Telford creator giving Tony Stark a run for his money with full-size working Iron Man suit

Telford creator Adam Willoughby has designed and 3D-printed a life-size, functional Iron Man suit like the one worn by Robert Downey Jr in the popular Marvel films.

Equipped with its very own coded J.A.R.V.I.S system, the suit has lights and sounds and operates similar to the one in the film.

Never one to shy away from a challenge, by day Adam is an advanced data engineer, and after work he takes on enormous challenges set by his creative friends.

Most recently they challenged him to create a fully working Iron Man suit. When Adam said yes, they shrugged it off as a joke.

Now, Adam has proved them wrong and is already looking ahead to his next challenge – creating a suit that flies.

"During lockdown, myself and a group I'm involved with, Telford Makerspace, were making visors," he said.

"My friend then challenged me to make an Iron Man suit if he paid for materials and I made it, so I said yes. They like to call my bluff.

"Overall, making the suit was a great experience. The only thing I found a bother was the paint but apart from that it was such a good challenge."

Adam was able to get fully rendered designs of the suit made by a specific company, which he then adjusted to the size he wanted, and printed it out using a 3D printer.

The suit is made of a biodegradable plastic, made of cornstarch, and all the electrics were created by Adam himself.

"The suit has got its own wireless network so the helmet talks to the chest, which then talks to the hands," Adam explained.

"The internal system will then tell the face visor to lift up. It's all linked together.

"It has lights running over it and LED's which change colour during different processes, and it will also tell you if something is wrong.

"A huge speaker is also in the suit, which plays its own J.A.R.V.I.S system – I coded my own, similar to the artificial intelligence used in the film, for my house."

Adam's next goal is to make a suit that can fly, or at least lift him off the ground a few inches.

"I am looking to install a system that has 35 thrust capacity which should be able to lift me off the ground – at least for seven or eight minutes," Adam said.

"The only downside is that would cost me about £15,000 so I'm looking for any companies who want to sponsor my creation."

Adam said he is always trying to encourage children to get into 3D printing and designing, and is even going to create an 'Iron Santa' to use over Christmas – half Iron Man, half Father Christmas.

The project will be made with help from Telford's Makerspace members and Adam said if they allowed into hospitals this year, Iron Santa will help deliver presents to the children.

"Over the years I have made Iron Man helmets for my friends and family, and doing that has advanced my skills so much.

"All these things really push me to make more complex creations and keep challenging myself."

Visit telfordmaker.space to see what they are up to.