I admit it: I'm a total geek. I love electronics, programming, 3D printing, 3D art, and vintage Apple hardware. I'm always juggling half a dozen projects. I also enjoy documenting it all: my successes, my failures, my experiences... and everything geeky along the way.

3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part II - Body | Kevin Rye.net - Main

Kevin Rye

Geek Extraordinaire. Yeh, I said it.

3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part II - Body

Woo hoo! Thanks to Amazon Prime Day I managed to save a few bucks on some PLA. I ordered a bunch of rolls for the body and the legs, and a roll of flexible TPU that I'll need for the wheels.

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The body is basically made of 3 "rings" that get glued together. If you had a 500mm x 500mm print bed, you could print each of those rings in one shot. However, since I have a 300mm x 300mm bed, I have to print the smaller cut files. All together, there are 15 body parts to print.

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It took about 83 hours to print the bottom ring. I picked up some 8-32 threaded rods that fit into holes that run the length of the body. This helps with alignment while gluing, and adds some additional strength.

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The middle "ring" is the biggest. These two parts that are the largest took 50 hours each to print.

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It took about 195 hours to print the middle ring.

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The top ring is smaller than the middle, but bigger than the bottom.

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It took another 130 hours to finish, and a combined total of about 410 hours to complete. My printer has been printing around the clock non-stop for 19 days! I only had one print fail due to a power outage that lasted longer than my battery backup could keep the printer going.

I couldn't resist putting the dome on top to get a sense of the size. R2 is huge!

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The last part to print for now is the top ring and the Lazy Susan gear.

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After a little sanding, the parts snapped together pretty well.

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It snaps into place perfectly.

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The Lazy Susan gear is another story.

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Sadly, it does not make a perfect fit. I saw online that some builders had to scale it up to fit the Lazy Susan that they have. It looks like I am in the same boat.

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I scaled it to 102% and that seemed to do the trick.

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The last parts to print are the back and top panels for the data port and the charging bay.

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I also printed the housings for the split ring and the dome motor. I am probably not going to need these for a while, but I got a little carried away!

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See this project from start to finish:
3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part I - Dome
3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part II - Body
3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part III - Skirt
3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part IV - Body Assembly
3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part V - Body and Dome Finishing
3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part VI - Body and Dome Greeblies
3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part VII - Final Dome Assembly
3D-Printed R2-D2 - Part VIII - Legs and Feet