Been awhile; life has thrown me some curveballs over the past two years, but I think I’m getting inspired again to finish this project. Looking over reference photos, I was heartened at how close my armor is to them at least visually, and I know the measurements are there to back my eye up.

So I spent a couple of hours the other day picking up where I left off and chiseled the sides down by about 2cm on my torso models where the molds had opened up. They all need overall smoothing, undercut removal and final proportion adjustments, but they’re nearly ready to go on the vac table. The helmet is another matter, but I know the process, having done the various mold-making steps previously.

I just need to dive in and keep at it. That’s how I made progress before; caffeine and pain killers.

Voltage regulator arrived! I blew the onboard fuse when I tested it at ~90v and I was concerned that I was back to answer B (see below). But I replaced the fuse, and did another test, this time starting at 30v, and gradually dialing up the voltage by 5v increments. I got up to 60v before I shut it down, having run for the longest it has yet at several minutes continuously. I have no doubts now that the oven can operate safely and continuously as intended.

The element coils were not glowing, but they were giving off heat akin to infrared bulbs, which is what I need to soften the plastic sheets. My next test will be to put a thermometer in there to read actual temperatures, and I’ll probably also continue to bump up the voltage to see at what point it blows the fuse.

My flexible chest mold also released with minimal sticking to the model, preserving both, which is fantastic. I didn’t coat the model with any kind of mold release prior, and only lightly spritzed the outside with water to encourage good internal expansion of the foam, which I mostly got.

I think I found the culprit to the poor connection in the outer circuit; replaced with a much cleaner screw (though it still trips the breaker); voltage regulator should arrive tomorrow. I made a new foam mold for the corrected chest plate just now—and used an entire large can of foam insulation to do it! 😳 I almost didn’t have enough; I think it will expand when curing and be okay.

I didn’t take many progress photos today because my phone was charging and I was in the zone, but I wired the oven today—which was a major hurdle for me—and also did a test, which was partially successful. So, the oven I made based on the instructions I followed should draw about 20 amps. With this in mind, I put the appropriate gauge wire and switch into the wiring.

My house is mostly wired with 15 amp breakers, save for a couple of locations. One of them is in the far corner of my basement, where a washing machine used to be. So, after tripping several breakers trying to find the 20 (the breaker box isn’t labeled very clearly, either), I finally ran an extension cord from the basement to the garage, flipped the switch and the oven stayed on! Coils started to glow orange!

The reason for success being partial is twofold: 1) I need a heavier-duty extension cord rated for 20 amps, and 2), the connection on the non-terminal posts needs to be improved. I’m going to try wrapping the posts (screws) in copper wire to increase surface area to the connection with the coil. So, once the heavier-duty cable arrives in a couple of weeks I’ll run another test and take pictures of the oven running. What’s funny is that originally I was sent the wrong item-a 20 amp outlet instead of a switch. As it turns out I will need that outlet to update the one that’s currently there to use the new extension cord, due to the plug shape.

Been a looooong time since I’ve posted here; too long. Life happened for awhile, moved to a new house which took about a year, all told. The upshot is I have more hobby space, and I’m getting time back now, as well! Here’s where the table’s at; it’s nearly done now. You can see I have the oven mounted on the chassis with the forming table and clamping frame, and how the latter pivots to alternate between both locations via a handle, which I installed and which you can see in these photos.

Part of the delay was that my helper sort of bailed on me when we got to the oven, so I had to fabricate that by myself completely and learn how to wire it based on cryptic instructions, but I think I’m ready now to wire it up. I have all the parts I need, and I don’t think it will actually take more than a day or two. I’ve just never done this before (not that that’s stopped me yet).

In terms of models and molds, I had to pull apart and re-form the wire chest plate model due to inaccuracies, but I now have that put back together and ready to make a foam mold of, into which I can pour a plaster positive for the table. The helmet also needs a to have a mold made of it. I have all the materials needed to make it, I just haven’t had the time up until now. It’s going to be a big, challenging mold, using silicone, elastic, and a plaster mother, but once that’s made I’ll be able to duplicate it in various methods and mediums.