Jun 17, 2015 | By Simon
Between all of the various applications for 3D printing that have helped revolutionize industries and businesses, the use of the technology for personal projects still remains one of the best uses for the technology when done well; if nothing else, it proves that if you have the digital modeling know-how, you can create literally whatever you want.
Among other uses, this couldn’t be more true than in the case of hardware mods.
Adam Owen, a regular attendee of the Quakecon video game convention which was founded nearly 20 years ago, recently used 3D printing to create what just might be one of the wildest custom PC mods ever made for the event’s most recent gathering.
The gathering, which consists of over 9,000 Quake and Doom game fans who congregate for a series of tournaments and events related to the games, has also grown to include a number of events that are more focused on the physical world than the digital. Among them is a contest for creating a custom PC case that relates to the game.
Owen, who had previously won the contest with earlier entries, decided that he wanted to design and fabricate a mod for this year’s contest that utilized 3D printing; an RC Tiger I tank that was initially inspired by the game Wolfenstein: The New Order.
To create the tank, Owen first designed the individual parts in Sketchup using reference photos along the way to ensure that his results were accurate to the original tank. While the tank body alone is a modeling task that could make even the most seasoned of modeling professionals sweat, the tracks of the tank are an entirely different beast to tackle and Owen spent several months designing, testing and prototyping different interlocking track designs before deciding on a final iteration.
While Owen purchased his initial 3D printer- an Eventorbot - to be used as a learning experience to better understand how 3D printers work, he chose to print his finished 3D model on a MakerBot Replicator X2.
In total, an estimated 300 hours were spent printing all of the parts using ABS filament with a total of over 200 individual parts for the tank tracks alone. This doesn’t include the hours he spent custom-finishing each part using a personal recipe of acetone and ABS filament to bond all of the pieces together, either.
To ensure that the tracks move as-intended via a remote control, Owen incorporated two electric rock crawler motors that are connected via a 3D printed transmission. The motors, which are powered by two lithium batteries, produce more than enough torque to propel the computer around Owen’s living room. Additionally, the turret is designed to turn a full 360 degrees and even includes a camera and a fully-operational cooling system for keeping the on-board computer cool.
According to Owen, the tank is fully controllable using just his phone and he is able to access the on-board camera from anywhere in the world with internet access and control the turret functions remotely. The PC itself, which includes an Asus mini-ITX motherboard, an Intel i7 4770K CPU, a 550 watt Cooler Master power supply and an EVGA 750ti video card, among other parts, is fully operational and can play “any game that (Owen has) thrown at it.”
Unsurprisingly, the effort behind the tank paid off once again for Owen, who walked away with the first place award for the case mod in the most recent Quakecon. As for what Owen might come up with for next year, we’ll just have to wait and see.For a more in-depth walkthrough of Owen’s build process, be sure to head over to his blog.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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