Introduction: Mandolorian Helmet With Moving Rangefinder

For this project i made a mandolorian helmet from the star wars franchise with a rangefinder that moves up and down at the press of a button.

Supplies

  • 1m by 0.5m of eva foam, 5 to 10 mm thick
  • contact cement
  • hobby knife
  • plastic for visor(optional)
  • heat gun
  • dremel
  • arduino uno r3
  • 2x 1k ohm resistors
  • 2x electric pushbuttons
  • jumper wires
  • a servo motor
  • soldering iron
  • solder
  • a printer
  • 4 a4 paper

Step 1: Step 1: the Circuit

This circuit with the arduino is going to be hidden away in the helmet so it is adviced you check on a breadboard to see if everything work, otherwise it will be a lot of work to get to it later.
Rebuild the circuit shown above and upload the code to the arduino, if evrything works correctly the servo should rotate by 90 degrees on the push of one of the buttons and once you press the other button it should return to it's original position.
If you want to have the servo rotate more or less you can change the 90 in (while (digitalread(2) ==HIGH && pos < 90) ) to another number or degrees.

After everything works you can start soldering the circuit together, i advice to give the buttons enough wire so you can put them in any location on the helmet you wish.

Step 2: Step 2: the Making of the Helmet

Note: i did not make this template, it can be found at https://www.punishedprops.com/free-blueprint-files... all credit goes to them i just put the servo in here.

Print out the template i have supplied here and cut out the figures.

Lay the figures over the eva foam and cut them out, don't forget to mark the lines and letters ontoo the foam with a pencil or something.(using pins to hold the paper in place helps a lot)

After cutting all the pieces out you need to use the heat gun to warm up the foam and bend it into shape, this doesn't have to be perfect but it helps during the glueing.

after all that is done it is time to glue the pieces together, apply a thin layer of the contact cement to both sides you wish to glue together and let it dry for a few minutes until the glue doesn't look as glossy as at first. Then just push the glued pieces together and they should be stuck together pretty well.

After all the pieces are glued together by the letters on them then it's time for the last step.

Attachments

Step 3: Step 3: Wiring

Once the helmet and the wires are ready you need to cut a hole for your servo under the earpiece shown above, because this is where the rotating part will sit.

you will also need to cut 2 holes for the buttons to sit, the location is of your own choosing.
once this is done you make a cut out in a sheet of foam to protect the cables as shown above.

once that is done you need to mount the arduino somewhere, there is no right answer for where so put it where you want it as long as all the cables can reach it.
I put it on the back of the helmet as shown above.

once all that is done and the cables are tucked away nice and safe we are technically done, although there is one thing left to do.

Step 4: Step 4: Customize

Now the helmet is done it is time you make it truly yours by painting it or adding spikes, or maybe you want to make it look just like boba fett's.
whatever you do with it i am sure it'll look great.