RepRap project, just no sure how to do it :{

Hi, I've spent the last few months looking at 3D printers, and I'm now pretty sure it's the technology I'm after.

If you promise not to laugh I'll tell you what I doing...

I'm designing a new Spacesuit, that works by mimicking the human bodies response to exposure to a vacuum, and as such is based upon the human body, basically "your" own body turned inside out, and reconfigured to work as a spacesuit, with your skin providing the pressure retention and your skeleton providing the structural protection of an Exoskeleton.
It will have a Brain, a Heart, Lungs, stomach & Intestines, just not quite like a real human, but they will do the same jobs so to speak.

Now here's where RepRap comes in, I need to build a RepRap, that can 3D scan a fully grown adult, print a full size model of the person, then "spray" a substrate layer onto the model.
Then print a network of "blood vessels" onto that substrate layer, then "spray" another layer on top of the substrate layer & the printed "circulatory system".
Finally, print a structural layer on top of everything.

The suit, will then be cut along predetermined lines and then finished to fit the Astronaut wearing the suit.

The Scanner/Printer has to be light enough to be carried on a spacecraft, along with raw materials, so new suits can be "printed" as and when needed.

A Kickstarter/Indiegogo campaign will be set up soon, but I need to know If I can make the machine I need to make the suits.

By the way, when the suit is finished and is known to work, has been tested in space and all the teething problems have been ironed out, the suit will be released as an open source technology so everyone can be the scanner/ printer and print their own spacesuit.
This is a real project, and is very serious endeavour, so please don't think this is a joke.

I am a mechanical engineer, so I can do all the mechanical side of this, just I'm not so good with the electronic side of things.
I've spent way too much time in a machine shop, and I have forgotten pretty much everything I learnt about electronics.

In advance, thank you.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2014 12:34PM by xvasys.

I have to say that is quite an ambitious project, assuming it is even possible to print "blood vessels".

Provided you have enough money, building the machine won't be a problem. You might need a lot of money.

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What is Open Source?
What is Open Source Hardware?
Open Source in a nutshell: the Four Freedoms
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It's a case of can I build the machine, the crowdfunding campaign is aimed at getting the funding for the project.
I just need to know how to get the machine to work first, I don't want to start a funding campaign until I know I can actually do it. I know it's possible, I just need to know I can do it.

The machine is fairly simple, a platform, with two or more columns supporting a multi function head, scanner, spray nozzle & print head, on a sort of tool charger arrangement.
The person to be scanned stands arms outstretched, the scanner does it's thing, then a full size model is printed.
The head is changed to a spray nozzle, first layer is sprayed on, spray head is change to the print head, and then the circulation system is printed in a "ink" that is water soluble, the next layer is sprayed on.
Once the suit is fully printed, so to speak, the circulation system is then dissolved into water leaving the "blood vessels" in the suit for the suits "blood" to flow through.

Were I have trouble is getting the whole scanner/printer to work together.

The design of the suit is very clear it's artificial, I'm not trying to create a cyborg here.

The spacesuits used today are either a modified Shuttle suit, or the Russian Orlan suit, both cost as much as a fighter jet, the American suit with the Enhanced Mobility Unit costs as much as $24m by the information I have.

Even if my suit costs a million, it's still an order of magnitude cheaper than what's in use now.

Presuming you aren't scaling your extrusion diameter up as you scale the machine larger, I think your idea of a 3D printer isn't very practical for creating the model. You'd have a ridiculous amount of plastic to print. The average adult male body surface area is 1.9m^2. Extruding at .4mm, that's over 9km of extrusion. At a impossible-to-continuously-maintain 300mm/sec rate, that's over 8 hours just for a single shell. You'd be looking at days if not weeks for a print just a cm think and that presumes that you can make it that far without some type of defect that forces a restart.

How your "blood vessels" or other things are printed is up to you to invent. And maybe some type of a 3D printable system might work for that. But for the model, I'd look more into either a casting process or milling foam. For instance: [www.youtube.com]

Thank you, that is one of many technical hitches, I need to solve.
But your right, printing the model may prove to be the major stumbling block, The best model would be the Astronaut, but who's going to stand still for the length of time to lay up the suit.
I think for a prototype suit to be printed, it'll have to be one a foam model either milled or cast.

At the end of the day, I am at the concept stage, I still need to prove it'll work. If I can print the suit that'll solve so many problems.

I have all the hard components designed, that is all the physically hard parts, such a high pressure regulator valves, compressors, visors etc, all the stuff that can't be 3D printed.
The analogue suit, which is needed to test all the other systems, is just waiting for the new workshop facilities to be finished.
The components that require machining, ie. the HP valves & compressors etc, I just need the materials, and then I'm ready to go.
But a big billet of Stainless steel 10" dia is not cheap. (it's for the diaphragm compressor, by the way)

Due to the costs involved, is why I need to crowdfund it, but I need to know what to find the funding for, do I pitch for the analogue suit & test the systems, or do I go all ahead full and go for funding for the whole thing.

Placing problems, such as printing a full sized human model, is necessary for me to figure out exactly what I need to source funding for, and your input is so important for this, as I know very little abut 3D printers.
I understand the principles, but the realities I have to learn those.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2014 05:22PM by xvasys.

Have you collected the NASA standards that you must comply too?

For example:
NASA-STD-0000.00A
[www.everyspec.com]

Use a manikin, why print one, this is just a test.

Are you aware that a crowd fund raiser was done before by real spacesuit engineers?

Do your really think they will fly up tanks of resin, spray volatile chemicals that need to be filtered out,
spend time training every one how to use it, and store the contraption?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2014 07:31PM by A2.

Assuming that any of this is theoretically possible. And you can prove that it is viable. Crowdfunding sites won't let you present your case. I'm working on a redesigned 3D Printer right now and have looked into Kickstarter. One of their rules is not to allow R&D funding. This is to cut down on fraud. In order to get the crowd funding you want, you'll need to build a working prototype. Sort of a catch 22.

sorry to be a downer, but I'd be impressed if you could build one of these machines for the price of one NASA spacesuit.

(sometimes I feel the community can sound discouraging to new ideas, but I think of it more like a gauntlet that you have to run your idea through. if it makes it through in one piece, it has passed a great test)

the first two things that come to mind are:
-how would you print unsupported parts of the body like hanging arms?
-how do you plan on integrating the hard parts with the soft parts?

there's also a ton of questions about how the machine turns a 3d scan of a body into a space suit. you can't just spray some stuff on it and expect it to bend in the right places. it seems like software is going to be 90% of the project. the hardware is way beyond anything reprapers have done to date, which gives you an idea of the scale of the software work needed.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/2014 02:05AM by Buback.

Thanks for comments.

Firstly, I'm based in Europe, so the standards, I have to comply with are those laid down be the European Space Agency.

Crowdfunding, I'm looking into Indiegogo, they seem to be less restrictive than Kickstarter, but the ultimate goal here is to produce a suit for flight test.
However, I need to be realistic too, so at the moment pretty much all of the my efforts are centered on working out what realistic goal I can achieve in relation to a Indiegogo campaign.

Printing unsupported parts...hmmmm good point, see these are the point I need you input for. The more I look at printing a full size model of a human the more it seem unrealistic it becomes, on this point I'm going to have to find another way.

Integration of hard & soft parts, at the moment I cannot say with any certainty as the design has already change three times in the last year, but I am thinking along the lines if a semi rigid interface that has some flexibility, but also rigid enough for the hard parts to interface with.
Something along the lines of cartilage, but as I have not found a suitable material yet, that could change.

Software, & Hardware, you are absolutely right, it's going to be one hell of a machine, supposing it's possible to build.
But hardware wise, I have used many times multi axis CNC machines, so I know what can be done.
I was thinking having two 3 axis heads, each with it's own 3 axis arms, each arm/head working together, one for the front, & one for the back.
But the Software is going to play a massive roll in this.

As per real spacesuit, engineers, Well I have been working with life support technology for most of my working life, so far almost 25 years.
Spacesuits, whilst very expensive to make are actually nothing more than a human shaped balloon with a goldfish bowl on the head. As they have "evolved" they've become more and more complex, but they are still a human shaped balloon & goldfish bowl.
The more NASA & other agencies carry on with this Constant Volume Positive pressure design, the more complex & expensive spacesuit technology will become.

I will say at this point, even though some of you may feel you've been a little negative with your comments, I feel they've been encouraging, and I certainly intend to pick up the gauntlet.
When I started the Suit project I never once thought it would be easy.

I am a firm believer in, if something is worth doing it's not going to be easy.

So please keep the comments coming, I will write up a a short piece about Spacesuit and post it later, I will try to keep it simple.