Well, I have now started work on my Iron Man suit. I haven't done much, though. All I've done is make a very simple prototype for the arm movement system. Here's a picture of it.
Sorry for the poor quality. And yes, I know it looks ridiculous and silly and not at all like an Iron Man arm, but this is simply a prototype to see if the concept works. Anyway, hopefully you can see what I've done there. After cutting the top half off the end of one of the cardboard tubes, I glued them together. The reason I cut off some of the end was so that it can bend. Then, I glued a piece of string to the inside of the tube the bends (from now on I'll call it the second tube, and the other tube shall be addressed as the first tube). I also glued a piece of card over it to make sure it doesn't come off.
Once it dried, I fed the other end of the string through the first tube and out the end. I then pulled on that to try and make the second tube bend like an arm (I'm trying to replicate the human muscular system, you see). Unfortunately, it didn't work when the second tube was completely parallel with the first one. The string would only bend it when it was already slightly bent. And then the string came off...
So! I'd say that was roughly half successful, and half not. I've now repositioned the glued end of the string so that it's closer to the pivot point, and I'm currently waiting for it to dry. But admittedly, that probably won't make much of a different at all.
However, I've just realised something! Of course it's not bending the second tube unless it's already at a slight angle! Otherwise, I'm just pulling straight down with both points pretty much directly on top of each other. The string needs to be pulling at an angle to the second tube to make it bend. So, realising that, there's actually an easy solution. For the prototype, I'll just use my finger. I'll press the string up against the 'roof' of the first tube, meaning that it will be at an angle coming away from the contact point on the second tube. It will then proceed straight down the first tube all the way to the other end, though it's angle through that is irrelevant. Hopefully that will work.
So! I'd say that was roughly half successful, and half not. I've now repositioned the glued end of the string so that it's closer to the pivot point, and I'm currently waiting for it to dry. But admittedly, that probably won't make much of a different at all.
However, I've just realised something! Of course it's not bending the second tube unless it's already at a slight angle! Otherwise, I'm just pulling straight down with both points pretty much directly on top of each other. The string needs to be pulling at an angle to the second tube to make it bend. So, realising that, there's actually an easy solution. For the prototype, I'll just use my finger. I'll press the string up against the 'roof' of the first tube, meaning that it will be at an angle coming away from the contact point on the second tube. It will then proceed straight down the first tube all the way to the other end, though it's angle through that is irrelevant. Hopefully that will work.