3D printing modular spaceships / rockets

[Jettuh]

Hi all,

As i'm quite fascinated by KSP, i started wondering about the ability to make these kind of rockets in real life (non working )

So I started some modelling an tried to find out how I can make modular parts using 3d printers.

So what if we make a set of modular parts which you can snap together using some sort of connectors system?

and have them 3D printed in color:

http://www.shapeways.com/materials/sandstone

The small fuel tank is 3cm long and is designed to be printable in Full Color Sandstone material (2mm wallthickness)

Although i really suck in making textures for a model, an assembled model could look like this.

That said, the more sort of parts there are, the more variations you can make.

What do you guys think?

Mitchell

[Ascensiam]

This actually looks pretty sweet, considering i'm a stones throw away from the LEGO factory, i've always admired these kind of assembly systems.

[Jettuh]

Thanks,

I have ordered the fuel tank, pod and engine.

Hope it turns out as expected

[kahlzun]

Let us know how it goes:

I'm sure we all have at least 1 rocket design we're 'attached' to, would be nice to have a model-on-demand service!

[Jettuh]

My colleague sent me a picture today, as I'm not in the office

however as you can see, she assembled it with the engine flipped

I'll get some better pictures tomorrow + flip the engine

[kahlzun]

Hm.. the control pod looks a little skewed.. could be the colleaugue...

how much did that model cost, and did you make it hollow or solid?

[Jettuh]

Hey guys,

The model does not fit perfectly this is due to the tolerances, so I will have to adjust this.

At the moment the model costs $15 so I will have t look for a way to make it cheaper

Hereby some pictures of the 3 parts.

The textures will need some work, as well as the parts.

But I'm sure that it would be nice to be able to make your own rocket

What do you think?

[Aescwulf]

I was looking into 3D printing aswell. But I'm going to wait until there's 3D printers designed for home use

Most 3D printing services do the pricing based on what material and the volume of the model

[Jettuh]

Hi Aescwulf,

You are indeed correct, here at Shapeways (the company I work for) we calculate the price of a model based on the volume of the model.

The price for this model was $15.00

I already posted this + pictures, but it seems that my posts have to be approved everytime i try to post something (my posts still count 0 )

[Aescwulf]

Hi Aescwulf,

You are indeed correct, here at Shapeways (the company I work for) we calculate the price of a model based on the volume of the model.

The price for this model was $15.00

I already posted this + pictures, but it seems that my posts have to be approved everytime i try to post something (my posts still count 0 )

Yeah I was thinking about using a 3D printing service to make prototypes for my table top game I'm working on. At the moment the best I've seen is £2 per cm cubed using ABS which is stronger than the other popular material.

Your post could is 0 because your posting in off topic I think and I think that doesn't count

[Matokage]

Because you are new here, until you get a post count of about 10.

[Jettuh]

No kerbal character saying "you must be new here" for me

For all pictures, as well as a lot of 3d printed models i made:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57124849@N07/

/me is new yeahhh:cool:

[EndlessWaves]

You can get extrusion printer kits for under £500 now but I'm not sure how capable they are for this sort of thing.

[Wolvenhaven]

They're pretty capable for a $1000 desktop printer. The next step up is about $10-250k ones which are used for industrial prototyping. I've messed with several iterations of the makerbot(http://www.makerbot.com/) and it just keeps getting better, it would be more than capable of building the body, fins, and nosecone for a rocket, you couldn't do the motor but you'd pretty much be able to print everything else you'd otherwise buy from estes. The original ones were build it yourself for like $900, I think the newest one is like $2k. The other option is called reprap which is in-line with the older makerbots and you build it yourself so you can choose which things you wish to upgrade or spend money on to customize it to your requirements.

[Cooly568]

Couldn't you just export models from the game? Or is that against Squad policy?

By the way, I think this should go in general discussion.

[Jettuh]

Yes you can get cheap desktop printers.

Although I have specially chosen to print these models in Full Color Sandstone, this means that you do not need to paint the models, they came out of the printer the way i showed them :-)

Cooly, I'm not sure regarding the general discussion, as this is non KSP related.

Models from KSP cannot be exported to a 3d model, as they are not designed a 3d printable model. (manifold, thickness, keeping volume low)