3D-Printed Form-Fitting Helmet

Introduction

When sparring with training sabers, I find hits to the head to be somewhat painful. So, I wanted to create a helmet to protect my head during sparring. I own a 3D printer, so I decided to print the helmet. I also wanted to make it form-fitting, so I decided to 3D scan my head and model the helmet around the scan.

3D Scanning

3D scanning was accomplished using photogrammetry, which involves taking a series of pictures of an object and reconstructing the geometry of the scanned object using those images. I used my Samsung Galaxy S8 to take the pictures and Meshroom for photogrammetry software. 120 photos of my head were taken from all sides. Here are some examples:

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Next, I plugged those photos into Meshroom and started it going. (For anyone interested in repeating this project, you may have to enter your camera information into the camera database. See https://github.com/alicevision/meshroom/wiki/Add-Camera-to-database for more details) Photogrammetry takes a lot of computing power and time, so expect to leave it for a few hours. Meshroom also requires an Nvidia GPU, so if your system lacks such a GPU, you can use different photogrammetry software such as Regard3D instead.

After cleaning up and trimming the 3D model from the scan, I was left with the inner part of the helmet design, which was perfectly contoured to fit my head. Next, I used a scaled-up version of the inner part for most of the outer part. I freehand designed a low-poly face for style. I 3D-printed the model of the helmet. It took about 22 hours to complete the print and it used most of the space on the printer.

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After unsuccessfully trying to put it on, I cut it down the side. I then made a duct tape hinge and attached rubber bands to the inside to make it stay shut. This works pretty well to keep it on, but it still slides off if I jerk my head too far.

Next, I started the post-processing. The front of the helmet, especially around the cheeks, is low-quality and relatively weak (I later learned this was because the gear on the motor in the extruder was slipping on the motor shaft.) I needed it to be smooth, so I used some putty to fill the holes and smooth it out. I did the same for the top of the helmet, which was rough from the support material. After that was all dry, I painted it with black spray paint. I wear glasses, and since I wanted to see clearly while sparring with the helmet on, I needed to put lenses in the eye holes. I took an old pair of glasses, popped the lenses out of them, and hot glued them in. Next, for protection and looks, I added an extra shade from a sports sunglasses set. At this point it looked like this:

It was looking really good at this point, but I still wanted something better. So, I got out some silver spray paint and highlighted the front of the helmet around the shades.

That’s it for now, although I have plans for the future. These include adding headlights, a head-up display, or redoing the whole thing with carbon fiber. Have another idea? Let me know in the comments!