Full Scale Storm Trooper Mask

[Serena]

Starting to glue together! Printing the last two pieces tonight. :-) You can see the size of it in this picture- it looks so cool all ready.

Photo Nov 24, 5 22 22 PM.jpg

[Geoff]

excellent stuff! I hope it doesn't turn out too big for a head I am just looking at the eye sockets in comparison to yours so I hope it is wearable when done.

What software have you been printing it on primarily?

[Serena]

The size is great- perfect for my teen son. I have it glued together now and it fits good. But even on me I can see out of the eyes no problem. I've filled the seams and waiting for it to dry then I'll sand and prime. I'm amazed how well it fits together. Considering all the various things that could have changed how each piece printed, etc... It fits like a glove.

I use Simplify3D -printed everything as is- no scaling, no supports. It had a little trouble with the rounded rim on the last two back pieces but the roughness is underneath and won't show. I was able to print two pieces at a time on a few of them, depending on what fit on the bed. 20% infill and 2.00mm layers.

Once I get it all done I'll post them on a thingiverse with the print specs. Hopefully it will encourage others to try a bigger project like this if they haven't before. :-)

[Geoff]

The size is great- perfect for my teen son. I have it glued together now and it fits good. But even on me I can see out of the eyes no problem. I've filled the seams and waiting for it to dry then I'll sand and prime. I'm amazed how well it fits together. Considering all the various things that could have changed how each piece printed, etc... It fits like a glove.

I use Simplify3D -printed everything as is- no scaling, no supports. It had a little trouble with the rounded rim on the last two back pieces but the roughness is underneath and won't show. I was able to print two pieces at a time on a few of them, depending on what fit on the bed. 20% infill and 2.00mm layers.

Once I get it all done I'll post them on a thingiverse with the print specs. Hopefully it will encourage others to try a bigger project like this if they haven't before. :-)

Once you do one big one I think they become less daunting as you go, and I don't think I've ever made anything that's much bigger besides the Imperial Guard mask, but that's some 30 odd pieces and has slowly gone backward on my to-do list... as you know now, time is really the only downside to 3D printing really Even if I could print at double speed it would make the prototype process alot easier and faster, but I guess we still have some years to wait, as I've been waiting 3-4 years now and really, the home or consumer 3D printers really have not gained much in the way of speed, at least not in the way laser printers did, ie increase the amount of copies per minute for each new model, etc.

I'm glad it's all going well, I sure wish my Mum would have printed me a Storm trooper mask but then again, I am 38 and for Christmas she got me a full scale Darth helmet, which wasn't a bad choice for a 80 year old lol

[CheerCreator]

Hey Geoff, nice stuff. What 3d printer did you use to print this?

[Geoff]

Hey Geoff, nice stuff. What 3d printer did you use to print this?

I'm printing mine on the Flashforge and mainly because it never ever crashes on me - ever. It has never stopped mid print.

I have a kossel and an I3, but unless you print from the SD card, I have found that if you use your computer alot when it's printing, the thing actually skips a bit and you can hear the printer actually stop and think... this isnt good.
I thought it may be a thread issue, but I am running an Octocore CPU, and have only 2 threads assigned to the print - but anything that runs in 64bit mode and uses multiple threads seems to adversely affect the print.

Long story short... If I print on my Flashforge, I know I can happily use my PC to it's fullest while sending a print to the printer and the print will not fail... if I print with the kossel or I3 prusa, it has to be SD card otherwise there is a chance the print will just completely balls up for no reason... this is via both pronterface and repetier host.

People dislike Makerware for many reasons, but there is one thing I do love about it - the background service is very reliable. You can crash your PC to white screen and as long as you don't reset it - the print will keep going. You can close makerware.. and the print will keep going.

You can queue another job with makerware.. .with the print still going (so you can create an auto wipe system to clear the bed and print a second object automatically.. etc..)

While printing from SD is no big deal, nothing beats sending it direct

[Serena]

All done!!! I'm so happy with how it turned out. This is by far my favorite thing I have printed so far. It's also the biggest project I've tried but I learned a lot working on it, particularly about finishing pieces. Some pics of the finished Mask:

DSC_1307.jpg
DSC_1309.jpg
DSC_1308.jpg
DSC_1311.jpg
And one so you can see the size on a guy which I think is perfect. I added some foam to the inside for comfort and better fit. I would like to find some cheap sunglasses to pop out the lens and glue in to the back of the eyes.
Thanks again Geoff for sharing the model- it's the showpiece in my collection. I've even been inspired to work on designing my own large scale model- the Master Sword from Legend of Zelda. Looks like it will end up 11 pieces and not nearly as tricky as this one but still fun to have in life-size form.

[Marm]

I'm printing mine on the Flashforge and mainly because it never ever crashes on me - ever. It has never stopped mid print..

...........

While printing from SD is no big deal, nothing beats sending it direct

Hmmm thats interesting Geoff. My Davinci is the first printer I've owned, so I have kind of assumed some features were industry standards. After slicing, the file is uploaded to the printer, and off it goes. I can literally unplug the the printer from the USB and it will continue to print. I still have control of the printer through the menu system (pause, cancel). Why do you prefer sending it direct? Isn't that, as you have stated yourself, more error prone?

[Geoff]

Hmmm thats interesting Geoff. My Davinci is the first printer I've owned, so I have kind of assumed some features were industry standards. After slicing, the file is uploaded to the printer, and off it goes. I can literally unplug the the printer from the USB and it will continue to print. I still have control of the printer through the menu system (pause, cancel). Why do you prefer sending it direct? Isn't that, as you have stated yourself, more error prone?

First, Awesome work Serena!!! that looks very well finished, much better than my first attempt ever went that's for sure! and such a big job, my hats off A bit lost for words really..

@Marm... Pronterface seems to buffer the job to the printer, as it goes.. like replicator G.. whereas from the SD card, it has less opportunity to fail.. I assume from your comment the davinci(being a bit newer than my old flashforge) has a bit more memory and stores the job onboard, much like a common bubbljet or laserprinter converts the print job to PJL, then sends the job and it queues on the device where it's stored locally as it prints...

No my old FF is a bit archaic for that.. but as I said, with makerware and its background service, my old flashy has never really skipped a beat, I gotta say I have made many times over what it cost me to buy.. like, we're up to about 8x my money back, so really I can't complain at all, it's been an awesome machine.

[curious aardvark]

I thought it may be a thread issue, but I am running an Octocore CPU, and have only 2 threads assigned to the print - but anything that runs in 64bit mode and uses multiple threads seems to adversely affect the print.

yeah I pretty much just install 32 bit os on the machines I build. It's faster, everything that worked on xp works, right click menu items work and it's a lot more stable.
Why the commercial bods use the 64bit os is beyond me. Given that 99.9% of software is still 32 bit and has to be run under a 32bit emulator.
Hell there's even a 32 bit version of windows 8, and if microsoft haven't scrapped it by now, then there's a good commercial reason for it.

The helmet is amazing serena !

But you do realise it's useless without the REST of the stormtrooper costume ? :-)