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Tyrael wrote:Glad to hear it! Still waiting on my Ultimaker, but I will get things into full-on maker mode as soon as it arrives!

excellent, this is my holy grail of all props!

Tyrael wrote:Still waiting on my Ultimaker, but I will get things into full-on maker mode as soon as it arrives!

Just got done building my own printer this past month as well! It's seriously a ton of fun to learn and print things, even when they occasionally fail. Keep us posted on your 3D printing adventure!

Looking forward to your progress and the files being posted so that I can give 'er a try as well!

Finally located a Scurbber Buffer shell.

I'm envious and wish you the best of luck in making it a Giga Meter. Be sure to make a thread with your progress.

Thanks will do.

Since I'm still waiting on that damn printer (no ETA from Ultimaker; would hope for more since they didn't hesitate in taking the money for the thing over a month ago, but whatever) and I finally got around to getting the GB1/2 Bluray combo pack, I went through and got a bunch of screenshots since I had only been working off of what I'd seen from various builds here, the GBFans reference page, and the Cyland Props build page.

So far all I've done is update the display a bit, but I'll also be doing the little "greebles" that pop up throughout the meter itself, as best I can.


There's one greeble that is causing me a bit of grief. On the left side of the handle, there seems to be something there in some shots but not others.
Case in point:

Clearly something there.


Clearly something not there.

I'll be doing some more looking into it in the meantime, but it's just an odd thing I noticed.

Aren't all the props on the table during the explosion scene dummy props? They are all foam castings of the real ones?

That could explain the discrepancy if that's where that shot is from.

That would definitely help explain it, provided the props are changed from one camera angle to another. If they did the hero props in the closeups for when the slime starts twitching (where I got the first picture) but swapped them out for foam props for when it exploded (bottom pic), that'd make a lot of sense.

There is the matter of the evidence tag, though. The crew must've really been on their game for the tags to be in the same spot between shots if they swapped props like that.

EDIT: nevermind. Sonofabitch they made a shitty wooden whittled version for the explosion shot. They kept the slime scoop there though.

Welp, that explains that, then. Thanks, Jack.

I got a thing in the mail today.



All hooked up and testing a print after my first calibrations. So far, so good!

Fancy!!

Haha, thanks. Got PLA printing like a dream, but I'm still trying to get ABS to work right. I'll print several layers but the print always seems to lift free of the heated print bed.

I've inhaled enough plastic fumes for one night. I'll give it another go tomorrow.

Tyrael wrote:Haha, thanks. Got PLA printing like a dream, but I'm still trying to get ABS to work right. I'll print several layers but the print always seems to lift free of the heated print bed.

I've inhaled enough plastic fumes for one night. I'll give it another go tomorrow.

What temperature is your heat bed at for ABS? Also, are you printing directly onto glass or are you printing onto a material like Kapton or PET?

Managed to get ABS working last night by using blue painter's tape and ABS slurry. Had some issues with a long-term print's later layers separating so I'll be troubleshooting that today.

Heat bed is between 100 and 110 C. Before the blue tape and slurry, I had tried everything from 50 C to 110 C and nothing seemed to work, but it's all good now.

Glad to hear it worked out!

I am planning to start playing with ABS this weekend so this is good information to know. I don't have a nice enclosed print space like your Ultimaker so I imagine I'm going to run into even more issues.

Do you plan to print primarily in ABS or are you still deciding?

I can honestly say that I don't plan on using ABS for anything I don't absolutely have to. I've been having separation issues with the later layers on long (8+ hour) prints, whereas PLA prints perfectly every time. I tried printing my updated display model in ABS only to have it come apart when I tried to take it off the print bed. The PLA print, on the other hand, only had very light curling (~1mm) in the lower corners with a strong structure overall.

I'm at work all day for the next 4 days so I'll be doing long prints in the meantime. The updated handle models are printing right now and, so long as my toddler at home doesn't get to them, they should come out just fine.

I can honestly say that I don't plan on using ABS for anything I don't absolutely have to. I've been having separation issues with the later layers on long (8+ hour) prints, whereas PLA prints perfectly every time. I tried printing my updated display model in ABS only to have it come apart when I tried to take it off the print bed. The PLA print, on the other hand, only had very light curling (~1mm) in the lower corners with a strong structure overall.

I'm at work all day for the next 4 days so I'll be doing long prints in the meantime. The updated handle models are printing right now and, so long as my toddler at home doesn't get to them, they should come out just fine.

Tyrael wrote:I can honestly say that I don't plan on using ABS for anything I don't absolutely have to. I've been having separation issues with the later layers on long (8+ hour) prints, whereas PLA prints perfectly every time. I tried printing my updated display model in ABS only to have it come apart when I tried to take it off the print bed. The PLA print, on the other hand, only had very light curling (~1mm) in the lower corners with a strong structure overall.

Glad to hear PLA is working out for you then. I only plan to use ABS for higher temperature applications (printing a new extruder body) and worry about the layer separation you mentioned.

Looking forward to seeing some progress pictures of your build!

Thanks. Running a 3D printer, even one as out of the box-friendly as the Ultimaker 2, is definitely an ongoing learning process amd I'll be able to work on it more in the coming weeks. Doing 4 days of 12-hour shifts followed by moving to a new house kind of eats up all my spare time at the moment.

After much (much much much much) adjustment and calibration, I think I've got PLA working as needed for this project.





Some finishing work is still necessary, but all my files and such are packed away for our move this week and so it'll have to wait a bit. Pictures are from my phone and aren't that good, but the surface is really smooth. Just to be on the safe side, though, I've ordered some Smooth-On product that is designed to fill the ridge gaps in the surface of 3D prints. As soon as it's in, I'll be applying a thin coat and sanding it down to a smoother surface.

Excellent results! I'm always amazed by the quality of prints the Ultimaker puts out.

How did you go about printing those handles? It looks like it would have been oriented on the plate as it's shown on the bottom of your last picture, but I'd assume that would result in a large overhang when it got to the main portion of the handle. Did you end up having to use any supports?

I used Cura's default brim for adhesion support to the base, with the handles printed one at a time with the inside facing down and the supports coming from the base, not everywhere. Had to dial the extruder down to 205 to prevent top layers from bubbling.

What would one feel a Giga meter cast is worth?

Don't know yet. Past ones have gone for $200 and up. We'll see.

I have seen some on ebay before.

GBJeff wrote:It looks like the cheap ones are action figure sized. Printing bigger stuff is pretty expensive.

It shouldn't be, the fulfilment is only 20 bucks per roll.

Rodimus wrote:It shouldn't be, the fulfilment is only 20 bucks per roll.

That's like saying casting resin is only $.70 an ounce. The cost of the material is only a small part of what goes into a finished product. The hours of setup and run time plus error mitigation and maintenance add significantly to the price of 3d printed objects.

PJCGB98 wrote:I have seen some on ebay before.

Doesn't mean a whole lot here. eBay products could be from anywhere, typically recasters. Here, you know the product is genuine and of a respectable quality. If you want to go with a crap product, sure, you can chance it with eBay. Personally, I'd rather pay the extra couple bucks and get something that's both original and well-made.

Rodimus, 3D printing sounds cheap when you look at it like "it's only 20 bucks a roll", but one, the filament I get is quality and actually around $35 per 3/4 kg, and two, you assume no wasted prints. Everyone who prints on these kind of "prosumer" printers will get bad prints here and there. It's just part of the process. With each failure comes lost time, something that cannot be made up no matter how you cut it.
As jackdoud pointed out, you're not just paying for the materials, either. You're paying for the time and skill that went into making the product. I recommend looking up the old "knowing where to put the x" story. Not sure if it actually happened or not, but there's enough truth in its concept to be perfectly relevant.

So a cast resin decent price would be around $50.00?