Adam Savage (Mythbusters) and personal jetpack flight

Adam gets a chance to test out a real to life flying backpack system produced by a civilian company called GRAVITY..

Later Adam contacted the Colorado School of Mines (Golden, CO) to have them build a titanium/polyurethane "Iron Man" suit. They used the original designs from the Movie and converted them to 3D printer compatible files, and the 3D Lab at the CSoM build it :)

Here is a short 10 minute movie showing the experiences -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1wE...b_channel=CNET

1000 horsepower it appears is what is needed for reliable human flight without wings..

More on the Colorado School of Mines research lab behind the suit build:

https://stebnerlab.mines.edu/mines-p...iron-man-suit/

https://adapt.mines.edu/wp-content/u...90-243x300.jpg

Mines’ Advanced Manufacturing Program Director Craig Brice and several of his students worked with Adam Savage on an episode of “Savage Builds,” a brand-new series premiering on the Discovery Channel on June 14. The series is all about extreme and innovative engineering challenges.

Brice partnered with ADAPT member company EOS to design and build a 3D-printed titanium suit of armor inspired by the Iron Man films. But Savage and the team didn’t stop there—with the help of a customized Gravity Jet Suit designed by Richard Browning’s Gravity Industries, the suit actually flew.

https://theknow.denverpost.com/wp-co...FE09MINES5.jpg

“Iron Man’s suit is designed to be rendered on a movie screen, not fabricated,” said Craig Brice, director of the advanced manufacturing program at Colorado School of Mines. “The (suit designs) are not something you make, but something you use to create CGI graphics for entertainment.”

That is, until Adam Savage, former co-host of the pop-engineering series “Mythbusters,” got a hold of them. Savage, who appeared on “Mythbusters” for 14 seasons from 2003 to 2016, is known for taking confusing and chaotic notions and exploding them — science-style — for the sake of edu-tainment.

Along with co-host and special effects technician Jamie Hyneman, Savage led Discovery Channel viewers through the halls of his brain (and his northern California warehouse/fabrication lab) as he used science to make physics, design and engineering accessible to a wide audience.

So when Savage asked the School of Mines if it would 3D print a real-life Iron Man suit out of titanium for the sake of Savage’s new Discovery Channel show, “Savage Builds,” the college rocketed to his aid.

A small request was added: It also had to fly — and repel bullets. A Titanium suit would fit the bill.

Question - Where will be parts be made for the "suit" ?

Q: What couldn’t you do at Mines?

A: The printing we handed off to a German company called EOS (Electrical Optical Systems), which has a North American company outside of Austin. We have an EOS machine in our basement, but it’s in a crate because of our moving into a new lab. I sent all of my CAD models to EOS in Texas and they kept anywhere from two to three machines running almost around the clock for six weeks to make those parts.

Q: Did any of your students get involved?

A: When they sent all the finished parts back to me, I recruited about a dozen willing student volunteers to help post-process those parts. That means removing little bits of support material, which help in the build process and have to be ground off with some sort of abrasive media. Then we were piecing together the parts, and that involved 3D printed plastic parts that reside underneath the metal. They’re not visible but they’re designed to mimic the contours of the suit, and that allows us to epoxy them all back together. Then you have a suit that looks like it’s one piece — even though I think we made 250 individual pieces that had to be assembled into a 3D jigsaw puzzle.

Q: The effort that went into making this work in the real world is insane.

A: One of our 3D plastic printers can even incorporate continuous carbon fiber into it, so we did that for the pectoral or chest plate. We backed it with carbon fiber for impact resistance because we knew they were going to ballistically test that particular area. We can also print with bio-material, which is something we’re just starting to dabble in here at Mines. One application is a cartilage scaffold you’d make to infiltrate living cells and replicate a body part. We’re still a little ways away from perfecting that at the moment.

A friend of mine went to that school. :)

Richard Browning - the founder of the organization "Gravity" and chief test pilot and innovator talks about his beginnings with the flying jetpack (2 minutes 46 seconds).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW-CmkfhWhk&ab_channel=GravityIndustries

We totally thought people would be flying around in jetpacks in the 21st century. And flying cars. Both of which are so very impractical.

Humans? Practical? :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

Practical not.. 10 minutes flight from the various jetpacks either the hydrogen peroxide steam jet (Bell Rocket Pack of the James Bond Era), or the Kerosene 1000 horsepower micro-jet engine drives... Ego? Probably.. Sense of Thrill? most likely..

Here is a perspective from a jet propelled "wing" suit flyer.. Add a wing and therefore add range.. in other words one gains a stable high speed flight ability. This pilot after getting up to speed and altitude, "pulses" the engine using the wing for lift and gliding ability, thereby lengthening flight time (and thereby greater distances are able to be covered)..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WJD5kXB1_Y&ab_channel=ABCNews

"It is really gratifying..." an emotional high..

OMG. Jet propelled wing suit. Sounds both terrifying and like it would be a blast.

I'm too scared to even hang glide. :blsh:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Dreamtimer

OMG. Jet propelled wing suit. Sounds both terrifying and like it would be a blast.

I'm too scared to even hang glide. :blsh:

---

I've tried hang gliding (with a high efficiency wing..) can't say it's my cup of tea..

How about "air-boarding" ? A jet engine propelled sky-board?

https://img.purch.com/w/660/aHR0cDov...Vjb3JkLmpwZWc=

what does one do when the fuel runs out and one is over 5 feet in the air?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Bob

I've tried hang gliding (with a high efficiency wing..) can't say it's my cup of tea..

How about "air-boarding" ? A jet engine propelled sky-board?

https://img.purch.com/w/660/aHR0cDov...Vjb3JkLmpwZWc=

what does one do when the fuel runs out and one is over 5 feet in the air?

---

Um... um... panic? :p Well, for a short time anyway. :p :ttr:

Hey, if the Silver Surfer can do it.....

Humans were built to walk, climb and swim.

And invent.

We leave the earth to float in space.

I suppose it makes sense for us to try to fly as individuals. We sure have come up with myriad ways to do it.