3D printed guns!

[AlexG]

Finally got my Strarf MkII last Friday. When I opened her up I discovered a complete lack of hand guns, and thus decided to remedy the problem...through CAD and shapeways!
after about 6 hours worth of modeling this is what I have come up with:








The Cylinder (highlighted piece) is given clearance all around and a shaft with clearance such that, if printed properly, the cylinder will spin! although at shinki scale there is little chance the parts will stay separated...


I am currently waiting on the first prints from shapeways. They should be here around April 12th or 13th.
If anyone is interested in buying a set of these I'll probably make it for sale once I get any bugs worked out. A set of 4 revolvers at shinki scale in detail plastic costs $5 +shipping. Frosted ultra detail is like $7.50 +shipping. I'd also be happy to change the scale if you've got a different toy in mind, just let me know the required dimensions of the handle.

I'm also open to suggestions as to what I should model next, so give me some ideas! and it's not limited to only weapons either.

[AlexG]

Thanks! that squirt-gun looks pretty good for a highlighter paintjob!
I'm interested to know, how sturdy is it? since I've had to change to FUD in order to get any semblance of detail through shapeway's thickness screening and i don't have much experience with FUD at such a small scale i'm wondering if they'll stand up to some use.

[Shinki_Crazed]

Nice looking revolver you made there, do you think glasses would be possible?

[AlexG]

Nice looking revolver you made there, do you think glasses would be possible?

definitely! although it will be difficult to have really thin frames, since it's such a small scale.
post or PM me a pic of the specific style you've got in mind and i'll cad them up.
the tough part will be making the glasses fit on whatever head and hairstyle the figure has, so if you can give me measurements for face width and how far back the "temples" can go that'd make it a lot easier on me.

will edit shortly with a pair of glasses designed for my strarf Mk2

Edit:
total time: 45 minutes! woot
here's a pair of glasses made for my strarf Mk2, just sketched something up to give an idea of what the basic format will be. the length of the temples and width of the lenses and bridge will change depending on the hair and face respectively.
the frames are just some kinda random angular pattern i made up to be more interesting than plain circles, which is what took the majority of the time.
The whole thing is 0.59 inches wide, and all the wires are 0.02 inches thick, at the limit of what FUD will do. i will likely print them with a box/cage around it, for protection during shipping and handling, if i order them.

[AlexG]

the prints have arrived!!

i am quite pleased with them. they have a fantastic amount of detail for their scale and the spinning cylinder works beautifully! they are pretty sturdy with the exception of the hammer which will break if you push on it to hard. that was to be expected though. a few tweaks and they'll be perfect, just need to modify the grip, and thicken up the hammer a bit and they'll be up for sale for around $8 for a set of four.

the revolvers with a little sharpie & gundam marker:
(unfortunately, the one on the right is how i found out that the hammer is too weak...)




the hands with pointing but slightly curved index finger is ideal for the revolver, and fits perfectly and securely!


fresh from the box:




strarf showing off







Thanks for looking.

[astarothxi]

Idk if this would be the right place to ask but what about weapons from other shinkis? ex: i have arnval tempesta and i would very much like to get her full arms accessories but don't wanna spend $200+ just for 6 parts. Would it be possible to print those parts up?

[AlexG]

Idk if this would be the right place to ask but what about weapons from other shinkis? ex: i have arnval tempesta and i would very much like to get her full arms accessories but don't wanna spend $200+ just for 6 parts. Would it be possible to print those parts up?

short answer:
Yes.

Long answer:
the difficulty is not the resolution or limitations of the printer, or even the expense of the process, rather, it is very difficult to duplicate an existing object exactly as-is in CAD, every little detail has to be measured, and not only is this tedious, it is also a big pain in the butt. Even more so if the drafter doesn't have the parts he/she is trying to draft. The more of an exact replica you want, the more difficult and tedious it gets. However, making something that looks very similar to the parts is relatively easy. The reason I was able to make this model so quickly and easily was because I was just giving it arbitrary dimensions until it looked right. The same thing can be done with the armor parts you want, but without something to measure off of, it will never be entirely accurate.

Also, depending on the size of the armor parts, it may actually be more cost-efficient for you to buy a FAP and the sell off what extra parts you have, as 3D printing in a high detail medium like the guns above is not cheap.

That being said, if you want to post some scale pics of the parts you want with rulers in the shot I can do some quick approximated sketching and see how tough it'll actually be. And if you do so, remember that I can really only get good dimensions off of a side when it is facing directly at the camera, think of it as if you were taking a picture of the shadow cast by the part.

[astarothxi]

Oh wow lol that does sound really complicated

[AlexG]

CAD certainly isn't simple, but it's not as difficult as i may have accidentally made it sound . Although as others on this board have discovered , it gets even trickier when you start trying to model smooth surfaces with lots of compound curvature, like a shinki's body or limbs, for instance.