A full-size helmet printed in one piece needs a bed of about 256 x 256 mm (10 x 10 in) or larger. A large adult head is 211 mm long, so a 256 mm bed leaves about 22 mm on each side for the shell and padding. A 220 x 220 mm bed leaves under 5 mm, and the helmet usually has to be split.
What size 3D printer do you need for helmets?
You need a build volume of about 256 x 256 x 256 mm to print most full-size helmets in one piece. The 300 mm class leaves extra room for oversized or bulky designs. On a 220 x 220 mm bed, a helmet that fits a large adult head usually has to be printed in two or more parts.
A helmet sits around the head, so start from the head. The 2012 US Army anthropometric survey (ANSUR II) measured these adult head and face dimensions:
| Dimension |
Women, median |
Women, 95th percentile |
Men, median |
Men, 95th percentile |
| Head length (front to back) |
190 mm |
202 mm |
200 mm |
211 mm |
| Head breadth (side to side) |
147 mm |
156 mm |
154 mm |
163 mm |
| Face breadth (across the cheekbones) |
134 mm |
143 mm |
143 mm |
153 mm |
| Chin to nose bridge |
113 mm |
123 mm |
123 mm |
134 mm |
The shell wall and the padding add to every side of the head. Printed upright, the helmet’s length and width lie on the bed. Here is the room each square bed leaves per side around a 95th-percentile male head:
| Bed |
Room per side, front to back (211 mm head length) |
Room per side, side to side (163 mm head breadth) |
| 180 x 180 mm |
none (head is longer than the bed) |
8.5 mm |
| 220 x 220 mm |
4.5 mm |
28.5 mm |
| 256 x 256 mm |
22.5 mm |
46.5 mm |
| 300 x 300 mm |
44.5 mm |
68.5 mm |
Bambu Lab markets the 256 mm cube of the Bambu Lab A1 as able to “print a helmet in one go.”
Two more checks before you buy. The helmet’s height runs up the Z axis, so check the height of the model in your slicer. Turning a rounded helmet 45 degrees on the bed gains less room than it does for a long, thin part.
What size 3D printer do you need for cosplay?
Size the printer from the largest single piece of the costume. A full-size helmet puts the floor at about a 256 mm bed. A shield or chest plate wider than a 256 mm bed needs the 300 mm class to print in one piece. Long props such as swords and staffs are usually split on any desktop printer.
Creality markets the 300 x 300 x 300 mm Creality K2 Pro (launched at $849) with a “Pro-Level 300 mm Volume” for “larger prototypes, cosplay props, RC parts”. The Creality K1 Max has the same 300 mm cube and launched at $899.
Length is where props outgrow printers. A 256 mm square bed has a diagonal of about 362 mm, so a blade up to that length, less its own width, fits corner to corner. Even the largest shipping printer in the database, the Elegoo OrangeStorm Giga (launched at $2,499.99), tops out at 800 x 800 x 1000 mm. The guide to printing larger than the build volume covers splitting a model. The large-format printer list shows every shipping printer in the database with a bed of at least 300 mm on its shorter side.
What is the smallest printer that can print a full-size mask?
A 180 mm cube is the smallest common build volume that fits a full-size face mask, as long as the model measures under 180 mm on every axis. A large adult face is 153 mm across the cheekbones. Masks that cover the forehead or wrap back toward the ears need the 220 x 220 mm class.
A face mask is shallow, so it lies face-up on the bed and its width and height set the bed size. The Bambu Lab A1 mini prints 180 x 180 x 180 mm (7.1 in) and launched at $299. That leaves about 13 mm per side across a 153 mm face. Height is tighter: chin to nose bridge alone is 134 mm, and a forehead piece adds more. Measure the model, not your face.
In the 220 x 220 mm class, the Creality Ender-3 V3 SE prints 220 x 220 x 250 mm and launched at $199. A wraparound mask as wide as a 163 mm head still has about 28 mm per side on that bed. The Sovol Zero has the smallest build volume in the database, a 152.4 mm cube, which is narrower than a 153 mm face.
For every size class side by side, see the build volume topic and the guide to what size 3D printer you need.
