It has been a while since this topic has been updated. Rest assured, my goal is still not met, but I get ever closer.
I thought I would share some wisdom and answer a few questions from this thread.
1) since printing out the skeleton parts, they have been polished up and moved to Thorsoli’s gifted hands for molding. That’s right, these parts are being molded and that takes a while.
2) After I sent these parts to be molded for the purpose of rotocasting resin parts, I found that I could, essentially, rotocast the PLA part as if it were a mold. I found this amazing that I have not done this before! I brushed the printed piece with vaseline to prevent the resin from leaking out the printed corners and holes to stick to the outside. These shells have spots where liquid resin will leak thru. Then rotate the print to distribute the resin until it cures. (Anyone who has ever hand-rotated a matrix mold will greatly appreciate the lack of weighty molds for this!). The flip side is the resin leaks thru and drips on you, the floor, or table! Please put down plastic. The cured drips then peel off the exterior and you now have a rotocast part.
3)My new rotocast part was still hollow, and might break in a fall. I made it solid and unbreakable when I added 2lb. Ridged foam. This worked out well. I also recommend drilling 1mm holes in corner areas tolet expanding foam escape and release pressure that might distort the cast. Once again, if the exterior is released with Vaseline, all spillage pops off after the cure. This was very cool. I went from a fragile PLA print, to a sturdy model that can support its own weight.
4) adding metal inserts is easy and with the use of 1/4-20 T-nuts, and fender washers, I made the knee and elbow joints. They bend and pivot.
5) A fellow RPF Member, jediguy, made an offer to RPF members for SLA 3D printing at such a good price, it needs to be mentioned here. I can now give a definite answer to all cost questions and point you in the direction of where to have it printed for you. This is known as problem solving by credit card!
To answer the cost questions, let me see if I ca break this down for everyone’s talent, faith in technology, and budget.
Cost of file purchased from any number of online suppliers $169
Cost of 3D printer: $225 shipped from Amazon.
SLA printed via Corelliacreations.com, a company that has been nothing but pleasant to deal with and provided beautifully strong parts that required NO sanding or touch up, has provided a lovely quote for anyone who would like to have a FULL T-800 delivered to their front door via FedEx 21 days after payment received for <$2000.00
I find this SO Freaking amazing, that I am pulling the trigger on a whole print and am sending the files for printing.
Thus, my next post will in 3 weeks, or when I open the package of parts for a complete review.
until then, these are some fingers printed on the SLA industrial printer from CorelliaCreations.com