Bench Talk

When Mouser Electronics, in partnership with Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War, asked me to bring superhero tech from the silver screen to life, it was literally a dream come true! And it’s perfect timing, because Captain American and Iron Man (two of my favorite heroes growing up) are about to go head-to-head on the big screen. Just like everyone else, I’ve been looking forward to this movie coming out for a long, long time. It’s going to be an all-out, epic battle.

For this project, I’ve chosen #TeamIronMan. I’ll be building Iron Man’s gauntlet, complete with a real, working laser that pops up out of the forearm (using the highest-powered laser I could legally obtain, of course). But who would be a WORTHY opponent? Enter Allen Pan, the engineer and comics fan who built a “Real” Mjolnir with an electromagnet and fingerprint scanner. (You can check out more of his geek-based designs over on his Youtube Channel: Sufficiently Advanced). He’s accepted my challenge and will be #TeamCap. I’m really looking forward to our epic engineering face-off.

To begin with, I’ll be 3-D printing the gauntlet parts, which should take about a week. While that’s cooking, I’ve turned my attention to the components inside. The armor is pretty form-fitting, so space is going to be a huge issue. For the pop-up laser, I’ll need to design a tiny custom mechanism that uses a micro servo to move the laser in and out. In addition, there will be several LEDs (which are a part of the look of this new Mark XLVI armor) and a mircrocontroller to read control switches and run the servo. Since I’ll be powering everything from a single portable source (the laser’s giant Lithium Polymer battery), I need a power converter that’s powerful and precise enough to handle all of these systems, but small enough to fit the design. For that, I’m going with the ADP5054 DC/DC Converter from Analog Devices, Inc. It gives me four extremely accurate buck converters, delivering up to 6A in a tiny 7mm square package.

Connecting all my systems, there’s one supplier that has been tried-and-true throughout my whole career: Molex. For this project, I’ve chosen their UltraFit Power Connectors. They have a small footprint and very high current carrying capability, which is great, because I’ll be drawing over 10A just to power the laser. Best of all, it comes in a package about 17% smaller than other power connecters which is exactly what I’ll need to fit inside the gauntlet.

Honestly, I’ve always wanted a set of Iron Man armor. My first impulse is to keep going and build the whole suit, but as it stands, I’ve got a shelf full of projects waiting for my attention, so I think I’ll just have to stick to this challenge for now.

Stay tuned to http://www.mouser.com/empowering-innovation/superhero-technology-project to see the latest updates on this project. Let us know how we did in the comments, and don’t forget to join in the conversation on social with the hashtags #MouserGrantEIT and #SuperheroTech. Will you be rooting for #TeamIronGrant or #TeamCapPan? Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for this Avenger to start assembling!