www.3ders.org

Dec 12, 2015 | By Alec

Over the past few years, 3D printers have been increasingly making a name for themselves in the cosplay world. And that’s hardly surprising, as even a basic FDM desktop model can be used to produce a few cool and unusual props to complete your costume. If you’re thinking about a possible costume for a con next year, nothing beats checking out a few success stories online, and we just came across a particularly impressive one. PunishedProps’ Brittany Doran has just shared a cool clip for a partially 3D printed and particularly impressive metal Amulet of Talos that is really getting our fingers itching.

Now if you’re a cosplaying regular, you will have probably heard of PunishedProps before. Founded by Bill Doran back in 2012 and currently frequently involving the help of Brittany Doran, PunishedProps have been remarkably successful in building fun, cool, inspiring and life-like props for just about any costume in any shape or size you can think of. From guns, to toys, to armor and anything else you need to complete your costume, they are the team you need.

They are also very sympathetic because Bill started out exactly like most of us. ‘I started cosplaying with my friends back in 2009. We all dressed up as Team Fortress characters for PAX prime out here in Seattle. I was bitten by the cosplay bug pretty badly and especially enjoyed making the guns and props for our costumes. Over the next couple of years I kept making more and more props.,’ he explains. Through an extensive trial and error process, and lots of internet inspiration, this eventually grew into a very skilled prop manufacturing business that is a joy to watch. And with the help of some Patreon backing, the rest of the world can enjoy their work regularly on YouTube.

Of course, 3D printing is regularly involved in their work, but we were especially impressed by how casually they used it to produce this actually metal Amulet of Talos from the highly additive Skyrim game. It was made by Brittany Doran as part of their Prop: 3D YouTube series, and they make it look so easy. So how did she do it? Using Autodesk’s free CAD software 123Design, she designed half of the amulet, mirroring it to complete it. The same sketch tools were made to make all those cool details. Cleverly using ‘revolve’ and ‘rotate’ options, she shows how easy it is to get some cool and classy features on a simple design.

The result was 3D printed on their Dremel Idea Builder 3D printer, using the highest possible quality settings. Even then, it only took 30 minutes to 3D print. Followed by some sanding and cleaning (using XTC-3D for smoothing edges), you could apply some metallic paint and call it a day, but Brittany has taken it even further – this 3D print simply served to make a mold. The mold itself requires very little professional equipment either; simply an empty duct tape roll and a plastic sheet. Using a high-heat resistant silicone, an easy mold was quickly manufactured – though it does need to set for 24 hours.

And then it gets interesting, as they show us you don’t need to spend thousands on metal casting equipment to make some cool parts. Instead, they have a Lee Precision Melter (which costs less than $30), in which they were able to melt some lead-free pewter. That pewter was added to the mold, and after a few attempts she had a fantastic and extremely cool purely metal pendant. Cleaning this with a belt sander, the result is an extremely cool Amulet of Talos that you can add to a store-bought chain link and paint to match your costume. Cosplaying a Dragonborn was never easier.

The only downside of this cool project is that Brittany hasn’t shared the 3D printable files for this pendant, but with the help of their video tutorial it should be fairly easy to replicate. The full clip can be found here, with the cool abridged version visible above.

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Application

 

 

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