Good Morning! Thank you for the positive feedback. Really quick update... I put in 24 hours this weekend on this thing. It really is what I spend my time doing at this point. I am still waiting on what I hope will be a good resin to use. The Formlabs durable worked, but It would be much easier and no more expensive to just order a $200-250 liter of resin. In the mean time I have printed all of the parts in cheap-o resin to form fit. I am new to supports, so I under supported some crucial areas which lead to some parts being stretched at the pegs or warped. The parts do not fit like they should, but I was able to test the real world clearance of the parts during transformation. I also get to see better what to support where and why. lol Also have been fine tuning the printed parts. To the pictures... Joints are nice and solid! OOooooh, coming together... Please disregard the gappy-ness. The arm that connects the bug head to the body was not supported well and is all wonky! His little mouth opens. I also splayed the balls out a bit on the hand, resulting in more of a finger spread. I cut out the back of the fingers, so he can be on all fours running. Fist The fingers are perfect! they stay in so well!!!! Sorry so quick. Hope to have 'er wrapped up very soon. More throughout the week.
*drool* Looks incredible! I love the moving fingers. You've got me seriously tempted to get a Photon now. I was planning on waiting a while and then saving up for the Prusa SL1, but if you're able to acheive these results on the Photon, I see no reason to spend more than twice as much on a Prusa. Which resin is $200-250 per liter? How far does a liter go or rather how much of a liter does this guy use?
Thanks! I love my photon. I watched all of the videos on the issues that other people had, and just checked/watched for any signs of them. (loose screws, wires not plugged in at the factory, etc) Mine is great! The duplicator 8 has twice the build space for just over $1000, so I am kind of eyeballing that situation. The only down side(besides build space) is the resins. Most are very brittle, and few can withstand being rubbed together. I have realized that you can adjust just about any uv resin that will cure at 405 nm for any machine to print at lower energy outputs by adjusting it with an accelerant. I just do not know how much it will affect the properties of the cured resin. I have printed Formlabs Durable resin on my photon at 12 second exposure/layer at 50 microns. Very durable resin, the best that I have seen so far. Right now I am trying resins from a company called 3Dresyns. They range from under $100 a L to 300+. Supports can eat up a lot of resin, especially when dimensional accuracy of the printed part is required. I think that this project will destroy a liter of resin. But that is an early guess!
I saw your post about this guy on the Anycubic facebook group, lol. Have you tried that Siraya Blu resin everyone keeps talking about? I saw a stress test for it on youtube and the mechanical strength of it is quite impressive, though I dunno how it will handle friction from rubbing. Also, I've been thinking about getting a Photon... do you think the current model is fine... or should I wait for the Photon S since it will be about the same price and has a better z axis and a more powerful LED array?
Awesome! I got off of that site real fast. There are so many videos and other anycubic communities that aren't "facebook people". It can be a whole different crowd sometimes! I have not tried the Blu yet. It's funny, I have been communicating with companies about their resin, specifically about wear resistance. They usually just dance around the question, telling me how strong their resin is, while not being brittle like all of the others. lol. To me that means it turns to powder like the others do under friction. I did respond back to Siraya with the question worded a bit more bluntly. I will see if they just avoid answering it again. It is on my radar tho. I am trying them all, because you never know... I think it will be a resin that is not stocked on the virtual shelf of the online 3d print supply stores. Right now those resins seem to be aimed towards gaming miniatures and trinkets or models. Not so much for end use high stress or wear items, but that may change. Maybe I am asking too much of resin, but I will keep looking! I need resin quality on my printed parts now, there is no turning back! This was the first printer that I thought was worth buying, for what I am trying to get out of it. I am waiting for the screens to get bigger, increasing build size. The current model is very simple, and works very well. But the LCD desktop printer movement seems to be just getting started, so improvements are always right around the corner in my opinion.
Please for the love of god someone get this person a deal with a third party company. I need large tf prime insecticons in my collection ASAP. @LazyAza @Byrin could MMC produce these?
Hey all. I am still at it! I used the first print parts for testing weaknesses in the design. I have been beefing up any areas that need it, and have about 3/4 of him printed. Waiting on resin, and still looking for "the one". I have a some E-sun pla resin coming, some Liqcreate HT coming, and I will try the Sparkmaker LCD-N before I am done. The 3dresyns are very good, but pricey. Most of the parts are printed in #dresyns HT. The Spot-A HT did not offer much wear resistance, but is good resin otherwise. The Formlabs Durable is still king, but it is $200 for the liter with shipping, and another $100 for the accelerant.(not all of which needs to be used for a liter). This is reminding me a lot of my "scratch building to mold making to resin casting"days! Always looking for a non-brittle resin with a low creep factor and a high resistance to wear! oh well.... I found an old kickback design from the resin casting days. His wings are broken off and lost forever, but it was funny to find. I also messaged Black Mamba on their Facebook page to take a look and maybe it will influence them to pick up the line. I told them that they can have this projectas a starting off point if they want! Here's hoping! I know a 3-P could do even better. If you worked out the bug body transformation differently, the shoulders and arms and hands could be even bigger, as they should be. lol I promise to have a put together figure soon! I work on the computer every night after work for a few hours, and all weekend, but I have given up on rushing this one. It only results in things taking longer and more resin! haha
Keep at it! Take your time, but not so much you lose interest. How much of one of those $200 liters of resin does this bad bug boy use in printing all parts?
I think that with efficient supports, it could be printed with a Liter. The only parts that NEED the expensive resin are the joints. In the pic they are a translucent greeny grey color. I tried to break all of the parts up so that the high wear components are small and can be printed in a better material or sent out to print in nylon. As for loosing interest... I already tried that twice. It just eats at my brain if I don't work on it. Plus I can't start any of my new ideas til this is done. I have a neat idea(transformation wise) for a kickback figure either Animated Style, or g-1 esque, and I would really like to do the 3 original insecticons in the TFP style. Very similar or the same shoulder pads and other key features, but a bit smaller that Hardshell. Like the proto-form clones were damaged and they had to emergency scan for alt modes in order to survive or something. They can be his little hench men on my shelf. Plus I am working on a legends+ sized version of my leader 1 that just snaps together, no pins or screws. Then I want to do the masterpiece sized leader 1 a bit smaller, but not simplified at all. Plus I started cykill, and want to do an ecto-1 transformer. I NEED MORE TIME MAN! But seriously, this is first! I did a couple "masterpice scale" Gobots. Leader 1 and cop-tur. A long time ago I scratch built a kickback and made molds and cast him in resin. Oh and I scratch built a chuggy kickback and cast him also. Its the cheesy guy in the parts pic above. lol hahaha thanks man. I will be reaching out to companies, I don't think that it is usable as is, but maybe thier guys could work their majic on er! Hopefully this project will at least get the ball rolling! I don't really know how much of a want for TFP figures there is, but I thought that the design needed more than it was given as a toy to make money off of kid's parents. Thank you. This one I am really proud of. Honestly sometimes I feel like they build themselves once I get started. lol Thank you! I am amazed myself on this one! I love it. to think that I almost didn't.....
Why not actually send the design to HasTak? One of the MP designers started off as a fan making customs, so there's always that possibility.
Are you talking about the guy that kitbashed/scratchbuilt an autobot logo that transforms into a lion and took it to his interview with Takara, who then went on to design classics mirage among other figures of the time? IIRC I read somewhere that he actually no longer works for HasTak and ended up working with a third party company. I think MMC? Cant remember the specifics, I just know I was shocked HasTak let him go.
There was one that did Arcee as well, and it went on to become the T30 version. HasTak does look for talent.
I think that's the same guy who made the min Devastator. I desperately would love to see that made official.
Odds Bodkins, boys!!! I am not sure that this is BroTomy worthy!! Honestly this one is a good sculpt, but a bit of a forced transformation just to prove that I could. A professional working designer with the skills to pay the bills, I am not. lol. If you think that the Giga Dinos are coming slow..... hahaha. I really do appreciate it though. I am constantly amazed by the engineering that professional designers come up with, and to be lumped in there for a second is a bit of an honor. So, enough chin flappin' via keyboard tappin', on to the update pics... I did a bit of a re design to the torso. The attachments for the chest, and the arm that moves the head during transformation were snap fit because there was no room to get pins. I did not like it because they would wear out, and could be broken with the force needed to pop in and out. Left is the old, right is the new- I broke up the new one into two parts. Now both the head-arm and the chest can be pinned. The small part and the torso hold in the chest in the front, under the arms that the head attachment arm go into. then close around the pin. Held by three screws inside. And I have started assembly. Oh fiddle, oh fiddle, he's up to me middle! Joints are tight, and this is mostly without ratchets because I want to make them in two or three thicknesses to be able to pick the best one.
Oh I almost forgot, I either had a stroke of genius, or a very slow journey to realization of an obvious answer. I have tried well over $1000 worth of resins, and none have matched formlabs Durable for wear resistance. It is expensive, and a pain in the behind to get it to print on a low power LCD printer. Duh.... Print the parts in a mix of a hard and tough resin and a flexible resin(which can also be pigmented). The mix can be altered slightly for small, detailed "bendy before breaky" parts, or for thicker walled rigid parts that don't shatter under deflection. Then use a paintbrush or a q-tip and coat them with the formlabs durable and hit em with the UV lamp.. BAM. It really works amazing. You just have to take care because the durable resin is thick, and likes to ruin your negative spaces if not controlled.
