Back to the future mind reading helmet

thingiverse

I'm thrilled to share my Doc Brown's mind reading helmet from 'Back to the future' with you. I'm absolutely obsessed with this film and I've found a treasure trove of props for 3D printing, but this helmet eluded me until now. Here it is! To be honest, this project was no cakewalk, but as a massive geek and movie fan like myself, it was well worth the challenge. On my 3D model, all parts fit together seamlessly, but I had to get creative with some of the connectors. For those new to 3D printing, you can use a hair dryer to warm up plastic parts and reshape them slightly - it's a lifesaver! On one of the pictures, you'll see color coding that corresponds to file names, making assembly a breeze. The main coils can be screwed onto the headband, and I glued all the connectors between cylinders in this order: blue, yellow, pink, red, and green. You may need to bust out the hair dryer technique for some of the connectors - three of my red ones required it, but you might have better luck than me! There's also a file called perspex_tube.stl that you can print in clear PLA or use a clear perspex tube. I bought 10mm (outside diameter) tubes and cut them into 90mm long cylinders - they look slightly better with clear perspex, but it's more work. On the main coils, I wound a few turns of grey cable and glued it permanently. On the clear perspex, I wound a few turns or single-core red wire and glued that too. Here's the assembly order: first, attach the main coil (with grey cable), then glue in the 10mm perspex tube, followed by the slot clear_cylinder (printed in clear PLA). The clear cylinder will go inside inside_cylinder, which will all fit snugly into outside_cylinder. Finally, glue all the connectors to outside_cylinder. Electronics: Solder 220 ohm resistors to the positive leg of a 5mm white LED (protective resistor) and then connect cables to both legs of the LED. Slide the LED into the perspex tube and tidy up wires with clear cable ties. Connect everything to an Arduino Nano and a 9V battery - it'll all fit inside the Arduino_box, which you can clip onto your belt. There's a hole for a mini on/off rocker switch. The schematic and arduino code are attached. The code randomly switches LEDs - my addition to the project! This is a big project, but if you decide to tackle it, I'd love to see pictures and hear any comments or suggestions you might have. Here's a video of the finished helmet in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctzW8bP1KoY