How strong would a helmet be if printed in proto-pasta stainless steal filament? This helmet is a prop and will not be worn! Would this helmet be able to survive a drop?
Depends on how thick you make the helmet, thickness of walls / infill.
The filament Is pretty fragile in thin layers.
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What is a thickness that would be good for this? Thanks for the information on this. Do you have any more tips?
Xeno
4
Printing with metal filler won’t guarantee to make it stronger, only a lot more heavy (and expensive), even tests have shown that Carbon fiber filler is not stronger then normal PLA, but carbon does look great when printed 
it’s not only the bond of the metal that keeps the material together, but also the adhesion of the plastics around the metal powder.
if you want an object to look like metal, just paint it, there are great chrome paints if you want it mirror reflection
Thanks so much! I think I’m going to go with proto-pasta stainless steal. How thick should the walls be if I am making a helmet? I won’t be wearing it but I want it to be drop proof, just in case. Thanks so much.
Xeno
6
damage proof is a dual problem, print it with a thick wall, it will be more heavy, and gets damaged more when dropped,
print it thinner, has less weight, and less damage when dropped, but could break more easy
it also depends in the percentage infill you use, it would advice at least 2X wall thickness of the nozzle diameter, on the inner and outer wall, and infill in between, and maybe 3mm is a nice good thickness.
also the proto-pasta stainless can be printed between 195 – 220° C, I recommend to use 220° C to get the best layer adhesion.
The beauty of the SS is that you can sand down layers and polish the final product to give you a very nice metal like shine. Proto-Pasta offers a one stop polish kit, I have personally never used theirs but I have polished parts with products found at local home improvement stores.
As For strength, I printed a karambit in SS to make a letter opener and found that the edge is quite fragile but I have dropped it many times and haven’t had a break, keep mind that I printed it at 100% infill due to the intended purpose.
In this photo it wasn’t fully polished.
Here is another project I did with the SS, it a spool holder, fully polished, and hasn’t broken yet, holds 2.2 lb spools constantly on a small lip.
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Awesome, so what infill and thickness of the walls should I print a full size iron man helmet in?
Ok, so what infill should I use? Thanks so much for the advice!
