I bought a 3d printer and the main thing I do with it is attempt to print custom transformers but it is complicated and I'm relatively new it. Plus my skill at 3d modelling is limited until I learn more so lots of tweaking. Long term goal is design and build some full size transformers but for now I've been focussing on little bots so it doesn't take hours to print a part or need the printer running for days. Which led me to this design. It's transformation mechanism is based off Visper micromaster but everything built from scratch but the head. Used one off thingiverse because I'm not there with 3d modelling but it's too loose anyway so gonna try and make one that's more like a jet thruster like the coneheads. The plan is this is the mould/blueprint and light on details but the sizing stays the same for various models. By adding new models in the same series you can mix and match parts to build different bots and maybe even change the whole transformation potentially. The key design principal is have a common set of connectors then mix and match the rest printed in whatever colour you like. I'll share the files when I have a new head working but overall pretty happy with it! The body doesn't hide well underneath but to be fair I don't think many of the little ones do. Not measured him but he stands roughly 2 inches tall.
Sculpted my own head for this guy and have a 100% built from scratch version now. On a plus side, learned a lot about ball joints and this guys head fits so much better than the old one! It's designed to evoke the idea of a thruster for jet mode. I'm running him in mixed colours today to have a new version made the way it was intended: random and mixed up! Was thinking of keeping this mold as the beta version but add details to the whole thing as he's pretty vanilla. Cockpit on the frame, few guns built in, metal panel lines. May even knock up a couple of guns for him the he can hold while in plane mode. Was thinking seeker variant next. Ports on the neck, seeker shaped wings, more earth jet fighter design.
Finished up a print in actual colours! One of the kids picked the colours but I like the bold choices. He has demanded swords that fit onto the back pack and his hands so might need to add a port or tab to the nose cone to accommodate but kind of plays into the whole point of the project I suppose. I was surprised how much character a little colour added to be honest!
Very nice work! Maybe add ports into the wings so the swords could attach onto the underside of the wings in the alt mode? (Similar to how the Seeker null rays attach to their wings)
Final version 1 ready and test print done. Added groves to all joints to guide pins. Shortened pins as I had to sand further than expected. Wings were quite far off so widened gap so less sanding needed. Still had to sand the ball joints slightly but basically clip together for the most part and no glue. Added a repro label just to make him look more transformer like. Had to be a deception given the colours! Think it brings it together a lot better for such a minor addition. I'll upload the files to thingiverse over the weekend probably. Then try and make some gun feet or different wings so the 3 test prints can look a little different.
Uploaded to thingiverse. Previews look weird but prints fine. Transforming Robot - Micromaster 001 alpha by fostorial
Pretty sure the weirdness you're seeing in the preview is from having some of your normals flipped or you've got overlapping polygons or something. It printing successfully anyway probably means your slicer is very good at repairing models. I like this and I think I need to print a copy. My printer is busy right now but I'll try to get to it sometime next week. If I can figure out for sure what's going on with that preview weirdness, I'll let you know.
That is exactly what I did! That explains it then. Already decided against it next time because it's a massive pain but in an attempt to get symmetry I create half the robot then flipped and merged the parts. Clearly not flawlessly. Next time I've decided to just resort to replicating by hand using the edge length settings in blender as a guide. And I use Cura because it was recommended by a friend as one of the best slicers. Can say I have not been disappointed with only a few random failures being the result of the slicer.
Ugh, no, don't do it all by hand. If you're in blender, use a mirror modifier to get symmetrical parts. To get mirrored doubles of parts (like arms/legs) do exactly what you're doing but after you've duplicated/flipped them, use Alt-N on the duplicates to bring up the normals menu and flip them. There's also an option to view normal orientation that will overlay all outward facing normals with blue and inward facing with red so you can correct them one by one. I always end up with a few of my normals backwards and I have to go through and clean them up before finalizing my pieces (well, you don't have to since cura fixes it for you but depending on what slicer others are using they might have problems).
Thanks! I want to swap the joining system for the torso with a cantalever (think that's the right joint type, peg with gaps so it bends and clicks) to make the torso much easier to assemble but I've just not had any free time this month.
