Chopper Droid Replica WIP - Aluminium and 3D Printed

[Studio 49]

The first big test assembly is complete! Chopper is coming together nicely now with only a few parts left to 3D print. I started this as a project to keep me busy during Covid self-isolating, so everything was 3D modelled, designed and built from scratch by me and after all that work I'm super excited to see him standing and rolling around now

Next up is printing the feet, battery boxes, skirt and the trim for the bottom of the skins.

 

[Studio 49]

And while I'm at it, here's a quick video of him in motion
I am pushing him around, but it's awesome to see Chopper properly rolling!

 

[Halliwax]

Wow!!

 

[13doctorwho]

So awesome. Really excellent work!!!

 

[Dann]

Great job with this! Love the way you're assembling him. SUPER sturdy!

Loving the way the printed parts mesh with the aluminum frame, too. Just brilliant!

 

[Studio 49]

Wow!!

Thanks mate!

So awesome. Really excellent work!!!

Thanks so much man!

Great job with this! Love the way you're assembling him. SUPER sturdy!

Loving the way the printed parts mesh with the aluminum frame, too. Just brilliant!

Thank you for the kind words and encouragement man
I'm glad you guys are enjoying what I'm doing with meshing the aluminium and 3D printed parts as typically different materials. It's been fun design challenge to get all that just right and dialled in.

 

[The Ninja]

I am always amazed every time I come back, I want to adopt the little guy can he visit Sydney

 

[Studio 49]

I am always amazed every time I come back, I want to adopt the little guy can he visit Sydney

Thanks so much for the kind words man!
Glad you're enjoying the stuff I'm posting

 

[Studio 49]

Evening all, I should hopefully have some more progress photos and design stuff to share soon.
With that said I just wanted to mention updates may not come so often as I start back at work tomorrow.
As is Covid settling down in Queensland Australia, the film production I was working on in the props department is starting up again. Very excited to get back to work and I'll keep trying have ole Chopper progressing along

 

[Halliwax]

Glad to hear your world is getting back to normal. Can’t wait for that to happen in the states..

 

[Studio 49]

Some more progress on chopper, he now has proper feet.
I was able to fit the entire part in as a single piece 3D print. This was the largest part individual I've printed so far on my printer and I was super impressed with the quality and minimal warping for the sheer size.

In these first two photos you can see it as it just finished printing with all the supports intact still:

Next comes some basic clean up, removing all raft with my scraper followed by the printing supports:

And then here's how the part looks! Very pleased with the result.
Only part left for the door shells is some small trim/detail pieces and the 'battery boxes' that connect to the sides.

 

[Studio 49]

I recently carried out some mobility tests for how well Chopper can move and steer.
From that I concluded I wasn't happy with the castor wheels that I used for the outer feet (picture on the left of the photo below).

To solve this, I quickly designed up an adjustable 3D printed adaptor part that allowed me to instead mount omni wheels for increased stability and turning circle. You can see the omni where replacement on the right in the image below.

 

[Halliwax]

Love it!

 

[ScottMacHaffie]

Wow, this is so cool! You've done an amazing job. Are you going to do an overall video, combining your other videos together?

 

[NakedMoleRat]

There is one obvious, glaring flaw in your build that everyone refuses to speak about.

He’s not in my house!

Awesome job

 

[Halliwax]

There is one obvious, glaring flaw in your build that everyone refuses to speak about.

He’s not in my house!

Awesome job

Lol

 

[Studio 49]

Wow, this is so cool! You've done an amazing job. Are you going to do an overall video, combining your other videos together?

Excellent question mate! It's funny you should ask since I've actually been editing together a video as the build progresses
The video looks to be shipping up nicely so far! Can't wait to share it here when the build is drawing to its conclusion.

Love it!

Thanks Mate!

There is one obvious, glaring flaw in your build that everyone refuses to speak about.
He’s not in my house!
Awesome job

Haha! Sorry to disappoint man!
Thanks for the kind words

 

[ScottMacHaffie]

I hope you get a chance to really show him off when he's finished and Covid is over!

 

[paulsboutique]

Wow how did i miss this thread !! Very nice cad work there ! Very clean. - Those zortrax printers are work horses. Love the combination of material into your design.