Wearable Darth Vader Helmet (for Prusa i3 sized printers)

thingiverse

It has been an incredible journey, but I am finally able to share the completion of this project with you all. First and foremost, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Steen Winther. His model (https://grabcad.com/library/darth-vader-helmet-2) was the spark that ignited this remix. It has been an astonishing 14 months since I embarked on this project, and today marks a triumphant conclusion as I share this remix with you all. I sincerely hope it will be of use to some of you out there. If you decide to print one, I would be absolutely thrilled to see your results. The model is cleverly divided into pieces that should fit seamlessly onto most i3 style printers. Each part boasts alignment holes designed to guide you through the assembly process with ease. To ensure precision, I employed toothpicks to insert into the holes and align everything before applying glue. However, please note that if you resize the models, those alignment holes may no longer fit, so feel free to experiment with small nails or any other rigid material that suits your needs. If you wish to don the mask, be sure to keep the back parts (FaceR00, FaceR10, FaceL00, FaceL10) separate from the rest. Utilize the alignment holes to guarantee a snug fit, but refrain from gluing those four parts to the others – only glue them to each other. To make the mask wearable, I attached velcro to the top and magnets on the sides, allowing it to snap together with ease. For the lenses, you have two options: either print them if you plan to display the helmet or use (vacu)form the lenses using the buck models. I opted for Worbla Transparent Art dyed in Jacquard iDye Poly Red, which worked beautifully – albeit with a minor setback when I used too much heat during the forming process, resulting in some damage to the Worbla. I may revisit this project at a later time to rectify the issue. In any case, keep in mind that PLA can be prone to deformation under heat, so you might consider using ABS or PETG for the buck models instead. As you may have guessed, an abundance of sanding was involved – and it's safe to say I didn't quite achieve perfection with my sanding efforts . One aspect worth noting is that I chose not to paint the 'nose' silver/chrome as it doesn't align with my personal aesthetic preferences. And now you know why! To resolve the issue of the helmet and mask only fitting together when the mask is raised from the surface, I designed a stand to address this problem. You can find the stand here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4358923