It has been over a year since the release of Avengers: Endgame, and we all remember Tony Stark's final fate, but his suit still serves as inspiration for hundreds of projects around the globe. This time we return to the channel The Hacksmith, where they decided to recreate (to some extent) Iron Man's gauntlet cutter. The first step is to take a commercial plasma cutter and find a way to make it portable…
Every time he was in trouble, Tony Stark didn't hesitate to use the cutters of his suit. He sliced Vanko's drones with ease, removed debris from the Hellcarrier's propeller, and made a hole in Maw's ship to infiltrate. From a certain point of view, the cutter is not the most spectacular resource of the suit, but it's not my intention to devalue its usefulness. In fact, it would be a wonderful tool in real life, although there are two or three small details.
On one hand, Tony Stark has a fabulous power source. Then, his conductivity and heat dissipation materials are extraordinary. Finally, the cutter is laser... and a laser doesn't work the way Hollywood teaches. Our best alternative is a plasma cutter, with basic models starting at 250 euros. So, how hard would it be to miniaturize one of those cutters and improvise an alternative power source to install it in an Iron Man gauntlet?
Iron Man's gauntlet cutter in action
On The Hacksmith channel, they decided to find out. Do you remember The Hacksmith? They are the same ones who created the Star Wars proto-saber in December last year. The first thing was to open the cutter and analyze its electronics. They quickly discovered they could remove the entire AC phase and combine twelve LiPo batteries in series to reach the 288 volts DC they need. The other challenge was creating a ground connection, otherwise the cutter would never work. A traditional gauntlet, lots of copper, a huge contact point, and the problem was solved.
With the help of a pneumatic system and a 3D printer, they managed to adapt the cutter's torch to the gauntlet. And the rest of the equipment ended up in a backpack. Admittedly, the cutter doesn't have the speed of the Stark system, but it works better than I expected. Basically they cut everything within reach... including a safe. And speaking of safes, do you want to know what happens if you blow up a grenade inside?
