3D Printed Functional Darth Vader Suit to Debut on Kickstarter

Darth Vader suits are far from new for fans of the Star Wars fandom, but a high school music and design teacher from Vancouver is raising the bar quite a bit. Aaron W. has designed and constructed a true-to-size suit of the Sith Lord complete with ventilation system, lighting, sound effects, and a voice changer.

The entire suit, apart from the cloth, electronics, and lenses, are designed to be 3D printable on most consumer FDM machines, and its creator Aaron Warbinek plans to create a package of 3D printable files and comprehensive instructions for fans who want to recreate the suit themselves.

The full suit is actually rather intricate and well-designed, consisting of custom PCB’s to keep electrical complexity to a minimum, magnetically-mounted parts to make wearing the suit a breeze, and spring-controlled shoulder pads for a comfortable fit.

Most components of this suit are 3D printed, from the shoulder pads to the helmet. Other parts of the suit, such as the cape, lenses, and even electronics, are tailor-made for this project, mostly by the creator himself. In fact, the entire project was brought to fruition by the Warbinek alone in his spare time over the course of a year, including prototyping the 3D printed components from scratch, designing the electronics, and creating instructional material for backers.

And, if you didn’t think the project was serious enough: Due to the sheer quantity and complexity of its electronics, the suit is actually powered by a Tesla battery which keeps everything running for a few hours.

Upcoming Campaign

Backers of the upcoming campaign have a chance to grab one of four fully-assembled suits, a helmet alone, a helmet and upper body (without clothing), or a selection of limited edition apparel created by the designer. The campaign is slated to launch on September 13th.

Warbinek will also be showcasing the full suit at Vancouver Maker Faire to anyone who wants to see it in person.

You can follow also him on Twitter and Instagram for updates on the campaign and to learn more about the project.

For a peek behind the curtain at the level of work and consideration going into the project, check out the below video of the Warbinek’s (on Youtube, Protean Man) previous, precursor project of a functioning Darth Vader helmet.