August 26, 201311 yr Author Mostly depends on the material you choose, and the volume of the part. Pics are links. (I haven't ordered this one, that's why there's a render and not a photo) I recommend to order in Strong and Flexible Plastic (stronger and cheaper), or in Detail Plastic (less strong and pricier, but still stronger and cheaper than Frosted Ultra Detail, the material I used for my parts). The material choice depends on whether you prefer the strength or appearance (and the amount of money you're ready to pay ), and in your case, the color you want. If anyone of you guys order one or several parts, please post pictures here. Also, please give feedback, so that I can improve my parts if necessary (but I don't think so, since I haven't encountered any problem yet). Edited August 26, 201311 yr by Leewan
January 17, 201411 yr Wow they all look great plus i don't know why LEGO didn't think of making these parts before. Another thing that that one headgear you made look awesome and hope you make more stuff like this.
January 17, 201411 yr A lower body piece would be useful, but so would a torso with cup endings. What we really need is a piece that can be used for connecting multiple parts for large MOCs.
January 17, 201411 yr Author A lower body piece would be useful, but so would a torso with cup endings. It's not easy to design ballcups, so I prefer focus on parts with balljoints for the moment. Also, during the last semester, I printed some more parts at my school, pics will come tomorrow.
January 18, 201411 yr Yeah, it's always hard to make an inverted (right word?) circle in 3D programs; I kept running into that problem when trying to design an electromotor that can rotate in more dimensions.
June 13, 201410 yr Author *bump* Heh, I said there would be pictures almost five months ago, ahd there's still nothing... But I'll post them... one day. But right now, there's something else I want to show you : It still needs to be improved, but overall I'm happy with it, especially since it's the first time I design a part with a ball-cup.
June 13, 201410 yr *bump* Heh, I said there would be pictures almost five months ago, ahd there's still nothing... But I'll post them... one day. But right now, there's something else I want to show you : http://i39.servimg.com/u/f39/11/38/62/55/os_cus10.jpg http://i39.servimg.com/u/f39/11/38/62/55/os_cus11.jpg It still needs to be improved, but overall I'm happy with it, especially since it's the first time I design a part with a ball-cup. Cool piece. It doesn't really allow for a lot more building opportunities, but it should have slightly more friction than using a regular 4M beam, not to mention looking a little less bony. And if you have in fact managed to create a functional ball cup (which I guess we won't find out for sure until you get one printed), then that is the first stepping stone to creating any number of creative custom parts!
June 14, 201410 yr Author Thanks for your feedback guys. And if you have in fact managed to create a functional ball cup (which I guess we won't find out for sure until you get one printed), then that is the first stepping stone to creating any number of creative custom parts! Yes, that's what I'm the most excited about, now that I have a ball-cup, I'll be able to create a wider ranger of parts. I might try to create a piece similar to this, I tried several months ago, but I didn't really like it.
June 14, 201410 yr These are all very interesting new parts concepts, and I'd be very interested to see how well the ball cup you've designed works, and if it has just the right amount of friction to it. I'm also glad to see that you've been partly inspired by one of my sketchbook drawings for new part ideas there Leewan . If you do go ahead and try out a hand piece with removable fingers like in the sketchbook drawing you linked to, I'd be interested to see what you come up with. Nice work though!
July 16, 201410 yr Author Good news, the ball-cup works marvelously (which means I'll be able to work on a proper articulated hand design, like TheOneVeyronian suggested ). I ordered some parts last week, and they arrived this morning. Here are some (not that good) pictures : So, there are a pivot / ball joint 5M bone in white strong and flexible plastic, red strong and flexible polished plastic, and black detail, and the pivot / ball-cup 4M bone in white strong and flexible. Unfortunately, the red bone is too loose, because the polishing process removes a tiny layer of material, but which is sufficient to decrease friction (I didn't take this in account when I ordered, stupid me ! ). The polished plastic, though, looks better than the regular plastic, and it's way less rough, since it's polished (yay, captain obvious to the rescue !). The white one is better, but still not perfect, I think I'll slightly increase the ball diameter so I will limit / remove this friction problem. Same for the black bone, it holds quite well, but it's not as good as official parts. You'll notice some white marks on the part, I think it's because of the support material. I'll try to clean it, but this material has the advantage to be "sticky", which increase the friction. This material is the closest I can get to an official Lego part via 3D printing, I think. Though, it seems more rigid than ABS, and thus more prone to breaking. It's perfect for those who prefer visual aspect over functionality, I think. But as I said before, the ball-cup is perfect. It's a bit harder to attach than a real Lego part, but it holds perfectly, I'm really happy with it. I think once the ball joints diameter will be increased (which I will do right now ), they will be perfect. Here's a picture (yes, white on white sucks, I'll try to find a darker background) of all my 3D printed parts (the white/ yellowish ones were printed at my school, they're made of ABS (hurrah), but the different layers of plastic give a strange feel to the part (I don't know how to explain it, but basically, they slightly feel like this)) : I had some more parts, each design was printed twice, but some broke because the printer didn't fill the cross section, they only made the contour, which means they were hollow, and thus very fragile, so some of them are missing. You can notice the upper torso part Aanchir originally designed (which I recreated, with a 9M-wide version). There are more pictures in my Brickshelf folder, but it's not public yet.
July 16, 201410 yr Beautiful stuff there! I'm glad the ball cup worked out, and I'd definitely be interested to see your real-life CAD take on my sketch drawing idea The yellow-white ones though almost look like they glow in the dark (I know they don't though)
July 18, 201410 yr Author Thanks ! BTW, I found an early hand design (it was made in February) : It is supposed to be attached on a Y-joint (it would have worked like the Metru / Inika / Piraka feet, but you would attach a hand instead of a foot), but I never bothered finish it, it wasn't a very good idea, IMO (I hope Front isn't working on something similar ). And now I know that my ball-cup design works, so I'll be able to design a proper hand, and your sketch, TheOneVeyronian, gave me some ideas.
October 23, 201410 yr Author Based on an idea by JayWalker : It's a male counterpart for this (minus the rubber).
March 22, 20159 yr Based on an idea by JayWalker : It's a male counterpart for this (minus the rubber). It's very cool!
March 22, 20159 yr Any chance of posting the model files? I have a home 3D printer and would love to print these out for myself!
March 22, 20159 yr Which kind of printer do you use ? I have a Makerbot Replicator Dual and an Afinia.
March 22, 20159 yr Author Okay, I see. I can provide you the file if you want, but I must warn you, FDM machines aren't the best for Lego parts, because the layers are much more visible on small parts, and don't make smooth balljoints / ballcups. PM me if you're still interested. ;)
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.