mjt82's DT Resurrection

[mjt82[TX]]

Out with the old, in with the new...

When I decided to build a Deathtrooper costume as my first venture into costume building, I honestly didn't know what I was getting into.  All I knew was ABS, as my wife was building a TK at that time, so I went that route.  I ended up settling on a KB Props kit, which was one of the couple that were around at that time (August 2017).  I didn't know what to expect out of an ABS kit, and I sure as heck didn't know what I was doing, as there weren't many (read: 2-3) build threads available to consult when I was building mine.  Needless to say, I learned a ton about costume building, and made a ton of mistakes.  The lack of detail in the ABS kit has always bothered me, and I honestly have never felt "proud" when trooping in my kit. 

Enter the 3D printer...

My wife got me a Prusa i3 MK3S for a combined anniversary/Father's Day/early birthday gift in early 2020.  I have always wanted to get into 3D printing, mostly for droid building, which is what I've been doing since I first powered it up.  I've been a little burned out on the droid building recently, which turned my focus to costume printing.  I enjoy watching the Galactic Armory channel on YouTube, which made me want to start a new costume, but I thought to myself, "Why not just re-work the DT costume and make it what you've always wanted?"  So that's what I've decided to to.  I contacted Tom Campbell and purchased his files, and got to work!  I tinkered around with resizing things (see my other thread), but after a discussion with Tom, I've realized that resizing may not even be necessary, which is nice!  The smaller print volume of the Prusa means I have to chop the files up into smaller chunks, but so far I've been able to do that without too much trouble.  I tend to chop them up into 12 hour print times, which means I can keep the printer moving 24 hours/day for the most part!

At this point, I've completed both forearms, and have moved on to the shins!  I'm printing the kit in PETG (I live in Mississippi - Can't have my kit warping) at 20% infill, 0.3 mm layer height, with 3 shells (all per Tom's recommendations).  I'm hoping to keep this thread going to help others that come along the way find answers to any questions they may have in the build process!  Any input on 3D printing, finishing, etc.. is greatly appreciated!

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

Glad to have you back with the 3D printed kit as the WIP!

[DHKnecht]

Michael - just for comparison, I printed my armor on a Prusa Mk2S using PETG as well.  I printed at .2 mm resolution, and for PETG, slowed the fan speed down to 30% (slowing the fan speed was the single best option I changed, and it made a helluva difference).  I had to cut files like you due to the smaller size of the build plate, but I made them as big as I could otherwise, regardless of print time.  The chest, for example, was cut into 4 pieces.  If I could do it all over, I'd get a printer that could print the chest in on print.  I spent countless hours sanding, filling, using bondo, sanding, filling again, more bondo ... all to make the seam lines where I glued pieces together disappear.

Good luck!

 

[mjt82[TX]]

22 hours ago, DHKnecht said:

Michael - just for comparison, I printed my armor on a Prusa Mk2S using PETG as well.  I printed at .2 mm resolution, and for PETG, slowed the fan speed down to 30% (slowing the fan speed was the single best option I changed, and it made a helluva difference).  I had to cut files like you due to the smaller size of the build plate, but I made them as big as I could otherwise, regardless of print time.  The chest, for example, was cut into 4 pieces.  If I could do it all over, I'd get a printer that could print the chest in on print.  I spent countless hours sanding, filling, using bondo, sanding, filling again, more bondo ... all to make the seam lines where I glued pieces together disappear.

Good luck!

 

I am about to tackle printing the ab, which I’ve actually cut into six pieces so that the joints will be in easier to finish areas, as in, areas with less detail.  I’m going to see if I can print all six pieces at the same time - I usually like to keep my print times down to around 12 hours or so, just for my own comfort, but I have faith in the Prusa!  
 

Question for you @DHKnecht, if you don’t mind, how did you go about printing the top portions of the shins?  Those parts are such odd designs that if you print them flat, you end up with tons of supports, and thus wasted filament!

 

[DHKnecht]

On 1/7/2021 at 9:36 PM, mjt82 said:

Question for you @DHKnecht, if you don’t mind, how did you go about printing the top portions of the shins?  Those parts are such odd designs that if you print them flat, you end up with tons of supports, and thus wasted filament!

 

Those were awkward.  I actually had a print fail or two getting those right, with the problem of placing them right on the print bed.  Instead, I lifted them off the bed by 1/2 mm or so, so that I got supports built up underneath.  There are a lot of supports here, but you need them to get a successful print with good detail on the exterior faces.  The pic below is how I positioned them on the build plate.  It helped to have Simplify3D so I could add supports where I wanted them, then play around with print times and filament usage.

[mjt82[TX]]

@DHKnecht - I’ve done something similar to what you have there in my slicer.  I don’t see any way around having to use a ton of supports (and waste a lot of material) to get them printed right.  
 

For the time being, I have had a bit of an unplanned pause in my printing.  I am having some issue with the bed thermistor wire on my printer - I think it’s just something I’ll have to re-solder when I get a few minutes to tear into it. Kindof a bummer because I was about 1/3 of the way printing the ab parts during my camping trip this weekend when my wife sent me a message that I had an error and the print stopped.  But!  I’ll get it fixed and press on!  My goal is to have all of the parts printed, puttied, and sanded by the time the weather is warm enough to paint, so I have a little time!

[mjt82[TX]]

Well, the bed thermistor has been replaced!  Time to resume some printing!!!

[CyberNinja89]

Thoughts on printing the tops of the shin upside down to save on support filament? Despite the supports creating the less desired quality on the outside, you will be filling and sanding the exterior regardless.

[mjt82[TX]]

On 1/18/2021 at 7:57 PM, CyberNinja89 said:

Thoughts on printing the tops of the shin upside down to save on support filament? Despite the supports creating the less desired quality on the outside, you will be filling and sanding the exterior regardless.

Having finished printing both of them now, upside down would save some support material!

[DHKnecht]

Although printing upside down does save on support material, to me, the cost of that material is negligible.  I'd rather have a nice, solid, smooth outer surface and minimize sanding, rather than save an extra dollar's worth of support material.  When I first started 3d printing, I hated wasting filament on supports.  Now, I'd rather waste it on supports for a good print than have the print fail halfway through or end up with a print that is messed up and one I'll have to print again, which is an even bigger waste.

[mjt82[TX]]

Well I haven't been very good at updating this thread, but I have taken a few pics of my progress, and I can describe what I've done so far during my build.  I have nearly all of my parts printed - I've learned a lot about 3D printing in this process, and have had to work through quite a few print imperfections as I have assembled my parts.  Using the smaller print bed means I have to cut most everything into smaller pieces, then assemble them.  I had a few problems with "elephant foot" deformities, but eventually got those under control for smoother assembly.  The TDK Props files are super detailed, though... I'm very pleased so far with what I've printed.

On my back armor piece, I ended up having a severe print fail after about 20 hours on one of my prints.  In an effort to avoid scrapping the whole print, I estimated the spot where the print failed, cut the model in my slicer at approximately that spot, printed it, then sanded the parts down to fit.  I think it turned out OK.  It's the right lower blue panel that I had to fix:

I coated my parts with fiberglass resin to take care of the print lines.  I learned a lot about resin during this process as well - Some of the applications needed to be out in the sun to fully dry.  I'm not sure if it is the UV from the sun or the heat, but a few hours in the sun seems to full "set" the resin on the parts.  In the pic here there are a few of my son's Scout Trooper parts that I was coating with resin at the same time.  I tried to coat one of the sections of my shins with spot putty like I see done often, but this was a huge mess, and I think from here on I'll use a light coat of resin to fill print lines.  

I reenforced the chest, back, ab, lower back, shoulders, thighs (front and back), cod, butt - basically any part with a seam -  with fiberglass for strength, and I really like how this feels.  I've read where some people are worried about the weight of the parts with fiberglass reenforcement and resin coating, but I don't think it will be too much of an issue.  Here is a shot of my chest piece with the fiberglass backing.  It really does create a more robust piece of armor.  As you can see, there are a lot of air pockets under the fiberglass - This was my first attempt at applying fiberglass, and I definitely got better on subsequent attempts.  I'll paint the inside, but I'm considering adding some adhesive-backed thin neoprene to the inside of the larger pieces.

Current status:

Armor parts are in various states of completion.  I've gone through several cycles of spot putty, sanding, primer to reveal the spots that need more putty, apply putty, sand, repeat as needed.  It's definitely coming along!  I even went ahead and applied some black paint (just some older paint that I had in the garage) just to see what it looks like in black, and I'm excited to see how it looks! 

I have a couple of days off next week, and I hope to spend the majority of both of them working toward getting the parts ready for paint.  I'd really love to have it done by June, if possible, for the return of the Mississippi Comicon and our "Blast-a-Trooper" fundraiser event.  

Thanks for following!

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

Very nice update! Looks like you cut the model at the right spot to save that reprint, very nice.

[mjt82[TX]]

I gave watered down wood filler (a la Nathan Ritchey on the Facebook group) on my remaining shin pieces.  It's much easier to apply, that's for sure, and will likely be much easier to sand down.  On the right you can the shin that I covered in spot putty.  I think the spot putty I got was old - It had separated somewhat in the tube, and was very "pasty" and not easy to spread.  I've got alot of sanding ahead of me on that shin.  

[IcyTrooper[CMD-DL]]

It wouldn't be a 501st project if at least 1 thing didn't go wrong haha

[TK11108]

17 hours ago, mjt82 said:

I gave watered down wood filler (a la Nathan Ritchey on the Facebook group) on my remaining shin pieces.  It's much easier to apply, that's for sure, and will likely be much easier to sand down.  On the right you can the shin that I covered in spot putty.  I think the spot putty I got was old - It had separated somewhat in the tube, and was very "pasty" and not easy to spread.  I've got alot of sanding ahead of me on that shin.  

Hi, I am now printing this parts also. Please, How do you plan to join the pieces together, glued at the front and with velcro at the back?
In my case I'm making the whole armor in PLA. I hope I don't have problems with the flexibility needed for the parts.

Thank from Spain.

[mjt82[TX]]

5 hours ago, TK11108 said:

Hi, I am now printing this parts also. Please, How do you plan to join the pieces together, glued at the front and with velcro at the back?
In my case I'm making the whole armor in PLA. I hope I don't have problems with the flexibility needed for the parts.

Thank from Spain.

I'm not exactly sure how I will join them together.  I have seen a method using strong rare earth magnets in the front and back, which is attractive to me.  I will probably attempt that first!  Velcro is a popular option, as well.  Cheers, and happy building!

[Lt. Dan[501st]]

9 hours ago, mjt82 said:

I have seen a method using strong rare earth magnets in the front and back

That´s going to be my first choice also?

[TK11108]

Ok. Perhaps this is the best option... But what do we do with the knee plate which is a solid part ....?

[mjt82[TX]]

12 minutes ago, TK11108 said:

Ok. Perhaps this is the best option... But what do we do with the knee plate which is a solid part ....?

You will have to put that part on first, then put on the shin pieces.  I probably will attach that part to the shins with velcro for security.