How to make a glowing robot suit.

Last year, I decided to undertake a bit of a crazy project - Making glowing robot suits to do circus performances in. This was so that we could perform in low light conditions such as nightclubs and festivals.

This instructable involves sculpting, vacuum forming, and basic electronics (ElWire)

It was a very hectic process, and I learned a lot doing it - mostly by finding out the hard way what not to do.

So, in this instructable, I will talk you through the process of making a suit like this, and share with you the pitfalls that I encountered, so that you can avoid making the same time-consuming mistakes that I did!

Step 1 Materials

Equipment:

Vaccum Former
     - Very easy to make. I built mine off this instructable
     - A more fancy version can be found here& here

Soldering iron
Stanley knives
Wire Strippers
Hot glue gun
Mannequin torso
Mannequin arm

Friends to help you! (not essential, but makes the process much easier)

Materials
(the exact quantity of materials required will vary depending on the design of your suit)

Base armor shapes:
Clay
Plaster
Thin thermoplastic (we used 0.5ml HDPE)


Armor plates:
Thicker thermoplastic (we used 1ml HIPS)
Black spray paint
Metallic spray paint (get the good stuff. You won't regret it)
Rare earth magnets or marine-grade press studs
Hot glue

Under suit
Black skivvie
Black balaclava
Black thread

Electronics:
ElWire
ElWire Connectors
ElWire Inverter
Dual Core Wire
Solder
Heat shrink tubing

Comments

[eL3VEn]

Now I like that design, if u ever need someone to sport one of these let me know. I plan on doing something similar for riding motorbikes at night, increases visibility and just looks great lol. I'll be glad to show u when its complete.

[ninjarider500]

Your Awesome! I must build this soon. Really creative keep up the good work!

[Feral_Messiah]

Thanks! I'll post up some shots of the next suits when they're ready :D.

[652800]

About how many hours did this take to construct?

[Feral_Messiah]

It's honestly hard to say, as: a) We used the same molds for the prototypes and the final suits. b) We made three prototypes & three final suits & c) We where working so hard that we weren't paying attention to time! My advice would be to do a few small test pieces first, time that, and scale up by a factor of the number of components you're using. (The Elwire takes a while until you get the hang of it as well)

[Feral_Messiah]

This was my first Instructable. Any comments and constructive criticism are warmly welcomed :) .