Awesome Daft Punk Helmet with Full LED Display!

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Captain takes on a lifelong dream of his - making a fully functional Guy Manuel helmet from the legendary French Electro duo: #daftpunk . This project spanned across 4 months, featured numerous custom PCBs, and was one of the biggest single piece 3D prints he's ever done. The project features over 1000 LEDs and is wearable as well!
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[@CaptainSteel]

So what do y'all think: should I build the Thomas helmet?

[@admiralacegun7886]

Thomas the tank engine helmet? Heck yeah you should

[@douglaschristensen3008]

Yes yes

[@LawderOfficial]

can I hire you to build Northon’s helmet? :) the helmet is already designed and 3D printed, I just need a hand with the custom pcb board and led placement. ❤

[@StarBoi04]

Yes

[@erwindipalac7387]

Y E S

[@pajamajohnson6051]

I wonder if anyone could modernize these. As I’ve heard, the helmets used new tech, was obviously heavy, and if you look towards the end of their lifespan, the Discovery helmets were showing their age. *Fast.* Now you gotta make Thomas’s helmet

[@CaptainSteel]

That's a good point - I could probably use a flexible OLED screen to make up their main displays. You can also get them in variants that are mostly transparent so you'd still be able to see through it :)

[@admiralacegun7886]

Super cool helmet, makes me want to go around the world with it

[@jacke_RS]

daft punk helmets are my hyperfixation, having one of these would be my dream. Also the shape of guyman’s helmet gets slightly elongated between discovery/haa and tron/RAM, not sure when exactly but the shape of ur helmet more closely matches RAM. if it feels like the positions of the LEDs are off a bit, that’s why.

[@fiftynineee]

What do you mean this only has 19k views. What. This is amazing tech and it looks absolutely incredible. Awesome work!

[@Imitationasian]

This video was the closest I've seen so far in trying to figure out how to make a fully functional helmet from the game Ruiner. Would love to get a more in depth understanding on the custom pcbs and build.

[@Artem3Dprinting]

So cool bro, that’s really awesome final result

[@CaptainSteel]

Appreciated!

[@JayCeeSquared]

Man that is so COOL. Seriously well done.

[@CaptainSteel]

Appreciated 🙏

[@juansalgado6212]

Amazing work! Not sure if you've been given similar advice but I have some ideas. And I am almost sure this was due to time constraints and possible budget. Theres companies that can SLA 3d print large models and plate them now. It might be pricey but it would basically be flawless. For the visor i wonder if you can vacuum form the dome shape or perhaps cast it out of resin in order for it to be perfectly smooth and uniform. The resin can be tinted black enough to cover the internals but desaturated to allow the light to got through. Regardless awesome work!

[@CaptainSteel]

I must've left this out of the vid by accident - the visor was actually vacuum form indeed! It was a process and a half and likely one that I wouldn't like to do again. I've been toying with the idea of polishing some SLA printed visors to completely transparent, but the process is very, very labour intensive. I'd compare it to the process of the people online that polish aluminum balls or mud balls to a mirror like finish 😂😂 I do have plans on doing another helmet in the future and applying a lot of what I learned to making it truly great

[@stevendiaz9034]

The captions are hilarious lmao.

[@iamgizmodo]

Alex plus leds makes some fans that can fit inside of the helmet to cool you off a bit. Awesome video

[@CaptainSteel]

It does get p toasty in there haha

[@teamjg277]

Awesome work dude!!!!

[@CaptainSteel]

Thanks! Glad you liked it :)

[@halidramzan2803]

Well done!❤

[@potatogod8831]

Do the customer pcbs allow for more address-ability than the same leds on those cheap led strips？ because I would want to to have the ability to show custom designs on my helmet

[@CaptainSteel]

@@potatogod8831 you can absolutely do this with LED strips. You just have to ensure they're individually addressable. In essence, you need to buy LED strips that have the ws2812b RGB LEDs on them (they're also called neo pixels)

[@okcomputer0101]

That was dope!

[@baconsandwich1887]

This is an absolutely wild build, it looks awesome! The idea to rely on the holes between the LED strips for vision is honestly pretty smart, I was wondering how to do that for my own build someday so maybe I'll take that approach. Definitely seems like a nice way to be totally faceless but still be able to see. If I might ask, how well did that end up working for visibility? Do you think you could wear it in public and not bump into stuff?

[@CaptainSteel]

Great question, without the visor on it worked pretty well. However, it was mostly because I tinted it too dark. My biggest recommendation would be to have a button somewhere on the helmet that activates/deactivates the LEDs on the visor as the light reflecting off of the visor made it hard to see when walking

[@baconsandwich1887]

@@CaptainSteel Ah, I see, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you for the advice!

[@antlulz_]

That's sick.

[@user-kn2yd3nz1k]

How is the chrome gold on this helmet made? If it is painting, can you tell me how to paint it and how much it costs? Also, how many LEDs do you need?

[@CaptainSteel]

I had it chromed at a trophy making manufacturer (for sports trophies). It was a process called vacuum metallization. However, you can use a graphite paint base with a chrome spray paint. I used about 1000 ws2812b RGB LEDs for this project

[@Odd-Bike]

Time to give life back to music.

[@orbitaljellyfish808]

Amazing!! 👏👏

[@itsLoveLess-]

Brooooo I kind of want my own helmet now 😂

[@CaptainSteel]

Do it!

[@Playboigerm]

I’m begging you to make a how to on how to do this, this shit rules

[@StormblessedRadiant]

Where did you get the custom PCBs?

[@CaptainSteel]

As in: who designed them, or who physically made the pcbs? I did the design, and then I had a fab house make them - I think it was either: SEEED Studio, PCB way, or dirtyPCB that made these ones specifically.

[@Ongie-Green]

Where can I find the 3D model for the helmet, thank you

[@CaptainSteel]

This is actually my own custom design that I haven't made available online as of yet

[@Ongie-Green]

Oh ok

[@captaincarnage7521]

What's the visibility like?

[@CaptainSteel]

@@captaincarnage7521 Somewhat

[@davidlaborieux3016]

Awesome dude!! Really well done. Where did you find the jacket 😮?

[@CaptainSteel]

Aliexpress if I recall correctly

[@davidlaborieux3016]

Hey captain! I’m almost done with Tomas Helmet, just struggling with the power to lit the 200 LEDs ws2812b. I want to use a usb battery pack 5v output 24000mah, but I’m experiencing a lot of flickering and color mismatch using wled. I searched almost everywhere and thought myself maybe captain has a clue!

[@davidlaborieux3016]

Last question mate, what about the code? Where did you start… any good resources to suggest? Pretty familiar with arduino but I guess it can take ages to properly code light animations and effects… thank you 😊

[@CaptainSteel]

Arduino and neopixels are where to start - tonnes of resources online. You could probably find an open source library that does animations across a grid of neopixels. Best thing to do is download something that does roughly what you want it to do, then reverse engineer it to do what you want it to do

[@davidlaborieux3016]

@@CaptainSteel Thank you so much! You're the best.... What battery did you use? how many and was it lasting at least an hour with all those leds and boards?

[@CaptainSteel]

Hi@@davidlaborieux3016 - I used a 2S LiPo battery for this project (you can find them on Amazon for fairly cheap). 2S == 7.4V nominal voltage which is too high for these LEDs (they like to run at 3-4V. I designed in some buck converters to power the wide array of LEDs for this helmet (about 6 bucks in total) The battery I purchased was 6400mAh and didn't sit in the helmet itself - it was strapped to my waist via velcro. That being said, I know that this helmet can run for about 3 hours on that size of battery until requiring a recharge. Hope that helps!

[@davidlaborieux3016]

@@CaptainSteel it does help buddy! You’re generous with your explanations, it is much appreciated as I started building Tomas’s helmet. I yet to figure out how I will stick the leds to the visor … don’t hesitate if you have any suggestion ;) Did you controlled the leds through a phone app via Bluetooth?

[@CaptainSteel]

@@davidlaborieux3016 I'm thinking I may throw some of the files up online with an optional donation for anyone that's interested. Would that be something you'd like? Essentially, I laser cut a piece of acrylic that held my custom PCBs in place and then hot glued that into the helmet

[@TylerCheeseman]

6:52 my 1985 intercontinental lawn bowling championship trophy is real gold thank you very much 🥱

[@CaptainSteel]

Can you send it to me for closer inspection?

[@memast5]

Why not use a flexible LED screen like from a monitor or TV.

[@CaptainSteel]

The short answer would be that it'd be too complex to source my own flexible OLED screen as well as program it within the portable framework I was going for on this specific project Future helmet designs will still use LEDs similar to this project, but with flexible PCBs with a slightly rigid backing to fit into a 3D printed template

[@seanmcgannon3433]

Hi @CaptainSteel Awesome project with great execution! Anyway we can get access to those pcb rows you designed?

[@CaptainSteel]

@seanmcgannon3433 I have no plans on releasing the files and/or a tutorial at this time, but if there's enough interest I may make them available. Given the complexity of this project, I think I'd want to update the files a bit to make them easier to solder than the version you see in the video which obviously requires some extra work. I've had a few people ask at this point, and I'm definitely keeping a list! If I did make these files available, I'd likely throw them on my Website for like $10 USD. Would you pay that much for access to all the 3D files, the PCB files, and a brief instruction guide on how to connect things together?

[@KRP419]

@@CaptainSteeli definitely would pay the price! I looking to get that design

[@sliccreations]

Absolutely yes

[@BLAKERONb]

@@CaptainSteel so where can I buy it?

[@CaptainSteel]

@@BLAKERONb - not selling it just yet given I haven't gotten enough interest. HOWEVER, there is something cool I have in mind coming up in which I'll try to release all the files with. It'll be worth the wait, trust me 😉

[@SkidFace]

So awesome! Amazing final result! Could you explain how you did the tinted visor?

[@CaptainSteel]

Absolutely! The theory is simple: buy some t-shirt dye, dump it in a big pot, heat it to an exact below-boiling temperature, and then dip your clear visor in for about 30s to 1min. After which, throw it in some cold water. Literally rinse and repeat process until you get the shade you want This was pretty hard to do though; the first time I tried it I left my visor in for too long and it ended up deforming it :( For flat visors you can use the tint stickers used for tinting car windows You can also try "tint spray paint", but it's not the easiest to see through

[@justblue974]

so cool

[@nou-oo2ij]

I cringed so hard when I saw you bend the PCBs, but was amazed that you got so much deflection out of them! How did you make the faceshield, it looks like it was sagged into a mould?

[@CaptainSteel]

I made a little vacuum forming box with a buck mold of the visor. I heated some PETG plastic in my oven and then pulled it over the mold with the vacuum running :)

[@Maxel.F]

why dont you just glue a normal ledstrip on the inside? they are much more flexable, i mean if you can get a hardboard inside then a ledstrip surely is noproblem

[@CaptainSteel]

Visibility would be reduced to 0 then, my custom board design allowed me to see through the little holes between the boards. Next design I'm going to make my PCBs totally transparent (where possible) :)

[@Maxel.F]

@CaptainSteel ow ok, and these holes are not possible in a normal ledstrip?

[@barryallenflash1]

What a cool helmet! Not for your average DIYER though...

[@DariusMartinez-gj6oy]

I like your Work, do you print guy Manuel helmet? 😮

[@CaptainSteel]

I did 3D print this whole helmet! Unfortunately, I don't have access to the truly massive 3D printer that printed this helmet anymore

[@FireJojoBoy]

I'm actually so sorry for saying this but please also make the helmet from Thomas! Awesome work! Edit: oh wait

[@CaptainSteel]

haha, already done :)

[@dyh7095]

HOW MADE...?

[@CaptainSteel]

Frame was all 3D printed, the rest is explained quickly throughout the vid Lots of glue was involved

[@minidaftpunk2222]

Yo can I buy it? just a question XD

[@CaptainSteel]

Unfortunately I'm not in the prop selling business. If you want to make one yourself I can point you in the right direction!

[@minidaftpunk2222]

@@CaptainSteel OK that will be happy with that thanks btw : ) keep up the good work

[@douglaschristensen3008]

Aww, you wouldn't do it again? One would think it would be easier to do a 2nd time

[@CaptainSteel]

Iteration always makes things easier! With everything I learned from this helmet, there are some BIG changes that I've already taken into account when making the second helmet :)

[@douglaschristensen3008]

@@CaptainSteel would you ever make them for sale? som(probably few) people may be willing to pay money for a professionally made helmet

[@CaptainSteel]

@@douglaschristensen3008 If there's enough interest I would consider doing it. Given how much work they are the prices might be somewhat outrageous though! If there's a LOT of interest, I could possibly make a small production run of them~

[@douglaschristensen3008]

@@CaptainSteel i know i would be interested in at least hearing a ball park guestimate

[@CaptainSteel]

@@douglaschristensen3008 As it stands now, for a one off it'd be a couple thousand dollars (that includes all the bells and whistles like lights, programming, and final touches). Again, that's if I'm building it for 1 person

[@etereshopmanager8631]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHW7YpWArdJ-mpI Fun fact: one can indeed see through it, but once the black (the color doesn't matter, it can be transparent) visor is attached, only colors can be seen

[@audiblevideo]

@CapitanSteel and technology has moved on -- you can now order truly flexible pcbs -- ones that aren't made with a board.

[@JohnPaulBuce]

ryan agoncillo

[@flepix]

🤖🤖🤖👏

[@theholidayboy543]

It’s cool but very oversized

[@joliechildofthemosthighyah4178]

pls give me that helmet

[@theholidayboy543]

Thomas is pronounced ta-mas