3D Printing for Cosplay / Props

[CaylePhoto]

I need all the help I can get - first fully 3d printed prop for production

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...erpf.com/showthread.php?t=218291&share_type=t


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[Mr Mold Maker]

I just purchased my first 3D printer. It should be here Saturday as a matter of fact!

I've already got about 30 things I want to make from Thingiverse and MyMiniFactory and have been playing around with them in Simplify3d. (Which I absolutely recommend by the way!) I'm super excited to get started! First things first I'm printing a fan shroud, and then I'm jumping right into one of three projects.. the Noisy Cricket, the Holy Grail, and Rey's Blaster. Not sure the order. Probably the Holy Grail first as it is a simple print, but a long one!

I've got Fusion360 as well, but I just can't seem to wrap my head around the modeling aspects. YouTube video after YouTube video and article after article, it just isn't clicking for me like the printer stuff is. I really hope to get my head around it sometime this year.

 

[MrSouthpaw]

I just ordered my first one too. The Select Mini I asked about earlier. I went ahead after watching several reviews.

I'd like to try the whole process from drawing it up in 3D to printing. And after I'm getting good prints, molding and casting.

 

[Optimistic Geom]

I've been printing on Ultimaker's for about a year now at my local maker space. Really good reliable machines if a little to pricy to buy one myself. Mostly make my own models on Fusion 360 as it is great for solid modeling, taking meshes from games and animation can be a pain to clean up for printing. I've been working on this project for a while now http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=268287 almost all of which is 3D printed. Getting my head around all the settings and ways to slice took a while, I'd recommend testing setings on small things to get an idea of what they do and how they affect the print. Throwing something from thingiverse onto your printer can be exciting but also really suck if your 24hr print comes out crap.

 

[SFPinkSmartie]

Optimistic Geom that folding prop you made is fantastic great job.

I'm only really starting the modelling side of things myself, I have started with 123D which is great for simple geometry. Need to upgrade my home PC to make the switch to fusion 360.

Some things I'm working currently working on, all printed on my Wanhao i3:

I did not model these, well I modelling the hawkman emblem and the base of Mercy's Staff. I usually outsource for more complicated builds providing the price is right aha

 

[MrSouthpaw]

I've been printing on Ultimaker's for about a year now at my local maker space. Really good reliable machines if a little to pricy to buy one myself. Mostly make my own models on Fusion 360 as it is great for solid modeling, taking meshes from games and animation can be a pain to clean up for printing. I've been working on this project for a while now http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=268287 almost all of which is 3D printed. Getting my head around all the settings and ways to slice took a while, I'd recommend testing setings on small things to get an idea of what they do and how they affect the print. Throwing something from thingiverse onto your printer can be exciting but also really suck if your 24hr print comes out crap.

That plays into getting the Select Mini. The print bed is just under 5x5 inches. I thought that would be a great size to dip my toe into it. Keep things small until I get a good handle on it.

 

[RocketNerd]

I've had my first taste of 3D printing at my University back in 2004, when the University got one of the first printers and I was first to design objects to use in our wind tunnel.

Since then i've kept up on it, but it wasn't until about 2 years ago i got my own personal printer an M3D Micro mini-printer. limited to 4 cubic inches of build space, many designs had to be further cut and modified by me to print the build space, but that didn't stop me. Below are a few of the cosplay/props I made while learning to use this new machine.

Parts for my Fallout 4 Ripper

First Assembly Piece

The Engine/Motor

The finished assembly!

A Small Trophy Made for a Work Salsa Competition

Another Small Trophy, this time for the Hot Wing Challenge

Thermal Detonator

Assembled

Paint, my first ever silicon mold, and the first resin pull next to the original

Paint detail complete

Fallout 4 MED-X

MED-X completed

Once I got a taste of the other bunches of things I started making, i really wanted to focus on props and cosplay, so I upgraded to a Anet A8 printer, and Prusa I3 knockoff from china. For $180, I figured I'd give it a go and see what this can do. Well After 18 months, and nearly 10 Kilometers of filament extruded through it, these are some of the items I've built. Here are some of my bigger builds:

Ironman MK3 Helmet:

Test Fit!

Magnets and Soft Hinges

Real Carbon Fiber Reinforcement

Sanded Smooth.

Primer and FacePlate Paint Complete

First Coat of Red

Had to make a display for it as well:

Next up is my Bad JUJU autorifle from Destiny

Most of the printed assembly

Ready for Primer

Base Black on it

Complete!

How about a Titanfall B3 Wingman Pistol and Alternator SMG

Pistol

SMG

and some various others I have builds on, but feel like i've already posted waaaay too many pics.

 

[Maximushaydos]

Rocket nerd, love the photos! Thanks for sharing. Do you have any tips or photos of the ironman helmet being printed? I am about to attempt printing one and I'm. Im not sure on how to lay the parts on the bed. My printer is only 200x200x200 so I have to cut a bit I think but laying the parts bothers me, more so with the curved sections of the helmet.

Also how did you get the helmet so smooth? I stand like a madman but never get the smoothness you seem to achieve.

 

[RocketNerd]

Maximus, Thanks for the compliment. As for the Helmet print, I try to orient that objects on the build plate so that I can get a simple clean line on the edge facing the build plate, and try to minimize the overhangs as much as I can. I've found my printer is very good at verticality, but not so great at overhangs. For most of my prints, I don't want to put too much on the build plate at once, so i printed each of the sections individually, instead of en-masse.

for the smoothness, this was the most time consuming. This helmet was printed in ABS, which is much friendlier to sand than PLA is. I hit the parts first with a coarse grit, then a medium grit. I did 4 layers of rattlecan primer/filler, sanding in between each with a finer grit each time. Once, all the blemishes are gone, and I can't feel any bumps or issues when i run my hand over the helmet then its time for paint. Two coats to start, then 3 more each wet sanded in between layers with a superfine grit (i think i used something like 240,300,400) but go very lightly. Finally, 5 coats of ultra gloss clearcoat, with wet sanding in between, last coat of clear, I let it cure for 48 hours and then hit it with some automotive polish. The paints I used this time around were all rattlecan paints, and the colors were automotive paints as well. But regular old Krylon for the Clears. I hope that helps, take your time, go methodically, spray in light coats (no runs or orange peel) and just keep working it until you like it!

 

[Maximushaydos]

I have just started printing a robocop helmet which I will start a build thread for shortly. This will be a complete wearable armour set by the end of the year I am hoping.

 

[Jam35Gr3g0ry]

I was surprised that there wasn't a whole section dedicated to this!

I've got 3 printers running at present:
- Formlabs Form2 SLA printer
- Folgertech FT-5 FDM printer
- Folgertech 2020 i3 printer that I've rebuilt to be bigger/better/faster

Things I've printed so far:

BB-8, files from the BB-8 builders club:

View attachment 707942

TFA X wing pilot chest box and blaster from my own models:
View attachment 707943

And most of my Sandtrooper backpack. The frame, hose, main boxes, tube and tupperware lid are sourced from other places. The rest of the pack is printed from my own models:

View attachment 707944

Anything I've modeled is freely shared on thingiverse.

How did you do the pack tubes? Got files?

 

[TazMan2000]

3D printers are a great tool for modelling, prop building and costume making, but post processing is key to turn any item from 'blah' to 'wow'.

TazMan2000

 

[BeardySi]

3D printers are a great tool for modelling, prop building and costume making, but post processing is key to turn any item from 'blah' to 'wow'.

TazMan2000

The amount of times you see on FB groups where someone has taken a raw (and probably faceted) print, hit it with spray paint and is hailing it as a masterpiece is daft...

I know everyone has to start somewhere, but have they no eyes? It doesn't bother me so much with someone's own props (after all my first models were nothing to write home about - was long before there was an Internet to post them on ), but you see people trying to sell that drek and looking silly money for it....