September 2018 Hacker of the Month, Greg Bellows, makes use of 3D printing in his love for Star Wars and charity work with the 501st Legion!
Posted on August 28, 2018
by
Chris Morgan
Our September Hacker of the Month is a Maker by way of and thru. Greg Bellows of Riverside, California, makes use of his artistic skills to contribute to 2 nice organizations; the 501st Legion – a nationwide community of costumers and prop makers who attend conventions and charity occasions as stormtroopers, Imperial guards and different unsavory Empire characters from the Star Wars universe, and the R2 Builders – an enchanting group of makers that construct astromechs like R2-D2 and BB-8 with all of the bells and (literal) whistles.
Greg started his journey into 3D printing again in 2012 when he began constructing his first astromech droid, R4-K5. After studying in regards to the success different members of the group have been having with printing, he began researching the chances of 3D printing himself. He rapidly realized that printing the components for his droid can be an especially price efficient strategy, so he bought a Makerfarm Prusa i3v, and the remaining is historical past.
Greg and R4K5 assembly creator Timothy Zahn
As a result of constructing an astromech is such an enormous venture, iterations and troubleshooting occur alongside the best way to a completed droid. Work sometimes occurs on one half at a time; legs, physique, head, element components, and so forth. Then attempting components, seeing in the event that they match, going again to the drafting board, and attempting once more again and again make for a protracted, however fulfilling, endeavor.
Greg makes use of a number of ending strategies for his 3D prints, relying on which filament he’s utilizing. Whereas he has experimented with PLA, ABS and PETG at varied occasions, he nearly solely makes use of PETG now. He tends to print his components with a big brim to make sure high quality mattress adhesion (and fewer wasted filament!) so an X-Acto knife is often the primary software used to trim a chunk.
The beginnings of Greg’s new BB-8 clone droid.
Subsequent comes sanding, sanding and extra sanding to get items finger-smooth, particularly super-shiny droid components! A tough sanding block comes first, to get the bigger imperfections knocked down. Physique filler and extra sanding a couple of occasions come subsequent with finer and finer grit sandpaper. As you may see from the photographs, Greg’s outcomes are unbelievable – a results of hours and hours of liberal utility of elbow grease!
When Greg first began constructing astromechs and costume items, there was a large amount of woodworking or metalworking wanted to get the specified outcomes – abilities that take effort to excellent, not too point out barely increased materials prices and a big time funding as properly. As soon as Greg educated himself on methods to 3D mannequin, and the particulars of 3D printing, he was capable of create a prototype, and finally completed props, in a fraction of the time. For Greg and others, 3D printing has ushered in a complete new period of prop and costume making.
As a member of the 501st Legion and R2 Builders, he is ready to do conventions and charity occasions in the local people. As Greg explains it, “These occasions have raised cash for most cancers consciousness, youth literacy, Make-A-Want Basis and all kinds of organizations that assist individuals. It provides me an amazing sense of pleasure that I discovered a method to marry my passion of creating and love of Star Wars with a method to give again to others in my group. It is the final word win-win.”
A blaster comprised of a inventory Star Wars rifle, molded components and a few artistic portray.
His 3D printing has helped him reside out his ardour for Star Wars and attain out to his group in methods he by no means thought potential. The very best factor about Greg’s involvement with the 501st are the great smiles he is ready to carry to kids’s faces – it makes all of the arduous work value it!
Began by Albin Johnson in 1997, the 501st Legion has been one of many only a few Star Wars themed volunteer organizations formally acknowledged by Lucasfilm – their group and charity efforts have been rewarded by having the identify “501st Legion” included into official Star Wars materials together with such milestones as Timothy Zahn’s novels Survivor’s Quest and Idiot’s Discount, the Episode III Visible Dictionary, LucasArts’ Star Wars Battlefront II online game, quite a few toys, the Star Wars: The Clone Wars collection and extra.
R4K5 all dressed as much as be the ring-bearer in a marriage.
Greg was additionally capable of embrace his droid because the ring-bearer in his greatest buddy’s marriage ceremony, as soon as he was sufficiently dressed up after all. R4-K5 additionally received to chop free and dance after the ceremony!
After all R2D2 clones aren’t the one superior issues within the Star Wars universe. Greg has been designing and constructing a working mannequin of a Darth Nihilus lightsaber, in addition to a 1:1 scale mannequin of a BB-8 droid that can match the colour scheme of his R4-K5 droid.
The Darth Nihilus Greg designed in Tinkercad
We look ahead to seeing Greg’s completed BB-8 creation, in addition to many extra 3D printed props and costumes!
For extra info on the 501st Legion, go to https://www.501st.com/
For extra info on astromechs like R4K5, go to http://astromech.web/
Need to be our subsequent Hacker of the Month? E-mail chris.morgan@matterhackers.com, and inform us about your 3D printed creations – you could possibly be featured in our subsequent publication. Hacker of the Month wins 3 free spools of PRO Collection PLA or ABS filament to additional their pursuit of 3D printing greatness!
