Apollo A7L Moon Suit

[Kokanee]

Been trying my hand tonight at modelling the urine transfer valve, as seen here on Ed Mitchell's Apollo 14 suit:

Here's what I have so far, thoughts?

Thoughts?

 

[King of Hell]

Looking good so far! whats the depth of the inner bottom plate with the 3 screws compared to the top with the 3 notches?

 

[Kokanee]

First draft print, the clamp is a touch too small to reprinting that. Depth from the top to the inside is about 1 cm

 

[King of Hell]

First draft print, the clamp is a touch too small to reprinting that. Depth from the top to the inside is about 1 cm

That looks great!

 

[Kokanee]

Couldn't help but paint it up when I got a break here and there from watching my kids. Wish I had the right hardware on hand to finish it right now.

 

[kenlandrum]

Nice work Kokanee!
Have you ever tried rub-n-buff?

 

[Kokanee]

Yes! That's what I should use for the inside, I actually have a tin of aluminum rub and buff somewhere in the basement.

I'm going to make a tweak or two to the mesh, but in the meantime I'll upload for sharing: Apollo A7L Urine Transfer Valve by Kokanee483

 

[Kokanee]

Rub and buff on the frame and chrome rattle can on the innards, much better.

More COVID@home time, here is where my connector cluster is sitting currently. H2O connector is just waiting on the bits to come off my resin printer and then will be done. Just waiting on hardware from the slow boat from china right now and once those arrive I'll be able to mount these on my torso fabric section. Where is everyone else at in their build? I was working on my EVA boots @work on lunches, but had to leave my materials behind in my cube when we were sent home.

 

[Kokanee]

Found a good solution I think for the retaining bands at the end of the arms near the wrist... 5"x5/8" rubber bands, dyed with RIT dye.

 

[Kokanee]

Noted that there is some sort of structure to the inside of (at least) the O2 outflow valve:

Modelled it up and printed this out as an insert for the backend between the valve and the base:

And installed:

Good enough for my purposes I think, wish I could find better photo references though.

 

[lmgill]

I'm not sure what that part is specifically. Here is the assembly that the O2 `fittings mount too. These are the connectors for the air plenum system inside the Apollo suit. (part of my collection)

 

[lmgill]

While were on this subject, here is the complete water assembly. Suit mounted "bulkhead" (middle) internal coolsuit connector (right) and exterior PLSS coolant connector (left). (part of my collection)

 

[Kokanee]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing from your personal collection.

I have a very definite deadline of 31 Oct I'm working with, so I'm just doing the suit+eva gloves+eva boots right now, hence modelling the inside of the connectors. Hopefully my orings come soon.

Working on a cap/plug for the H2O connector now.

 

[Kokanee]

Hot off the printer, cap for H2O valve. Painted below.

 

[postmanpat]

Great progress!!! I love the lettering detail on the cap....it came out fantastic. Resin printer?

 

[Kokanee]

Yeah, Form 3

 

[zachsbanks547]

I’m loving the patterns from kenlandrum! I’m currently working on my upper torso and I’d also love some help with patterns for the lower torso and legs.

 

[kenlandrum]

I’m loving the patterns from kenlandrum! I’m currently working on my upper torso and I’d also love some help with patterns for the lower torso and legs.

Glad you like, but just remember, the torso I have posted so far is sized to the Smithsonian Armstrong suit. I printed the pattern out and it fit my 150 lb son ok, but when I tried it on it was way small. I am 6'-1" and around 200 lbs, so for me I'm gonna have to add a few inches on the sides... that being said, the pattern is not "one size fits all" and will most likely have to have to be adjusted accordingly. I hope to get more of it up soon. Working from home is keeping me a bit busy though lately.

 

[JamesDalton]

Glad you like, but just remember, the torso I have posted so far is sized to the Smithsonian Armstrong suit. I printed the pattern out and it fit my 150 lb son ok, but when I tried it on it was way small. I am 6'-1" and around 200 lbs, so for me I'm gonna have to add a few inches on the sides... that being said, the pattern is not "one size fits all" and will most likely have to have to be adjusted accordingly. I hope to get more of it up soon. Working from home is keeping me a bit busy though lately.

Hey Ken,

Thanks for introducing me to this site. I can't believe the work I'm seeing here. Its exactly what I needed. I'm already on my way with my first build thanks to you and a few others. I'll post as I go.

 

[JamesDalton]

Made an attempt to sew a glove this weekend and while I didn't finish completely, I think the worst of it is complete. I used my standard single stitch machine for some of it and hand-stitched the rest. In some case I would quickly stitch parts together by hand to make sure of the fit and then go back to the sewing machine to tighten things up. As promised I tried to document things best I could...enjoy!
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Started with trimming out the fingers. Once I cut them out I found it helpful to transfer the pattern to the back of the fabric with a pencil. This turned out to help out a lot, especially when doing the hand stitching.
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Next I used my machine to sew up the sides of each finger, checking to make sure that the finger tip parts would fit through correctly. One was tight and had to be re-sewn.
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Hand stitched the fingers together. First in between the fingers then the flaps on the sides.
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Before I could sew the palm on to the fingers, I had to prepare the palm piece.
First I cut the palm out, transferred the pattern to the back with pencil, the cut out the knuckle flap and palm reinforcement.
I felt like the palm reinforcement part needed some stiffness. Same withe the knuckle flap. So I trimmed out a couple of pieces of index stock to fit inside. I also trimmed off a piece of 1" velcro to sew in place.
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Now I'm ready to attach the palm to the fingers. To assure a proper fit, once again, I hand stitched and then went back with the machine to sure things up.
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Test fit the tips again and added the knuckle flap. Also did a test print for the "glove-side" of the wrist ring. Tonight I'll try and get the double stitch needle going and finish up. BTW, I also need to smooth and paint the finger tips to the correct color.
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That's all for now. Updates to follow!

Did you get that sewing machine for Christmas you wanted? Im making a wish list of tools and materials to push my wife over the edge. The Brother, Lock 1034D might pull her back!