Fivezero

Alright, still not there... I'm getting there, but still chasing a couple fitment issues. Also started losing some lights, some of the butt connectors I used started failing and breaking the circuit. Also I finally had it with the AA battery packs, they are way too bulky. Also the connectors I used are way too large. It was just way too uncomfortable to wear. You'll also see that there are some wires hanging out in a couple spots. So I decided to do some "minor" rewiring using CR2032 battery packs and smaller connectors. These should be small enough to keep every piece of armor self-contained. No more lengthy wiring going to the torso armor. The big pivot I took was making some new shoulder bells. The current ones are just too small for me and are causing many issues, especially when viewed from the rear. So got the big printers warmed and printed a couple new shoulders! Other than that, I had to re-adjust the chest and back. The back plate was sitting way too high and again looked awful. It also pulled on the chest affecting how the light was hitting the ab. So lengthened some straps and now that's all sitting where I want. So I hope to get the wiring redone this weekend. I also hope to get the new shoulders trimmed and sanded down and hopefully get some paint on them!

Yeah the clear plastic is much more brittle than good ol' ABS. I'm not sure what plastic WTF used for this clear armor, but having used PETG, acrylic and polycarbonate for other projects you have to be careful. There were definitely a few cracks that I had to repair when trimming these parts... So did the test fit yesterday with the new "light belt." The belt works but wasn't too happy with how the armor was behaving. The butt plate was moving around too much to get a consistent light effect. So I made some new straps and glued them in over night. Note the 37mm cartridge cases I'm using as weights... Also noticed the straps on my ab plate that will clip to the light belt were way too far out, so moved those inward. And here's the final look after another test fit today, pleased with the look now! Just have to hide the wiring. The main belt is sticking out a little farther, so now there's some exposed velcro, a little trimming and that will be taken care of. So that should be everything fixed up. I'll do another partial suit up tomorrow, make sure everything feels and looks good. Then I can try again for CRL pics!

Alright just about done with the fixes! All of the battery packs are in much more comfortable spots and fixed a few straps. The biggest thing I didn't like was how little the chest and kidney lights were shining onto the rest of the armor. On the chest, I built up the hot glue a fair amount and glued the lights back on. I also added a little foam to push the chest armor out a bit. The effect is much better now! For the kidney/butt lights I ended up coming up with this solution. I made up a separate belt to run underneath the main belt. Like the chest, I added some webbing behind this belt to push it away from the armor. Then glued on some of that clear edge trim to the webbing. And the other big thing is the TD fell apart! So I drew up a new mount with an integrated clip and 3D printed the new mount. Since I am lazy and don't want to wait for paint right now, I sanded it real quick and then used some aluminum tape to make it look nice. It's pretty dang close to the armor actually, but I will paint it eventually. Only thing left is to test the new kidney light belt and make sure that works how I want it to. If it works out good, then I can try again for CRL pics!

Well, got a test fit in yesterday! Not quite ready yet, got a few fitment issues to work out. Had two big issues, the TD mount came apart when I was taking everything off and the clear edge trim on the kidney didn't want to stay in place. On a positive note, no issues with the lights/wiring. Also pleased with how the paint looks! Like I said a few adjustments to some parts and move some battery packs around to make things a little comfortable and it'll be good to go!

Yeah I hear ya, electrical is not my strong suit. I'm used to fixing existing circuits from all of our vehicle projects, but designing new circuits is a little outside my expertise. So been kinda winging it, but it's all good. All learning for new builds! Anyway after some research and thinking, it looks like my issue is all of my lights are wired in parallel. I did this so if one died it wouldn't kill any others on each armor piece. Other issue is my battery is a 12v battery, which was great when I initially planned to reuse the 12V LEDs from my original build. The new lights need only need approx. 3V. So the original plan was going to wire in resistors to bring the power down, but the resistors are creating way too much heat as a result (bleeding off too much power). Like I mentioned it works, but there is no way you could wear it without getting some nasty burns. After some looking around it looks like if I rewire everything to put the 4 of these LED filaments in series (4 * 3V = 12V, current stays the same), I should be able to get away it. Still might need resistors to get the current dialed in, but the heat should be better since it is bleeding a lot less power to bring the voltage/current down. All of this means redoing the wiring completely. As mentioned, I've ordered smaller AA battery packs to get this together enough for CRL photos and maybe a quick troop. Once the CRL is ready to go, then I'll start redoing the wiring (with some proper planning this time...) to make it a bit easier to troop in.

Quick update! Assembly is complete for the armor! Bicep, shoulder, shin and thigh straps all finished up and glued in. Also got the knee plate and shoulder straps mounted. So armor wise, it's ready to go! Unfortunately, hit a snag with the wiring... As you can see, I started making the wiring harness. It is all trash now... Everything is fine, it will deliver power as needed. However the resistors that bring the current down are getting way too hot. There is no way you could wear it without getting burned. So back to the drawing board... I was hoping to use a centralized battery, and I will get it worked out eventually. In the interests of getting the CRL finished (and I've got a troop coming up that I'd like to take this to), I've bought a bunch of individual battery packs to power each piece of armor individually. Not an ideal solution long term, but it will get me by for now... On a positive note, I can rig up the individual parts for the last few CRL photos I need to take (just can't do the full suit up with lights yet). Almost there!

Well, I'm getting there! Most of the wiring is done for all of the armor parts. Just have to finish up the forearms tonight. Did have to replace a couple filaments, got a little too aggressive a couple times. These filaments are fine for the most part, but pulled a little too hard a couple times and ended up snapping the ends right off. Definitely recommended pre-wiring the ends before gluing them in (what I should have done...). Here's a few pics of the progress, didn't get many of the wiring (got in the zone and forgot to take pictures). Shin lights! Kidney onto butt plate lights (hidden by belt). Couple more helmet pics with the all of the filaments, loving it! After the forearms are done, I will move on to make the main harness to connect all the armor pieces and battery together. Once the wiring is finished, there are a few small things to finish up (need to make up a couple straps and mount the knee plate). TFU Shadow V2 is finally coming together, getting very close to the end of this rebuild!

Time for an update! Ordered all of the new LED filaments and have been swapping them out on the finished armor and then started running them on the clear parts. Yep definitely worth it! Leagues above every other lighting source I have tried in the past. Source for anyone that is curious: https://www.adafruit.com/product/5508 You can find other cheaper sources, but I haven't tried them out for quality and Adafruit is based in the US so easier (quicker) to have shipped. Still have to do the forearms, shins and the lighting behind the belt. Goal is to have everything glued in this week and then I can start making up the whole wiring harness over the weekend!

Here's an update on this past week's progress. Primed and painted the clear armor, with that everything is now painted! Also received the LED filament samples, yep they'll work just fine... They are EXTREMELY bright, tiny and of course flexible. So, yep, I'll be redoing the lighting with these things. Hate having to redo finished parts, but these things are so much better, there's no contest. Here's a comparison with the current TD lights and the LED filament through it.

Yeah, we'll see how they work out! If they are bright enough then these are what I've been looking for from the beginning for this trooper. Way better than my current solution of gluing in individual LEDs... Anyway all of the gluing is done on the clear armor. Need to run the sander on the cover strips and then we can start masking off the illuminated parts of the armor. Goal is primer by the end of week, might get to final paint?

Thanks! Yep it only took 12 years to get here, but I'm pretty happy with my armor making process. Definitely got my sights on some larger projects in the future!

Time for an update on this build as well! Been working on it here and there. Big thing being I 3D printed all of the pack boxes with the new, big 3D printer. Original plan was to scratch build them with sheet plastic. I also reprinted many of the parts I had already printed out. Unfortunately some of the larger resin parts warped pretty badly while in storage... Another big thing that is finished is the shoulder bell. 3D printed the original model and after lots of sanding, bondo and spot putty I was able to get it smoothed out and molded. Cast a couple of them as well. Still have to cast a couple more to redo my original EVO Trooper. Only thing I forgot to do before I made the mold was add the 5 holes in the raised section, not a huge deal at all to do it on the final castings.

Another update! Spent a good chunk of time building a 3D printer shelf and also got my second Neptune 3 Max (the big ones on the bottom) and got it assembled and printing. First major test print was a TK helmet model from SWG (yep will paint it up as a Novatrooper). All the printers are moved over and ready for the future! Anyway back to the TFU Shadow! Did the final assembly on the TD. Trimmed and sanded the shin armor and started gluing them together. Also got the forearm armor glued together. And then I stumbled across these things this morning. Flexible LED filaments... I bought a couple to see how well they work, might be redoing all of the lighting on this rebuild...

As promised here's a small update on what I've been up to! As I mentioned been busy with my 71 Chevelle this past year. Completely gutted and replaced the interior and ran a new wiring harness and some mechanical upgrades. Took far longer than I expected but after almost 12 years, this car is done. Even though the Chevelle has been the main project, I've still been looking to the future and I've replaced my old 3D printers with a pair of Creality Ender 3 S1 Pro printers. And wow I should have upgraded a long time ago.... They've made 3D printing enjoyable versus a chore with my old Prusa I3 clones. And I picked up this big guy a few months ago, Elegoo Neptune 3 Max. Big enough to print helmets and armor parts in a single piece. Love this thing and I've got a second one on the way.... So on to the TFU Shadow update! I did finally receive some clear armor parts a while ago. And on the left is a box of electrical stuff to make a new wiring harness for this trooper. I've started trimming these parts and sanding them for paint and light diffusion. Progress has been a bit slower than I wanted. Unfortunately I fought a bench grinder and lost a few weeks ago, so I haven't been able to use my left hand much (don't worry nothing important was hit, my hand is fine). Then I was unloading my tote after a troop last week and threw my back out...

Don't worry @IcyTrooper, I'm still alive! Had a big project (1971 Chevelle interior and some mechanical items....) that's taken up all of my free time this past year. Good news is that car is finally done, so now we're back to the TFU Shadow rebuild. I do have some small updates that I'll post up this week. Still not done, but I have gotten back to working on it.