Colorado Team Helps Adam Savage Build Real, Working Iron Man Suit

GOLDEN, CO — It turns out that Golden has its very own Tony Stark. A professor of mechanical engineering at Colorado School of Mines has helped TV star Adam Savage design and build a working Iron Man suit for his new show, "Savage Builds."

With help from his students, Craig Brice got a hold of Marvel Studios' Iron Man suit 3-D CAD files, and had 250 pieces made out of titanium. The suit took several months to put together, and they cut no corners — it even has working jet packs.

"I felt like it was a good teaching moment," Brice said. "We took an engineering approach to an entertainment project where we actually built a useable suit."

Savage, who's best known for hosting "Mythbusters," is a self-proclaimed "obsessive maker of things," so it's no surprise that he engaged some of Colorado's brightest minds to make the Iron Man suit a reality. He asked Brice about the Iron Man project while touring the Colorado School of Mines last year, and Brice said he simply couldn't refuse such an exciting opportunity.

Savage appeared on "The Tim Ferriss Show" last month, where he explained that he'll work with the Colorado School of Mines to "make a 3-D printed suit of Iron Man armor, out of 3-D printed titanium."

"It is mind-blowing,” Savage said.

"I got to see the suit actually fly in a hangar, with Adam — glowing eyes and glowing chest panel and everything,"Brice said. "In terms of modeling something a superhero would want to wear, we did it."

"Savage Builds" will premiere this Friday, June 14 on the Discovery Channel.