3D Printing

Welcome to my 3D Printings Projects Page below are some of the projects I’ve made with my 3D Printers.

Buying my first printer in 2014 really changed my life as a maker as it allowed me to pretty much be able to make anything I could dream up. I’ve fixed so many things around the house with it that its worth having one just for that. (Which is why I probably have three of them now because one is never enough.) Nowadays I use them to make things for every hobby I do and pretty much every aspect of my life whether it be work or play. Most of the things on this page are models but you’ll see things throughout this entire site that I’ve made with my printers.

All of these projects were made on Makergear M2 printers. (Newest stuff at the top of the page.) You can click on the titles to see more detail. If the STL’s for the project are available a link will be listed on the details page.

Half Life 2 Airboat

Hexa-Board Wall Organizer

Light Switch Block Cover

B-17 Bomb Rack

Portal 2 PotatOS

Replica B-25 Bomb Release Switch

Replica B-17 Bomb Release Switch

AN-M64 500lb Bomb

Alien Chestburster Costume

The CLAW

M2 Cricut Cutting Blade Attachment

Makergear M2 Scribbler Attachment

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Half Life 2 Airboat

October 22, 2024

Half Life 2 “Mudskipper” Airboat

This is a 1/12 scale 3D printed model of the airboat from one of my favorite games Half Life 2. I am making this to go along with a NECA Gordon Freeman Action Figure.

I started with the original model mesh from the game and imported it into Fusion 360.

Once imported into F360 the mesh was converted to a solid model to be easier to work with.

This worked out well because during the conversion it converted into over 130 separate pieces. While this is kind of a nightmare to work with this many pieces in CAD it is a lot easier to rebuild the pieces that need to be redone when they are separate. Redesigning the pieces is necessary because even though they are solid bodies a lot of the pieces can not just be 3D printed from these files because they are not always really solid and will not slice correctly. There is also the fact the game models do not necessarily actual fit together in real life.

Before starting I laid up some basic 3 views (or 5 views in this case) to reference from.

Even though I am using the game files to stay sort of game accurate I will be taking some liberties to add a lot more real life details. The in game models often rely on texture maps to add detail were I need to add more actual physical details. I will also be changing certain aspects to be more realistic. For example… on the left is the plain game model and on the right is my redesign where I made it look more like a real life Jon Boat which is what the center piece of the airboat is modeled after. I did keep the weird bow angle shape to stay game accurate but l might change this in the future to a more realistic Jon Boat shape.

I started by printing some of the larger pieces just to see how things would actually print. The floats were printed from the original files but had to be printed in two pieces because of my 3D printer limitations. (floats are 13.25″ long and my print bed is only 10″ max) There are a few details that didn’t print correctly but I can fill these in later with wood based filler. The boat was also printed in two pieces to try and keep the bow sections flat while printing.

Next I started experimenting with the pipe frame work on the floats. I 3D printed some forms and made the pipes from some 2.85 filament. This is done by heating up the filament with a heat gun and placing the now pliable piece into the form until it cools to hold its shape.

For 90 degree bends I also used a form to produce a nice clean tight bend.

I tried to use a form for straight parts too but it ended up being easier to just heat the filament and then roll it on a flat surface by hand until it cools straight.

So far everything seems to be working out quite well. But there is a ton of pipe work on this thing so we’ll have to see what happens long run…

On this side no forms were used (except for the 90’s.) I just bent the pieces by hand.

Here is a quick mock up of the boat and floats. For strength I used 1/8″ metal rods for the connections of the floats to the center boat.

Next it was onto the roll cage and seat frame pipe work.

It was back to the forms to make the seat pipe frame work so both piece would be exactly the same.

The forms worked perfect for this…

The two piece after trimming.

I only have a sample length of 3mm filament so I am also experimenting with printed and real wire pipes too, but I’m not sure which route I’m going at this point.

The frame work for the roll cage was all flat bar in the game design so this was easy to redesign and print. Again do to printer size limitations the roll cage had to be printed in separate pieces and then glued together.

The side cage piece will glue right to the main seat plate then the top pieces can be glued on.

A quick mock up before gluing the cage together.

The Pulse Cannon was about 9 separate pieces but I was able to join them all together in CAD and print it as a single piece. I may go back and add some more detail to this also.

This is not how it mounts but I just did this to see how it looked for mock up.

Here is the first mock up to see how it scales with the actual Gordan Freeman action figure. This is the first time I removed the figure from the package and unfortunately it does not bend enough to actually fit in the boat. I might be able to modify him to fit but I really don’t want to alter the action figure as they are stupid expensive to buy nowadays if I screw him up.

I needed to add some mounting points to the boat design so when I reprinted it I did it in one piece this time.

The bottom is really rough from the supports but this is not a problem…

… because I added even more detail to the bottom.

Once these pieces are glued on I think it really finishes it off.

Next it was onto the Engine. The engine block is an original game file but everything else was redesigned to add more detail. I also took some liberties here and added exhaust headers to the left side of the motor for better realism. The longer pipe will lead to the front were the water box is located.

Here is a mock up with different looking cylinders and the left side exhaust header.

The gas tank (game file) is designed around a Kawasaki 550sx Jetski but I did make some changes and redesign the gas cap to be more realistic.

Most of the Handle Pole/Handbars are also designed around Jetski parts. (Fun Fact – the original ride in game was going to be a Jetski before they changed it to an Airboat.)

Making sure my new handlepole mount setup fits the edits I made to the gas tank.

The entire handlepole mock up.

Here are the parts for what I guess would be the water cooler and water box… although I’m not sure why an airboat would need a water box like a jet ski but that’s video game logic for you.

After realizing a lot of the air boat was modeled after real world parts I figured the motor had to be designed after something real too. I guessed it had to be some kind of airplane motor becuase it used a prop I started researching inline 6 cylinder plane motors. It didn’t take long before I came across this Mercedes D.III, which I’m about 98% sure is what the airboat engine was modeled after. The engine is actually from a WW1 airplane and was introduced in 1914. It turns out is a water cooled engine but still doesn’t explain the need for a water box 🙂 At this point I decided to go back and redesign and add a lot more detail to the in game engine.

This is what I came up with… I kept a lot of the original in game detail but also combined it with the real world engine to add even more detail for this model.

Here are all of the new printed parts for the updated engine. All of these were printed with a .25 nozzle to try and improve the details as these are some small pieces.

Next it was on to the Fan Shroud, Rudders, and all of the cosponsoring pipe work. The shrouds were printed all in one piece and at this point I left the supports for the brackets on just for strength.

The rudders were both printed flat out of the same file…

… I then used a form with along with the heat gun to deform the right rudder like it is in the game model.

Here is the mock up of the rudders and Prop Shroud.

Here are the Prop and Hub pieces. I designed the hub in two pieces to make it easier to print.

The blades will get glued on later on in the assembly process.

These should be the last of the major pipe work. (There’s still a few small bits but I’ll do those as I get into assembly.) This part of the cage will be three pieces… I printed them flat then will bend them after with a lighter to final shape.

I started to glue the float support rods into the boat. I did print up some clamps just for some more detail but they probably won’t be noticeable once everything is together. (I got a little crazy with the glue though.)

I also glued on the gas tank supports and a front handle. I need to start the boat paint before I get any further into the assembly.

One more mock up just to make sure everything is looking good. Most of the major components are printed at this point now it’s time to start the finish and paint work.

To be Continued….

All Information, Pictures, and Material is copyright © 2024 by Stephen Thone and may not be used for any personal or commercial purposes without the consent of the author. All rights reserved. The Author makes no guarantees or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of, or results to be obtained from accessing and using the Information herein.

Hexa-Board Wall Organizer

May 30, 2024

Hexa-Board Wall Organizer

Who needs pegboard when you have a 3D printer? This is my version of a 3D Printed wall board for tool organization.

There are a bunch of other variants of printed organizer board out there such as the original Honeycomb Storage Wall, Multiboard, and Thread Boards. Before starting this project I tried multiboard (as you can see above) but none of the pieces I test printed seem to fit that well. The snap in hooks didn’t really fit and the threaded stuff was way to tight (maybe it was just my settings though) and overall I didn’t like how all of the tiles used these clips to hold everything together. (I didn’t need the main board to be modular) I also didn’t like the aesthetics of the plain square tiles of these systems so I set out to design something more custom to my liking.

I like the honeycomb look of the Honeycomb Wall system but still didn’t like the square tiles so I went with a hexagon main shape see here. These should fit together in a cooler looking pattern.

I also didn’t think I need as many options as say the Multboard offered as it seemed overly complicated and I heard the press in inserts are prone to popping out… so I just went with threaded main inserts (similar to Thread Board) for everything which I can then use hooks and heatset brass inserts to screw holders onto. These are timed screw inserts so they have a TDC (top dead center) mark on the back to show UP ↑.

I needed a new organization system because I was re-setting up a new printer room after recently moving. I drew up the room in CAD to figure out how big of a bench I could fit in the room.

I went with a L shape bench along two of the walls.

Next I had to build the benches to get setup enough to be able to print stuff again.

With the room and benches already drawn up in CAD it was really easy to figure out how many tiles I need to print for the “look” I was going for. I was going for more of an “art piece” over just the squared look. The total (for now) was 47 pieces with each piece taking about 3.5 hours to print.

I printed the tiles in Easy Rock White PLA from Overture for that added “artsy look” look.

Here are all 47 pieces after a few weeks of on and off printing.

As I mentioned I don’t like the random clip together pieces of the other systems all over the place on the wall so I choose to just glue all of my tiles together with CA glue.

I don’t know if it’s needed but I designed little recesses in the rear to fit piece of filament to help join the tiles (almost like rebar), this might be overkill or a waste of time… but I don’t need the main board to be modular… once it’s up it’s not coming down.

A quick test fit for height.

It’s a process to glue them altogether one at a time but it should be worth it in the end.

A Few Hours Later… (you read that in “that Voice” didn’t you?)

The wall mount inserts just screw into the board tiles and attach to the wall studs with screws.

I mounted it flat to the wall to avoid any shadowing behind the tiles. So far I think it looks awesome.

The inserts will be customized as I go but for starters I have basic hooks…

… and ones with heatset inserts.

The heat set inserts are an added step but allow me to secure different holders to the insert without having to worry about anything popping out.

This one is for my bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol.

On single point inserts I added a filament pin to keep the holder in the correct orientation.

That one being a scissor holder. Some holders like this paper roll holder have four inserts holding it to the wall.

Here is a simple custom shelf to hold a stamp pad.

The customization possibilities are endless.

Everything will have a place. I’d like to say this will keep the bench top free and clean but I doubt it. 🙂

I did make a Multiboard compatible insert but haven’t tried it with anything yet from that line up.

I have some more stuff to design but this is were I’m at so far.

More to Come….

Light Switch Block Cover

February 22, 2024

Light Switch Block Cover

This was just a quick project to make a fun cover to block off a switch to keep from turning it off. Plus… I haven’t used my Palette 2 in a long time so I needed something to print to remember how to use it.

I have these flat switches in my house and I recently just started using smart plugs to control the lights so I needed a block off plate to keep me from turning off the switch.

This is in my computer/game room so I wanted something fun so I designed this self destruct button cover in Fusion 360.

It’s basically just a hollow cover box with a couple of posts that were going to be for magnets to secure it to the original switch plate screws.

Being a multi color print I designed it in many separate pieces. The multi four color print is the Main Cover, the Red, Green, and Yellow lettering. All of the other pieces were designed to be printed separate and glued on after. The Key Lock was painted chrome after printing.

I neglected to take any pictures of the separate parts but here is the completed cover. The print settings could have been better but I have not dialed in CURA yet and I am use to slicing with Simlify3D still.

It looks better on the wall than in the pictures. The key actual turns but doesn’t really do anything. The LED’s, execute button, and screws are also only for looks.

Here it is on the wall covering the original switch and is easily removable if I need to turn the actual switch off. I wanted to add a flip up clear cover over the execute button but couldn’t find a cover so I might end up redoing this in the future.

B-17 Bomb Rack

April 9. 2023

B-17 Flying Fortress Bomb Rack

This is a 1/4 scale replica of the #3 Inboard Bomb Rack of a B-17 Flying Fortress. This is eventually going to be part of a framed wall art display piece.

This project started out pretty simple with me just designing some shackles to go along with the AN-M64 500lb Bomb that I just finished… then it eventually snowballed into design insanity.

After making the shackle I thought it would be a pretty unique piece to make a section of a B-17 bomb rack to hang on my wall as an art piece so I started to come up with a rather simple design by just looking at some various pictures that I could find online. It was coming out pretty well I though until…

… I was doing some more research online and I found original plans for almost the entire B-17 and this lead me down a rabbit hole of redesigning the entire project. I think I went insane and decided I need to make this thing as detailed and as exact to scale as I could. (simulated blueprint drawing)

After many many hours of sifting through hundreds of blueprint sheets on Aircorpslibrary.com and probably at least 150+ hours of design time… this is what I came up with for the overall design of the bomb rack. This would be an inboard bomb rack and it’s as detailed and accurate as I could determine using the plans that I could find. It had a few dimensions changed to make it easier to 3D print and it also might have some mixed details from both the B-17 F & G models. (some of the plans were a little hard to decipher.)

Some close up shots to show some of the details such as all of the rivets, screw heads, and larger components like the Hooks, Release Racks, and Bomb Shackle.

I’ve even included a lot of details that most people never get to see such as all of the mechanical bomb release bar mechanisms on the rear of the racks. In my research there are very few fully complete planes in existence and most of the pictures online are of the remaining still flying B-17s’ where details (such as show above) are not restored in the flying versions. The planes where these details have been restored are in museums where you’ll probably never get to see the inside of the planes anyway.

Here are some of the details on the rear of the rack. Besides (the black) A-1 Bomb Release Receptacles that connect to the Release Racks on the front of the rack… all of the mechanisms here (as far as I can figure out) are for mechanical release of the bombs if the Release racks were the A-2 type. I think the A-2 Release Racks were both electrical and mechanical but the A-4 Racks I went with are just electrical so the bomb bar shown here wouldn’t be required but I still included it anyway as it was on the plans. (There is a guard that covers the bomb bar but I haven’t added it yet. There are also covers over the A-1 Receptacles but I did not add them to show more detail.)

Here is what one fully loaded inboard rack with 500lb bombs would look like.

The Build

For the start of the actual build I began with the upper Bomb Rack Mount/Top Fuselage of the plane. These are the printed parts of the mount and simulated cut away section of the Fuselage.

This part of the Fuselage is curved but for ease of printing I designed it to be printed flat. I also printed a template that is the shape the curve of the Fuselage should be.

Using the printed curved template I cut out some matching cardboard pieces and glued them to another piece of flat cardboard.

I then glued another piece of cardboard to the curved sections to act as a form.

Here us can see how much the printed part needs to bend. To make that happen I put the part back on the heated bed of the printer for a bit and then transferred it back to the cardboard form and finished heating with a heat gun until it bent to the correct shape.

It was a little tricky to keep all of the rails squared up but it worked out pretty well…. its not perfect but should workout in grand scheme of the project.

Next I started gluing on the other pieces. The actual mounts glue to the fuselage rails with the cross brace in between them. The little links in the middle would be for the bomb lift elevator.

The reinforcement bracing was then glued on to finish up the top mount piece of the project.

I then airbrushed on some OD green acrylic paint and added a little detail to the links with a brush.

Some heat-set inserts were also added to the rear which will attach this to a frame later on.

With the the top mount complete it was time to move onto the bottom mounting points which are part of the center frame/catwalk of the plane.

The bracing and lower mounts were first glued to the frame work.

The catwalk (lower piece) was printed in two piece (not shown) and glue together before painting. The unpainted portions are where it will be glued to the frame work.

Here it is after gluing on the catwalk.

I could have done better on the finish of the frame work but it really won’t be noticeable once its mounted to the wall so I didn’t get to crazy.

Detail of the catwalk. (The catwalk is split down the middle here…. it would run between the two inboard bomb racks so crew could get from the front of the plane to the rear.)

Next it was onto the main bomb rails. These were printed in several piece because of the size of my printer bed is only 10″ X 8″ and the overall rails are 20″ long… as it was I still had to print them diagonally on the bed.

A joiner piece helps join them together in the middle.

Once joined together the back pieces are then glued on. Here you can see the top finished rail with the joiner in the bottom rail waiting for the back to be glued on.

Once the rails were glued together it was time to glue on the actual upper and lower mounting points.

The upper mounts slide into the rail tops and can be glued in place with a cross pin for alignment.

The nuts and bolt heads were printed separate…

Then glued on to cover the alignment pin holes.

The lower mounts are also aligned with filament pins before being glued to the rails.

Here they are after gluing them to the rails.

You can see how the bolts line up. (they look a bit off but it’s just the camera angle of the picture)

This is a filler block for the 2000 lb hook. (Only one single 2000lb bomb could be hung on each inboard rack and this required a special D-6 Shackle and Shackle Adapter which would be hung on three hooks across the rails.)

Not that anyone will ever notice but I tried to be as accurate as I could designing this so I included the nuts inside the filler block. (Did I mention that I probably spent 150+ hours designing this thing?)

The main plate assembly also required being printed in two piece because of the print bed size limitation.

These pieces printed like garbage so I used filler to fill in the top layer lines as best as I could without getting to crazy.

It was also primed with filler primer.

It kind of filled in some of the finer details I added like all the screw heads but these were never going to show up to well with FDM printing anyway.

Here are the finished pieces after the base cote of OD green paint. Next I just need to glue them together.

Again filament pins were used to keep everything aligned.

Here is the assembled rack so far.

Now it was time to work on adding some of the detail pieces…

This first set of parts all have to do with the Bomb Release Bar (very bottom) and include the Main Crank Assembly parts, 13 Bell Crank assemblies, 7-8 Bomb Bar Supports (not all shown), and a bunch of Support U Channels for the Bomb Bar Guard. (not included).

This is how the Support U channels mounted to the Bomb Bar Supports…

… and according to the plans a cover was screwed to the top. It didn’t cover the entire bomb bar though so I’m not sure if I will be including it into my design yet.

These are some other various mounting parts and a bunch of wire guides. I printed the wire guides on tiny rafts and left them on for now until they are painted.

This is how small they are. They didn’t print to bad for being an FDM printer but this is when I wish I had a resin printer.

These are the Type A-1 Bomb Release Receptacles which the Release Racks plug into… (I couldn’t find a plan for these but this picture I found online was very helpful in designing them.)

These too are little rough to print on an FDM printer but they are so small it really won’t be that noticeable once finished and mounted.

…and here we have the A-4 Release Racks. I went with the newer all electric A-4 Racks over the A-2’s because I could find a lot more “Info” on them.

For reference – This Picture Link shows an A-2 Type Rack and on the back side in the upper hand corner you can see the tab where it interfaces with the Bell Crank assemblies of the Bomb Bar so they could be maniacally release. (At least that is my take on how I see these things working.)

Then there are the shackle hook assemblies…

There are a few different versions of the hooks. The Flat Side hook is for the 2000lb bomb and the curved hook is used for every other type of bomb the B-17 could carry. I made some of the hooks an entire assembly but the ones where bombs will actually be hung I did as a two piece with the latch separate so I could remove the bombs if I wanted. (A tiny screw will secure the latch so it can move).

I didn’t do a lot of clean up on the tiny pieces I just flashed them with a lighter before I stuck them to some cardboard with double sided tape, after that I air brushed some paint on all of them.

Next stating on the back side I started gluing on all of the detail pieces beginning with the Receptacles and Bell Cranks.

Here is what they look like from the front side.

After gluing on all 15 of the tiny Wire Clamps the next thing was the Bomb Bar, because of how it interfaces with each Bell Crank I had to align each Support bar on the Bomb Bar and then glue them all on at once as a single assembly.

Here you can see how each Bell Crank Arm interfaces with the grooves in the Bomb Bar… as the Bomb Bar slides up and down it will rotate the arm of the bell crank which in turn will turn activates the salvo release function of the A-2 Release Racks. There are three positions in the groove of Bomb Bar – Safe, Select, and Salvo (shown here in the middle would be the Select position.)

This is the linkage that would actually move the Bomb bar up and down when activated. (The actual linkage rod is not shown here.)

This is the front side of the bottom of the Bomb Bar showing the pointer that is attached to the main Plate and the selection plate. (I believe this would be used by the loading crew to see what position the rack is set to as you would not be able to see this from inside the plane.)

Next is was on to adding the finish to the Release Racks. They came out extremely well for how small they are but still retained a lot of details.

I got a little crazy and even painted a partial “Order Num.” on one of the plates just like the real thing.

Speaking of the “real thing” here is the 1/4 scale version compared to a genuine Rack Release. (While there is red lettering on the real rack that detail was way to tiny to design in so I embellished a bit and made the “FRONT” text red instead.)

Just a quick test fit for now…

Using a 2-56 tap I threaded the top holes for all of the hooks that will hold actual bombs.

All of the complete hook assemblies are just glued in place using a filament pin for alignment. (I did not bother to paint the hooks as I liked the plain dark grey of the filament.)

The actual working hooks will be mounted with these tiny 2-56 bolts.

The hooks are also glued in place but these allow the retainer to actually function and hold the shackles in place.

It was tedious work but here are all of the hooks after mounting.

At this point I went ahead and glued on the Release Racks too. Now in my research I couldn’t find if every station would have a rack installed and they only cock the ones they needed or if they only installed the ones needed. I would think they would only installed the ones need to minimize loss of unnecessary parts if the planes were shot down but this is the military we are talking about so they probably don’t think like that. I do know that on the B-29 you couldn’t install racks in certain positions if others were installed or it would burn out the bomb lights so maybe the B-17 is similar… either way I decided to just go with the ones that would be used and one extra at the bottom just to add detail.

I went to install the bottom Framework to the Bomb Rack and I noticed I made a error designing the catwalk… I designed the wrong side so the cut out for the Bomb Rar was on the wrong side. It wasn’t a big deal I just had to mirror the part and then reprint it.

This is what the full width catwalk would look like though.

Once that was fixed I used some temporary filament pins to hold it in place while I glued the top cat walk piece to the actual rack.

Those pins were then cut down, glued in place…

… and capped with a nut.

After repeating that process 3 more times it was time to glue in the braces that connect the bottom of the frame work to the very bottom of the rack.

Here is how that looks when done.

At this point the Frame Work is complete attached to the Bomb Rack.

In this image you can see how the Bomb bar fits through that cut out.

I had a feeling when designing the Top Fuselage mount the alignment to the rack would be off a bit because of the curve I put into it after printing it but this is way off so I’m not sure what happened.

A quick and dirty fix was just to cut off a half inch of the Fuselage.

A couple a filler pieces and you would never know I screwed it up.

That looks a lot better. Now I just need to pin it and put on same cap nuts just like I did with the bottom mount. I also need to add some filler plug in the rear for new heat-set inserts.

Next it was onto the B-11 Bomb Shackles. These were printed in two halves to make finishing easier.

Here it is glued together but before any clean up.

I even added a few of the cross pins although they will probably not even show once mounted.

The first test fit and everything fits great. The Release Levers of the Shackle align perfect with the Arms on the Release Rack and the shackle hooks actually work perfect and can lock the Shackle in place. Now I just need to make 3-4 more and paint them.

Here it is test fit on the actual bomb… this is were the entire project started.

I hate making the same part more than once but… I managed to finish 2 more bombs for the rack.

To Be Continued…

All Information, Pictures, and Material is copyright © 2023 by Stephen Thone and may not be used for any personal or commercial purposes without the consent of the author. All rights reserved. The Author makes no guarantees or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of, or results to be obtained from accessing and using the Information herein.

Portal 2 PotatOS

March 19, 2023

Portal 2 PotatOS

(Sorry… STL Files for this project are not available at this time.)

So if you have no idea what this is you probably grew up under a rock (or are not a gamer). This is a character from one of my all time favorite video games… Portal 2. (Spoilers incoming) For those of you who grew up under the rock the main antagonist in the game is a computer called GLaDOS. (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) and during the game your other adversary Wheatley turns GLaDOS into a Potato Battery hence the nickname PotatOS.

I’ve always wanted to make one of these but never got around to it… recently my girlfriend bought a bag of Science Lab related stickers for a function at her work and this is what I found in the bag. The sticker was a sign to me that it was finally time to make one of these for my desk to go along with some other Portal stuff I already have.

Plus with my recent discovery of these cheap sound module that I used on my Bomb Release Switch project it got me to thinking I can actually make it more than just a static display piece….

Now there are a few files kicking around online to print these already but I really didn’t like any of them as I wanted something a little more potato’e looking. So to start I imported the original game files into Fusion 360 and set out to design my own version just using the original as a baseline. My design is about 95% accurate, somethings were changed to make it easier to print and well lets face it… game files don’t always conform to real life physics (so to speak) so somethings just needed to be changed to make them actually fit. I only designed the bits that were to be 3D printed… some of the parts like wires and clips will be real so I didn’t bother with those pieces in Fusion.

The first thing I printed was the little micro chip. I printed everything separate (because of color changes and it was just easier) and then just super glued the parts together.

The main piece of the chip was painted with a rough finish to make it look old and used. This part in the game had two LEDs but I just painted the tiny one on to make life easier.

The chips legs were then glued to the bottom into tiny recesses in the part.

Add added a black base for looks and to hold the legs in place a little better.

A tiny LED and wires are then glued in place.

Here is what the finished chip looks like.

Next it was onto the Processor (or Eye?) This was printed in two colors so finishing would be easier. This part should also have two LEDs, the main center would will be yellow and at 2 o’clock there normally would be another tiny red LED but this is where I chose to put a switch. If you haven’t figured it out (the sound module) she will talk.

I gave this a rough coat of paint too but may go back and clean it up a bit still.

For the main yellow eye part I will be using a Piranha LED and I made a hollow lens to go with it. I printed the lens out of clear filament then scuffed up the front and will paint it yellow later on.

The Lens and LED will be glued into the back of the Processor piece along with some alignment pins and maybe some magnets.

The switch to activate the sound module is a small micro push button type switch…

… which will also get glued into the processor piece as shown.

I will paint the button red later to simulate the original LED.

Next it was time to print the Potato. The main piece has a lot of holes designed into it so we”ll have to see how well it prints.

I printing this in clear filament just to use up that roll as it was getting old but this turned out to be a bad idea because it was hard to see all of the holes and where all the other detail parts will go.

A quick test fit to check how everything fits so far.

After some sanding, filler primer, more sanding, then some spot gazing putty, then some more sanding… it is ready to paint.

I used some Raw Sienna lightened with some white for the base coat. (Notes for me in case I make another one.)

I did use a real potato as a color reference… at least to get close enough.

Not to bad for the base coat I guess.

Next to add some detail I used Burnt Umber.

This is the first Potato I’ve painted so it’s not the best but not to bad for a first try I guess.

I missed some layer lines but they show up more on camera than to the naked eye. I also sprayed on some clear coat after so it has a shinny finish.

For the little sprouts I made these with some black PLA filament by just heating it up with a lighter and pulling until it stretched out.

Now it was time to start adding detail. The wires are bend from .041 stainless steal wire.

The nails I just had laying around.

I forgot to design in a hole for the chip’s LED wires so I just drilled one before installing the chip to the body.

I glued on some small magnets to the body and the processor. Hopefully these will be enough to hold it in place, I want to be able to remove it if I ever need to fix the wiring or something along that lines. We’ll have to see if it holds up with all the wires attached though.

For the all of the cables I will be using a variety of different wires. I am sacrificing a few test leads (well at least one anyway) for the clips, I have some other yellow 22 AWG wire for the straps, and a piece of stiff solid core Romex wire for at least one of the leads that go to the one of the nails.

These are tiny 3D printed simulated connectors that will go onto the wires leads that go to the nails.

Here are the finished wire leads ready to be installed.

After thinking about things… instead of the yellow wires going into the side of the processor I went back and redesign it to add some groves into the bottom. This way I can hopefully glue the yellow wires to the potato body and then the processor can sit on top of them allowing me to later remove it if the need arises.

The wire I used is great in that it is super flexible but unfortunately it has a silicone rubber insulation and the super glue I am using will not stick to it… so its on to Plan B.

Lucky enough I had some Yellow PLA filament and with a little help from a heat gun and a lighter I could heat it up and bend it to fit the shape of the potato pretty well and the super glue should hold this stuff in place.

One down… two more to go.

Well it was a bit of a challenge to form and glue on all three with out screwing up the paint but I did a pretty good job of it.

Getting the processor to fit required a bit of filing as I didn’t align the wires as well as I would have liked.

When I redesigned the processor for the wires I also cut grooves into the potato to help align the wires but at that point I wasn’t going to reprint and repaint the body so I had to wing the placement.

It’s a little hacked up but not really that noticeable as it’s not a focal point of the overall project.

Next it was onto installing the power wires. The clips I had are a little to big compared to the model but they will work for now.

I used the stiff Romex wire for the longer one so it holds its shape.

The processor wires were the last to install. I used flexible wire for the 4 on the top and Romex for the front to help hold the Processor down. All of them are just snug fit in place so I can remove them.

I still have a ways to go before it’s finished but so far I’m very happy with how it is coming out.

Next I need to design a base to hold the sound board and battery.

I was originally going to stuff everything into the potato body by mounting the board and speaker onto a plug that just slid into the bottom but getting at the USB port and switch would have been a problem not to mention how to handle the wires for the LEDs and switch. I think the speaker my still go into the body but as mentioned the board and battery will just mount into the display base that I will design next.

Today I figured out how to project sketches around the body so I could cut grooves for the wires… this should make attaching them really easy if I do another one of these.

This is the design for the base. It is based off of part of the Aperture Science Core Input Receptacle and is what you use at the end of the game to put PotatOS back into the GLaDOS body so I though it only fitting to include it as part of this project.

Here are the actual printed parts of the base… as before I designed the center post in multiple pieces with color changes for easier finishing.

Here is the assembled center post assembly after painting the center piece white.

The bottom of the assembly has a channel for the wires to run up to the Potato.

Here’s the base after a little textured paint and some added detail with the airbrush to make it look like old metal.

With the base painted it was time to work on adding the sound module. It comes as 4 pieces… the main board, the 3.7V battery, a small speaker, and the switch (off screen here). The first three parts look like one assembly but they are just joined onto a single piece of double sided tape and are easy to separate as see here. Now I want to draw power for the LEDs I will be using on the potato from the same board/battery so I had to probe around to find were I could add some wires. For the negative side I just soldered another lead right to the negative coming from the battery terminal and for the positive wire I added a wire off of one of the tiny switch connections (and when I say tiny I mean ₜᵢₙᵧ ) this way the switch will turn on/off the LEDs as well as the sound board.

Let me tell you how hard this was to solder that wire to the switch. Even with a 10x Magnifier Loupe and a precision solder tip it took me awhile to make a solid connection.

Before installing everything in the base I had to make a post that the potato will sit on. I was just going to use a brass tube but I was doing another project on the lathe so I just turned up a quick post out of the aluminum stock I was using and then glued it into the base.

The channel in the base is pretty small so wires have to be feed in through the top to fit through so for the wires I soldered to the board already I ran a wire down from the top, soldered them on, and then pulled them back through.

There are three pairs total…. two for power to the LEDs, two for the Speaker, and two for the Switch.

The board and battery just get mounted to the base with the double sided tape that came on them. The tape on the board is a bit hacked up from me looking for a place to add the wires for the LEDs.

Next the plug from the speaker was then de-soldered to lengthen the wires.

Here the plugs from the speaker and the switch are connected to the new wires that run up to the potato.

A small printed ring was then glued into the potato for a mount for the speaker to sit on.

Mounting the speaker inside the potato makes it more realistic (well as far as talking potato’s go) and the hollow cavity acts as an amplifier and makes everything sound much better. Without the processor part to cover the hole it’s almost way to loud but I can lower the volume of the sound module with settings.

Next it was time to wire up the LEDs. I used this cheap component tester to find the forward voltage of the random LED that I am using for the Chip so I can determine the resistor size I should use.

Without a resistor the LED is drawing a 6.2 mA at 3.7 volts which isn’t too bad but the battery for the sound module is only 110 mAh so using a resistor will limit the current making the battery and LED last longer.

Using an online LED Resistor Calculator along with a Programmable Resistor Board I was able to get the draw down to 3 mA using a 330 Ohm resistor. The difference in brightness running the resistor is hardly noticeable but the draw is cut in half. Now I need to do the same test to the Piranha LED.

I am also going to be using a 330 Ohm resistor for the Piranha LED and it will have a 5 mA draw and still be plenty bright. (At 3.7 volts with no resistor it draws 195 mA.)

For the wiring I connected the + positive wire from the sound board to the anode wire from coming LED in the chip. The – negative wire from the sound board is spliced into two 330 ohm resistors. One resistor then connects to the cathode wire from the Chip….

… the other resistor along with the positive wire connect to the piranha LED in the Processor. This completed the wiring for both LEDs.

I then used a little hot glue to secure the switch to the processor.

Next it was just a matter of soldering on the switch wires.

To finish up the base I installed some heat set inserts (not shown), attached the cover with a few 2-56 flat head screws, and added some rubber feet.

One last thing to do was glue on the chip connector. It’s only glued to the processor so I can still remove it if I need to although I may just eventually glue it all on.

Here is the completed PotatOS.

I am very happy with how everything came out although there are still some slight tweaks to make on the design.

This is how she sits on the Core Input Receptacle Base.

Close up detail of the Chip and wiring/clip.

The sprouts.

The on/off switch along with the UBS charging port is hidden in the rear of the base.

One main thing that I am going to change is to move the activation button from the processor to the base and add the other red LED to the processor.

Next it was on to the sound… I used Audacity to edit and splice together somewhere around 140 sound files from the game to make an eight and half minute long skit where Chell turns GLaDOS into the PotatOS but then turns here back to keep from blowing up. I don’t even want to tell you how long it took to find and edit of of these files. A lot of the files are original but some were chopped, splice, and mixed together to make some slightly custom tracks.

Here is a video of the entire eight and a half minute sound track that I came up with. It’s boring as far as the video goes (it’s just a spinning potato on a turn table) but the video was just meant to show off the sound track I put together. This is recording from the actual potato playing… being a cheap sound module it’s a little scratchy on the recording but actually sounds pretty good in person.

Now it going to sit on my desk and anytime I think about how we are never going to get a Portal 3 I can press the button just to relive the glory days of gaming.

The End… Press the Button again.

Replica B-25 Bomb Release Switch

February 11, 2023

Replica B-25 Bomb Release Switch

STL’s for this Project are available for purchase from Cults3d.com

I really enjoyed making the B-17 Bomb Release Switch so I decided to make one for the B-25 too… This one has some added features for fun.

Just like the B-17 Switch this one was designed from the original plans so its pretty accurate (as far as I can tell) to the real thing. Like with the B-17 release some dimensions were changed slightly to make it easier to 3D print.

This one was designed after a B-25C (or D) I think later models used a hand held release.

Here are all of the 3D printed Parts before finishing. Supports were only required on the Guard and Wing Nuts.

The Spring is printed flat and then heated up and bent to about a 10° angle on the line.

Hardware for this one is a 3 Position Momentary Rocker Toggle Switch, (2) 8-32 & (2) 6-32 Round head screws, a pin (made from Filament), and 2 small magnets.

All of the pieces and parts after finishing and painting.

Just like on the original… the Guard and Spring have a few spots that are left unfinished because they are mating surfaces and will wear.

The original cover was black with polished lettering so I printed the part in silver PLA, painted it black, then sanded of the faces of the lettering to simulate the original finish. (I did print with a .25 nozzle to get better lettering on this part.)

I took the easier route on the design of the inside/lid mounting of this shield box because the original used some funky latch type springs so I just printed integrated mounts and tapped them after printing.

Grommet for the wire exit. (I designed a simulated printed version but decided to use a real rubber grommet instead.)

The switch just gets force tapped into the cover on this version also.

The Guard Bracket and Spring are attached to the Cover with the 6-32 screws. (guard first with the sprint on top of it) These would also have held the switch in place on the original cover.

The guard is held in place with a pin made from filament. The ends are just melted flat by heating a flat head screw driver and pushing against the end of the filament. (one end has not been melted yet in this picture.)

The cover is attached to the box with the 8-32 screws.

These are simulated thumb screws. (I believe the ones used on the original release are quarter turn lock screws. Magnets were designed to go in the bottom to fasten them to the screws but they ended up being snap fit enough not as to not need the magnets.

Here they are snapped in place.

The switch tip extension is then pressed onto the switch to finish the Release switch off.

Just when I thought I was done with this box I decided to add a little fun to it. I found this Sound module on Amazon for $13.

It looked like a one piece module but it was just every thing was stuck to a single piece of double side tape which was great. this made it very easy to separate the board from the battery and speaker.

I did have to go back and redesign the box so everything would fit into it and still have access to the switch and USB plug.

The round hold is for the speaker and the other hole is so I can turn it on/off and charge the battery.

I did have to extend the speaker leads.

The stock module switch was also cut off so the plug could be wired to the release switch.

A quick test to make sure everything still works…

I had to hack out the switch cover with a Dremel so the board fit in position. I did redesign this part but didn’t want to reprint and refinish everything.

Wiring for the release switch. The extra red wire loop is just so pushing the switch either way will work.

The speaker is just held in place with hot glue.

The original double sided tape is used to secure the board and battery to the box side.

Here you can see the access to the on/off switch and USB connector (for up loading/recharging) on the bottom of the box.

I also added some rubber feet to keep the speaker off the desk top so you can hear it better.

Here is the finished B-25 Bomb Release Switch.

Ready to drop some bombs.

This was another fun project to build.

And now for the Fun….

Replica B-17 Bomb Release Switch

February 11, 2023

Replica B-17 Bomb Release Switch

(Sorry Files are not available for this project… maybe in the future.)

This is a Replica of a B-17 Bomb Release Switch. This is part of a much larger wall art project that I am working on. (more on that in the future.)

All of the dimension were taking straight from the original plans from the B-17 so its pretty accurate (as far as I can tell to the real thing) although some dimensions were changed slightly to make it easier to 3D print. The larger project that I am working is modeled after the B-17G but these releases where used on Model E,F and (I think) early G models too. Although from my research there was also a thinner taller shield assembly box used on some planes.

Here is the design in Fusion 360.

Here are all of the 3D printed parts (before finishing).

Hardware for the release consists of a grommet, (4) 8-32 Round Head Screws, (2) 6-32 Flat Head Screws, and (4) 2-56 screws that where used in place of rivets (just in case I had to change out pieces from wear)

I started with a smaller switch but ended up using a larger 6 Pin Momentary 3 Way Switch that I found on Amazon.

It was totally unnecessary because it will never be seen but I modeled the inside of the box exactly like the original one so these Nut Plates are separate.

After sanding all of the pieces with 80 & 220 grit sand paper to begin assembly… the Nut Plates are aligned with filament pins and then glued to the box with CA (superglue).

The filament pins are trimmed on the outside with just a nub left and simulated rivet heads are glued on to cover them up. I used this method so it was easier to sand the box.

Here are the finished Rivets just like on the original box. After this step the box could be painted. (not shown)

Next the Spring Latches are attached with the 2-56 screws. These spring latches are for the indents in the handle and are actually functioning. In case I ever had to change them I used screws instead of actual rivets. These are one of the things that are a little thicker than the real ones because they are plastic not metal.

Spacers are then inserted into the guard handle. (These spacers allow the mounting bolts to be tightened fully without binding the guards movement.)

The handle is then secured to the box with (2) of the 8-32 bolts. You can also see how the spring latches work with the indents of the Guard.

I did add a recess to the box cover for the printed Decal. (The original cover would just be flat.)

The switch is then just force tapped into the cover.

These are the simulated Decals. The top one was printed in Red with a color change to white for the Text. It didn’t come out as well as I hoped (especially the E) so I printed another one in white filament, painted it Red, then just sanded of the paint from the lettering. This is the one I used on the final build.

The decal is actually glue in place and the 6-32 screws are just for show. These screws originally held the switch in place.

The cover is then screws to the box with the other (2) 8-32 screws.

The switch tip extension is then just pressed onto the switch. Funny enough some 80 years later you can still find these for sale…. that is if you want to spend $39. I didn’t so I printed one and hope it stays on.

A quick test of the handle and everything looks great so far.

One last detail was to print a decal and apply it to the handle. The lettering is suppose to be white but I forgot the lettering on the actual decal would be clear so I should have painted under the decal white before applying it.

After installing the grommet the Bomb Release Switch is pretty much complete. (except of the mounting bracket shown in the beginning but that will come in to play later.

I should point out I purposely distressed everything to make it look old and used. I think the original overall finish of the box may have been black but I liked the OD green better. I’ve actually seen it both ways on B-17’s in museums so who knows. Finishes was one aspect I couldn’t find a definitive answer on in my 100’s of hours of research into this project.

The only thing missing is a spring for the Guard handle to return it to the upright position. (I still have to find or make one.)

I still might have to distress the screws a bit more as they stand out.

Overall this came out better than I could have imagined when I started this project.

Now that this part of the project is complete I still have a 100 or so hours to go on the rest of it.

AN-M64 500lb Bomb

December 26, 2022

AN-M64 500lb Bomb

STL’s for this lure are available for purchase from Cults3d.com

This is another replica WWII Bomb just like my AN-M30 100lb Bomb but this one is a AN-M64 which is a 500lb version and it is also true 1/4 scale this time. I actually designed this back in 2016 and printed out some of the pieces at the same time as the 100lb version but I never got around to actually starting the build until Dec. 2022.

The design is pretty much that same as its little brother but I did have to start from scratch when designing this one.

The over all shell is hollow and will be printed in several pieces.

Here is an exploded diagram of all of the pieces and parts of the project.

Back when I printed the first set of parts I was still pretty green at 3D printing and design so the parts are very rough.

The first step was to superglue all of the three main casing pieces together.

This is after gluing them together and there are some rather large gaps but also the shape of the cylinders is pretty rough because I didn’t export the STL’s in a fine enough resolution so this is going to require some work to clean up.

After sanding a long time with 80 grit paper they were still in pretty bad shape…

… so it was time to add some Spot Putty as a filler.

I went a little crazy but at least this stuff is pretty easy to sand but makes a huge mess.

Here it is ready for primer.

Here is another set of parts using a much fine resolution STL, I also added a joiner ring to the tail cone piece to eliminate some printing supports. (The multi color casing was just me using up old filament.)

The ring just gets glued half way into the main casing before gluing on the tail cone.

This helped clean up the gap that that last one had.

Here is the finished second body.

This was also sanded with 80 grit sand paper before applying a much thinner coat of Glazing putty. (not shown)

This is how I printed the tail fins although I think they would print upside down too. (I might try that next.)

Here they are after a rough sand.

I won’t bore you with the priming and painting but here it is with the main base coat of OD green.

Next is was onto the lugs. I printed these laying down (so they would be stronger), on a raft, and jacked off the bed with supports.

The lugs were then painted and glued on in to the main casing. (I still may go back an add the simulated welds around them.)

Next it was time to paint the yellow nose and tail markings. Using a compass I drew out the appropriate sized circle on some masking tape and then cut it out with a razor knife.

That was then stuck onto the nose cone trying to keep it centered. (It doesn’t have to be perfect because I’m sure no one cared during the war if it was off centered or not.)

The same was done for the rear and more masking tape was used to control over spray.

The finished markings.

Next I printed the parts for the AN-M103 Nose Fuses.

They still need a little more clean up and paint but they don’t look to bad to the naked eye.

The vanes were bent by just heating them for a split second with a lighter and then bending them by hand and letting them cool in position.

Here is the finished Nose Fuse after a little paint and assembly. The vane was attached with a tiny 0-80 x 1/4″ screw which is hidden under the paint.

Here are all of the parts for the AN-M100A2 Tail Fuse. (I’m not sure what size screw I used, the metal rod is just a trimmed down paperclip.)

Here is what it looks like when assembled…

… and here it is after paint and installing it in the the read of the bomb casing.

Here is the back side…. The tiny hole is where the Arming Wire will go. The arming wire keeps the vane from spinning in flight, the wire will be yanked out once the bomb is drop allowing the vane to spin and in turn arm the fuse after the bomb falls far enough away from the plane.

One of the last thing to so was added the lettering. I printed up some thin stencils to allow me to airbrush on the letting.

The stencils were affixed with some masking tape in sections before spraying.

Here’s how it came out… overall it’s not to bad but using the very top stencil on the curved nose come was a little challenging and each line had to be done separately.

I didn’t like the larger fonts on the bottom so I redid it. (For you B-17 guys there are some “Easter Eggs” in the numbers… comment if you know.)

This is the finished AN-M64 Bomb. I still might distress it a little but for the most part it’s done.

The dual lug side.

The AN-M103 Nose Fuse.

The Tail fins with the AN-M100A2 tail fuse.

Over all it’s about 14 11/16″ tall standing up.

Here it is back in 1943 ready to be loaded onto a B-17.

While I was at it, I designed a B-11 shackle to go along with the bomb… this mead me down a Rabbit Hole of a much larger project for this thing.

Alien Chestburster Costume

October 25, 2022

Alien Chestburster Costume

This Alien Chestburster was one of the first things I printed back in 2014 as a fun Christmas present for my brother. I need a quick Halloween costume for a party this year so I decide to make it into an actual costume this time.

This years print after a quick airbrushing and a coat of UV resin to mike it shinny.

I designed a quick chest plate (much like a Gopro chest rig) and sewed on an elastic strap.

A corresponding mount was glued to the back of the alien and it just slides in to the chest mount.

A white t-shirt was the base of Kane’s uniform and I sewed on some embellishments (like the chest strip, loops, and pocket) as seen from watching the movie. The blood was just some paint mixed with water. I didn’t do that great of a job with the splatter it but it’s good enough for my liking. You can see the mount under the tear. (I did paint the mount red after to hide it better.)

This USCSS Nostromo patch was found on amazon.

I couldn’t find the other patch (least not in time for the party) so I just 3D printed my own and glued it on.

Ready to party!

The finished Chestburster after some blood work. Besides the obvious penis jokes you’ll get wearing any costume like this… the costume was well received by any fan of the original movie.

All Information, Pictures, and Material is copyright © 2022 by Stephen Thone and may not be used for any personal or commercial purposes without the consent of the author. All rights reserved. The Author makes no guarantees or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of, or results to be obtained from accessing and using the Information herein.

The CLAW

November 16, 2017 (posted 9-30-22)

The CLAW

This is an older project I made back in 2017 but never got around to posting (mainly because I forgot about it). I always loved arcade type claw machines even though I know they are rigged and I always wanted to make my own. I’ll probably never get around to making the whole machine but I designed the claw part of it just to learn a little more CAD at the time.

This is the original CAD design I came up with after looking at claw pictures online and figuring out how everything works.

The internals.

The main links and linkages were a little challenging to figure out from just pictures but I made it work.

The 2-56″ screws I used tighten against each other to leave a little slop so the linkages are smooth.

I used a threaded shaft and knuckle to actuate the fingers.

That fits inside the main body.

Which threads into the inner shaft.

On the other end of the inner shaft is one half of a slip coupler.

The other half of the slip coupler attached to a small geared motor.

On the rear of the geared motor setup is a pen spring.

This whole setup fits into the motor cap.

The slip coupler works by spring pressure….

(pressed in) this allows the fingers to open or close to there limits before the spring pressure allows the slip coupler to slip (or pop), in turn this makes it so the motor can never stall.

I little bit of strain relief on the wires.

The finished CLAW.

Here you can see it in action. It might be a little slow but I can fix this with a higher RPM motor or change the thread pitch on the shaft but I kind of like it where it’s at for now. I let the slip coupler pop a few times just so you can see how it works. Maybe some day I’ll get around to making the whole machine.

M2 Cricut Cutting Blade Attachment

April 06, 2016 (posted 8-26-22)

Makergear M2 Cricut Cutting Blade Attachment

On this episode of “What will he bolt on to the printer this week” we have a Cricut brand cutting blade housing mount.

The mount is pretty simple but it does require me to remove the v4 hotend to use.

This was a pretty simple mount to design that bolts right on to the V4 mount. (At the time I had to CENSOR the New Gear as it was in Beta trials and I’m wasn’t sure if I could show them yet.)

It just bolts on with two 8/32″ and one 6/32 screws. The blade holder is pretty cool as it has a certain amount of cutting depth adjustment that can be made by turning the top dial. There is an adhesive mat (not shown) that is clipped to the bed and the paper sticks right to it.

Initial tests with normal printer paper did ok….

…but anything with small details like areas of the skull tore pretty easy while cutting and didn’t stay stuck to the mat. I tried a thicker card type printer paper but that was even worse.

Switching over to a craft type card stock proved to be the winner, it cut out prefect shapes and even the little details stayed stuck to the adhesive mat.

Here’s a few of the test cutouts. I think this would be good for cutting out stencils for things like airbrushing, I still have some more tests to run but I’m very happy with the final results on this attachment. The Blade/Holder and Mat ran me about $20. I’m not sure how long the Mats last but they came two to a pack so I still have a back up to play with if this one wears out to fast.

Makergear M2 Scribbler Attachment

March 19, 2016 (posted 8-26-22)

Makergear M2 Scribbler Attachment

STL files for this are available at Thingiverse and can be found HERE.

This is a drawing attachment for my Printer. I saw this thing call the Axidraw one day and it got my brain a working so here’s yet another quick little project to add some more fun and versatility to the M2. It’s just a simple bolt on attachment to hold a sharpie or any drawing implement.

Here’s a picture of the first test. I still need to play with the speeds but so far it works pretty good. This was just outlines but I did try one with 100% infill and got a little to much bleed with the sharpie so I need to find a fine tip marker and play some more.

…and of course The video of it in action (video is 4X normal speed and it cuts out the last few seconds as my memory card was full.)

Outlines Only with thin tip markers.

100% Infill

The thin sharpie works pretty good. The tips don’t have much give like their fatter big brothers so there were a few sacrificial lambs in the process until I remove all the unnecessary start up moves in the startup g-code.

The 100% infill isn’t perfect as it missed some spots but I don’t have the tip size factored into S3D yet so I still need to do more testing. I’ll probably redesign some things to make it the marker a bit more steady as it does flex about a little bit in the current state. I don’t know how usefull an attachment it will be but it’s fun to play with anyway.

I designed a spring loaded Ball point attachment today to try out next.

It’s ugly and needed some sanding, but it was a quick print with some $11 Chinese filament I haven’t even bothered to dial in yet.

I might need a stiffer spring but so far it’s going pretty well.

The finished picture… I think if I use something like a G2 gel pen (and a better surface than the aluminum bed) it will write a lot better so it’s back to the CAD to redesign the pen part around a G2 cartridges next.

The Gel pen works much better… was able to play around with text that looks like handwriting and it works pretty good. I’m going to be the hero went it comes to Christmas cards this year… “Sure honey I’ll fill out all of the cards this year.”

I still don’t have the perfect setting for fill yet but it can do some pretty good detail. This was just a line drawing I found on Google. It was converted to an SVG, imported into TinkerCad and then exported as an STL.

I’m deeming this one a success and now I can move onto my next Attachment.