the hole. This will serve as the adaptor where the hose will just attach to.

The hose is a vent hose (insulated here. Not necessary for this project). I got it for free basically. 25' worth at a local hardware store that was closing up shop.  (That day, I picked up $1100 worth of stuff for only $50!!!)

Finished! Time to test it. Get the band-aids ready. Heck, get the fire extinguisher, chain mail, and get 911 pre-dialed. Turn it on and step back.

It works! Has great suction. 2 speeds too! Even at the lower speed, it can draw all the paint particulates through... even with my filter in front of it. Here I just grabbed whatever I could find around the house to use as walls. I'll try to find some (free) scrap wood somewhere and build a proper box. Thinking of building the box that can hinge as well. So, the entire unit can fold up to a smaller footprint. For storage when not in use.

I need to figure out a better place to place the light as well. It really should be in front of the workspace rather than behind. Either that or just get another light. More light the better anyways.

There ya have it. A free spray booth! Now, if i can integrate a small belt sander in this as well!! hehe

Wiring Antennae

While I wait for the mold for the eyes to dry and the paint to dry on the rest of the pieces...

Gonna put in some lights into each of of the antennas. Right at the highest points. But, I don't want any of the wires visible. So, I break out the dremel tool again. and gouge out a tiny channel for the wires.

TIP: Holding down the working piece with a vice makes things go so much smoother.

A little spackle to fill in the gaps. Let dry. Sand. Paint.

Head rigging

Rigging:

Now on to some rigging. 

I needed to find a solution on how my noggin attaches to the helmet itself. It needs to be strong and lightweight. (that will be a reoccurring theme on this build) It's also very tricky because I can't simply anchor it any random spot. It needs to yield clearance of the retractable face! And of course, it needs to be comfortable.

Found some galvanized strapping. Comes all rolled up. So when I pull it out, it already has a curved shape! Perfect for my head. I initially was going to rivet all the joints so it'll be nice and clean. Unfortunately, my rivets were a tad small.. and fell through the holes. So, I simply used wires and twist tied the joints together. Works just as good. (and cheap)

This mannequin head is a bit smaller than my own. So I left some room. I also anticipate on using foam  padding for more comfort.

There were LOTS of trial and error in building this rig. I can't even count how many times I had to take it apart and fasten new joints. Patience is definitely an asset here!

Once I was happy with the head brace, I wrapped the entire thing with hockey tape. It was the only thing I can find around the house that was matte black and flexible. It works very well here. The tape does a good job in keeping all those wires from poking into my skull.

Misc Details

Wasn't looking forward to this part of the pep build. These are cylindrical shapes on the head that are the machine guns and vents/exhausts.

 Just look at this print! Notice the tip of the x-acto knife?... THAT'S how thin this ring shape is! Every thing else is the tabs for gluing!! WTF Crazy.

Made it! Folded and glued.

Other random bits that extrude from the helmet. Looking the machine guns...I'm not really liking the outcome of it. I might fabricate it from something else. Who knows.. I might just use REAL cameras in there!

Some electrical bits. Micro switches, wires, 9v battery clips, and a couple of micro fans.