Back in May, I decided that it was time to upgrade to a larger 3D printer. The two obvious candidates were the Voron and the RatRig. After some deliberation, I decided on getting a RatRig V-Core 3.1 400.

After having built the printer, it was time to test it. I landed on Droid Division’s incredible Battle Droid

I have been meddling with 3D printing since Makerbot launched the Thing-O-Matic back in 2010. 3D Printing technology has matured a bit since then. And so, it would seem - the skill level of people who do 3D modeling for FDM printing. Spacebob’s set of STL files is a joy to work with.

This model stands 1.93 meters tall. It weighs in at about 14 kg, It is printed in PLA using a 0.6mm nozzle with a 0.2mm layer height. I did not record the total printing time, but we are talking about several hundred hours.

Layer lines are an issue with FDM printing, and sanding PLA down to a smooth finish is difficult and time-consuming. I was therefore happy to discover that people have been experimenting with coating FDM prints in thin layers of UV resin to eliminate visible layer lines. The resin fills in the layer lines and is also much easier to sand to a smooth finish than the PLA.

This model will be on display at the Hackheim Makerspace booth at Trondheim Maker Festival 2023.