CREATUREBOX 3D PRINT

Based on a character concept from CreatureBox, by the amazing artists Dave Guertin and Greg Baldwin. The 2D version of this model was part of a 3DCW challenge. This here is the journey of making a 2D little guy into a virtual 3D little guy and then into an actual 3D little guy...who doesn't root for the little guy!

original concept by creaturebox

zbrush model - added some feet and a base. almost ready for printing...

model is all keyed up and ready to send to the slicer for print prep!

first piece on the slicer table

next big chunk ready to prep...

the wings were super tough to get to print well, but angling them up like this seemed to be the best option

the little teeny-weeny bee was the toughest since he's soooo smol!

...but adding a bunch of supports and setting the print speed to a snail's pace ended up working quite well!

it begins!

printing along, no worries!

ok. so the print had a little hiccup, and I stopped it here...

perhaps I added a little more support stuffs than was necessary...

yup...

much too much support!

drilling thru it helped a lot!

also, since the top layers didn't actually print, it allowed me to fill the legs up with epoxy just to give them some extra strength

a couple of bamboo skewers, too...for extra extra support

and we're golden! ;)

reprinted the top of the base section and glued it onto the legs

also, added a skim coat of epoxy to the top of the base for polish

some sanding...

...and a little more sanding!

next, printed out the arms without too much trouble

ok, maybe a little trouble on the fingertips. some Mr Fixit and we're all good!

now on to the main event - the head section! started out so good...nice clean layers for the main form and the supports were all printing great, too!

until another hiccup. the filament wouldn't go thru the feeder tube

maybe it's not at the right temp? could the heater block be off? (tech support would later tell me a kitchen thermometer is not 'reeeeally' an accurate way to measure how hot the tip is)

but alas, after running thru multiple checks and calibrations the heater is fine.

so I decide to try and clean out the hot end. unfortunately, I somehow ended up getting more filament stuck inside the hot end - and had to order a new one!

also, seemed like a good time to upgrade the cooling/extruder housing...oh, and some wiring stuff, too! why not?!

at this point I decided to re-slice the head section of the model, to decrease the amount of print time - and as a bonus I no longer needed any supports! :D