I saw a YouTube video last month of someone 3D printing a full sized R2-D2 (something I’ve wanted 15-20 years). My dad caught me rewatching the video last week and now he’s excited about the potential project. So, now I’ve started researching 3D printers and things about more projects (Indiana Jones Hovitos Idol and Maltese Falcon).
Does anyone here have a 3D printer, thoughts or ideas?
"Life is about movies; anything else is a bonus!"- Me
Been thinking about getting one to do one off car mods, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. Resin printers are more accurate than FDM machines, and getting less expensive so there's a lot of makerporn of them swirling around lately, but keep in mind that you have to handle and store the resin which can be a pretty big hassle.
The (FDM) ones that won't frustrate the hell out of you are still at least $$hundreds. My neighbor has established numerous maker spaces in the dot.edu world. He's worked with Bosch/Dremel to develop a reasonable product...not exactly a recommendation, but I know he likes the ones he has. https://shop.dremel.com/products/digilab/3d-printers/
I've used several for work stuff (mostly scale prototypes that guide the design of steel parts) but they are many $$thousands type. [stratasys]
I have exactly zero technical knowledge to add to this, but I can recommend a few channels for techniques/inspiration:
The Broken Nerd, he has a channel with a few full 3D printed builds and walkthroughs of the process of taking printed parts and cleaning them up/finishing them.
And obviously, for the more finishing and working with 3D prints to make a finished thing side of things, Adam's One Day Builds are always a go-to recommendation:
Punished Props: Bill is known for making props and cosplay out of foam, but every once in a while he'll dip into working with 3D prints, and probably of specific interest to you, he has a series making a whole Tank Trooper helmet on a small cheap printer:
Lightning Cosplay is another great channel I came across not too long ago, she does a lot of armour and cosplay using some 3D printed pieces (And a lot of sculpting/mold making, so ymmv) and walks through the process of preparing and using them.
Not really much in the way of instruction, I just think it's neat, Sophy Wong has been experimenting with 3D printing textile-like materials to make a 3D printed dress (Along with a bunch of other projects), and it's just rad: https://www.instagram.com/sophywongmakes/
Also not really instructional, but cool as hell: Lumecluster: