I have for some time liked the idea of making an Elite: Dangerous Remlok space helmet. One I could wear to LaveCon and go in cosplay.
The early concept art was quite basic, but the helmet in game is a thing of beauty. When I bought a 3D printer a few weeks ago, I started to look for a model I could print.
Low and behold, on Thingiverse, the talented CMDR Antonia [Bradley] had created a model for 3D printing a wearable RemLok on a filament printer. The printer I have is a resin printer which has a smaller print area and works very differently. Filament printers are like an icing syringe on a robot arm, while resin printers pull the model out of a vat of liquid a 5 micron layer at a time.
Part 1 – printing the small bits
Some of the models included a thin sheet; a “base” or raft, for filament printing. Before I could start, I needed to edit the models to remove the base or they wouldn’t be usable in the 3D printer slicer software. I did this using Windows 3D Builder.
First, I printed out the jaw which just fit on the build plate, then the ear muffs and their caps. The results were stellar, but I managed to chip a bit off the jaw getting the print-supports off. Note to self: be more careful!
I had hollowed out the prints, so I needed to seal the drain holes and did this with a light paint of resin and a UV Torch. This is a technique called resin welding.
