Printing this Flying Saucer

DarkHelmet

Master Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER

Was wondering if anyone can look into this flying saucer site and give me some insight on what to do to print that retro flying saucer? Can it be commissioned by someone with a printer? Would you need a special/industrial printer?

I have ZERO knowledge on 3D printing.

Thank you !
 
This could be printed on pretty much any printer. It might need scaling to fit the printer though. You'll need to pull a canopy or find a source for it.

It can be printed at a commission, but after the quarantine you may be able to look up a maker space. They should have something you could use at a nominal fee as well as someone to help guide you through the process.

It'll take some post-processing, but that's the fun part.
 
If you want a large scale saucer then a FDM printer can do it, but you might have to sand the printlines to get a clean result for painting, for a smaller scale somebody with a resin printer can print it in segments, this gives a smooth surface and higher detail, and you would only have to bond the segments.

Because the cockpit dome might me the most problematic, I would source one first and scale the 3D files to that size.
these might work.
 
I'd print it for ya, but I am in Sweden so it makes little sense. In case you can't find anyone here or close by to do it for you I recommend heading over to r/3Dprintmything which is subreddit for people that offer their services and for people like you who want something printed.

If you print something like this at cost (yourself or at some library that offers it) it would be a nominal fee for materials as a kg of PLA isn't more than $20 and I doubt you'd need that much. The cost of having someone else print it is equivalent to tooling costs and upkeep + time. I guess you'd have to shop around?

If you are adventurous I'd tell you to just go ahead and buy a printer. Totally worth it as it opens yo up to so many new possibilities and you'd probably recover the cost after a few prints as compared to having other people print for you. Not gonna lie - it will take some tinkering till you get the hang of it, but there are printers that just work out of the box too. There will always be some maintenance involved.

The budget goto printer is the creality ender 3 (go with pro), but people usually need to do some mods to make it really good. The more expensive option for a really reliable printer is the Prusa MK3S that comes with a warranty, help via chat (mail is useless as the waiting time is too long while chat is instant) and a huge community with most questions already asked and answered. You could even find someone on the map close to you that has one and offers their services through their site (world tab) prusaprinters.org.

Their cheaper (half price at €350) Prusa Mini is a tad simpler, but has all the bells and whistles of the big brother. Magnetic flexible print bed (so you can remove it and flex it to loosen the prints), mesh bed leveling with a probe and a good power brick. It has had some teething problems, but I think it's a better alternative to an Ender on account of the warranty and track record. I have no affiliation other than having their older printer the MK2. Another alternative that people recommend is the artillery Sidewinder or the smaller genius. They are similarly priced as the Mini.

Sorry for the long answer there. Like xeno mentions above - I'd source a suitable bubble first and then commission a print or if you are handy you can make it yourself with a sheet of clear PETg that heatform over a round object. You could even have the person that prints your ship print a buck to size so you can heatform it over. I'd just make sure to make it a bit smaller so you can cover it with a layer of plaster or something to smooth it and for it to better withstand the heat. It's totally doable using 3D prints for heatforming this way. Not sure how familiar you are with this, but you could place the sheet over a round hole with the diameter of your dome (maybe slightly larger so you can trim it to size), just use a heatgun over the sheet and stretch it with the buck or maybe even a ball would work. Bruton did something like this with foamed PVC for his rc BB8.

Hope that is helpful.

/edited wrong web address and the worst bits of English.
 
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Thank you everyone for your input. Maybe it's time to invest in a printer!!

If you like building stuff, you won't regret it. If you have the ability to use simple 3D software, you can expand your hobby to build bigger, better and more accurate. Both FDM and MSLA printers have fallen in price to make them very affordable, even if you're not a serious builder.

TazMan2000
 
Just did a little research. I'm willing to invest in a decent rig, but it's a little overwhelming to a beginner.
 
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