Daft Punk Guy Manuel Helmet

Part 1: Getting Started

 Preface: (Ignore this) In June of 2011 I discovered the blog post of Harrison Krix [Particularly This Post] detailing his Guy Manuel helmet build. Much of what you see in this blog can be seen better in his, so check it out first if you're serious about building one of these.  I've tried to go into more detail on a few things you won't find on Harrison's blog; Things that I wish I had known before starting this project. Without further adieu, here is my take on Guy Manuel's helmet...   _________________________________________________________________________________

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfttMuuGOBc&feature=youtu.be

First of all let me say that I skipped a few steps on my build. As such, I did not actually mold, plaster, and cast my own helmet. The reason being, I saw no point in doing so. I figured I could buy a casting and visor for far less than what I would spend making one that meets my expectations. 

This cast was made by Igor Pinski. It'll run you around 300$ if you hit him up on Ebay, but I assure you it is worth it.  You will not find a better cast aside from Volpin Props. Wish the visor area was larger though. 

EDIT: It does look like Harrison is starting to sell these on his website for 350$. Honestly it depends on personal preference. I would have loved to have gotten my hands on a Volpin cast. 

After you're done posing with your newly purchased helmet, the first step will be to cut out the visor. 

Cutting Out The Helmet: Visor

It is best to use a Dremel Tool for this. Leave a small lip to hold the visor in place. I ended up taking mine back to about 1/2 inch in diameter. This cut does not have to be perfect so just eyeball it.

I used the Dremel tool to cut out the visor as well. There's really no good way to this, just go slow. I suggest cutting your visor big at first and go from there. Carefully smooth the edges with sandpaper. You DO NOT want to scratch the visor! (obviously)

Cutting Out the Helmet: Ears & Back Plate

To cut out the ear holes I purchased a 3/4" hole saw bit (seen below), which is the exact area I wanted to cut out. Do this in one cut and save the circle you cut out. 

To do this lip, I glued the circle onto a flat piece of wood and tightened it back into the ear hole. Next I dremeled around the circle on the inside until a sufficient lip was cut out and my decal laid flush with the inside of the helmet. Try to do the back plate in one cut as well. You'll be putting it back on later. 

Your helmet now hangs. Congratulate yourself... 

Backplate Wires

MATERIALS:

1. The Backplate cut out previously.
2. More T-Nuts and Brackets
3. Red, Green, and White Wires (12 gauge - Lowes) 

Repeat the same steps used to attach the light bars (4 brackets). Make sure to set the plate back into the helmet to make space for the wires. Otherwise the plate will not fit your brackets.

Now that the plate is fixed into the helmet begin running the wires on the plate.

To hold the wires, use 3m double stick tape on the back side and roll the wires over the edge of the plate. These wires are purely cosmetic and are not used to wire the circuit boards.

I tried to be as accurate as possible with the pattern. I based this from shots taken from Electroma.

Now drill out the side holes for the Green/Red LEDS and Audio Jack. I drilled the LED holes about 1 inch away from the center hole. Drill each of these a size larger to account for the chroming.

END PART 1: GETTING STARTED