Just because a costume looks simple at first glance doesn’t mean it actually is. LEGO Indiana Jones may appear to be a cardboard construction, but the costume is actually made from insulation board and foam and required more than a few skills to make. Instructables user niboras designed the right size minifig head in Photoshop and had to cut EPS insulation board into circles to match the plan; he hollowed out the inside with an X-acto knife and sand everything. It’s quite a process. He’s how he built the blocky archaelogist’s head:
Using the PDF I went to the shop and started cutting. EPS insulation board is pretty easy to work with, it is lightweight, and pretty cheap. Based on my plan I knew I would need 6 x 11″ circles and one 6″ circle from the EPS. I would also need one 8″ circle of 2″ foam. For the body I just used a tape measure to get dimensions of my son’s shoulders and torso and sorta winged it no real plan on that one. The body was made from 1″ EPS, the head from 1.5″ EPS
In order to get consistent circles and speed up the process I made a simple jig out of 1/2″ mdf and a finishing nail. With the jig in place it was easy to set the distance from the blade and drop squares of EPS onto the nail and spin perfect circles. For the top and bottom caps I also ran the discs through again at a 45 degree to remove as much material before I had to start sanding. I’m sure you could also cut the circles using one of the many ‘ibles on hotwires as well, but I had a bandsaw so that seemed easiest.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: New Python Releases, an ESP32+MicroPython IDE and Much More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
