My 3D printed Portal keycaps

[TheFlyingRaccoon]

After having no luck purchasing a portal modifier set, I decided to do the next best thing- print my own. (I'm still looking to buy a set by the way) Using calipers and AutoCAD, I was able to make a near perfect replacement. After printing it, I used acrylic paint to fill in the engraving and then sanded off the access. I think it turned out pretty good. I also made a space bar, but I'm having some issues that I'm working out.  Anyways, here are the pics:


Cheers

[Photekq]

They turned out well, especially compared to some of the other 3dprinted caps I've seen. The painting's pretty good too!

[The_Beast]

Looks great!


How's the surface finish/ how smooth are they?

[osxoep]

This is cool. Stuff like this makes me wish I had a 3d printer.

[TheFlyingRaccoon]

They turned out well, especially compared to some of the other 3dprinted caps I've seen. The painting's pretty good too!

Thanks! Yeah I'm not too happy about the paint; there is some excess I wasn't able to sand off. I'm really happy about how nice the 3D printer worked though.

This is cool. Stuff like this makes me wish I had a 3d printer.

Yeah I'm super happy my school has one I can use

Looks great!


How's the surface finish/ how smooth are they?

Thanks! The surface had some ridges due to how the 3D printer prints layer by layer, but some really light sanding took care of that.

[baldgye]

wouldn't it be better to use 3D printing to generate molds rather than the keys them self's ?

[mkawa]

depends on your goals? we need more experimentation with extrusion head printing to really know frankly

[aesthetics1]

wouldn't it be better to use 3D printing to generate molds rather than the keys them self's ?

+1 to this. Once you have a solid mold, you can experiment with the different methods of printing/painting/infilling the legends on the keys.

[mkawa]

yah but you're also restricted to materials that melt at low temp and have very low shrinkage rates or are rtv and so on for the casting. abs can be dirsctly extruded by most of the desktop units now

[TheFlyingRaccoon]

wouldn't it be better to use 3D printing to generate molds rather than the keys them self's ?

Yes this is one of the ideas that was processed during brainstorming. However, I was not able to find a material that could be melting and molded without melting the mold itself. I would have to have a low melting point yet remain solid. 

[mkawa]

bam

[Rayne]

These look super sick! They seem to have a rustic or beat up look to them, which really like.

[The_Beast]

wouldn't it be better to use 3D printing to generate molds rather than the keys them self's ?

Yes this is one of the ideas that was processed during brainstorming. However, I was not able to find a material that could be melting and molded without melting the mold itself. I would have to have a low melting point yet remain solid. 

You could print something off, make a silicone mold and use that to pour pewter caps (low enough pour temp for a silicon mold)

[TheFlyingRaccoon]

wouldn't it be better to use 3D printing to generate molds rather than the keys them self's ?

Yes this is one of the ideas that was processed during brainstorming. However, I was not able to find a material that could be melting and molded without melting the mold itself. I would have to have a low melting point yet remain solid. 

You could print something off, make a silicone mold and use that to pour pewter caps (low enough pour temp for a silicon mold)

That is a great idea! I might have to look into that.

These look super sick! They seem to have a rustic or beat up look to them, which really like.

Thanks! I think the "rustic" look is primarily because of the excess paint I was not able to sand off. That's definitely an interesting way of thinking about it though.

[CPTBadAss]

Looks great!


How's the surface finish/ how smooth are they?

I would imagine it's like the sample I brought to the meet if you remember that.


OP, this is super cool. How'd you color the caps?

[TheFlyingRaccoon]

Looks great!


How's the surface finish/ how smooth are they?

I would imagine it's like the sample I brought to the meet if you remember that.


OP, this is super cool. How'd you color the caps?

After printing it, I used acrylic paint to fill in the engraving and then sanded off the access.

[CPTBadAss]

Sorry, i totally skimmed. I'd don the cone of shame but I think it's still on from another thread XD

[D1G1TALD3ATH]

Dude! those are awesome!

[Rule16]

I wish I could see it, but imgur is blocked at school

[rowdy]

Do they fit well on the switches?

Any chance of an upskirt shot?

[Grim Fandango]

I really like the way these look. They are not clean and perfect, but imo that kind of works in their favor. More interesting than the normal ones for sure. Good job.

[baldgye]

wouldn't it be better to use 3D printing to generate molds rather than the keys them self's ?

Yes this is one of the ideas that was processed during brainstorming. However, I was not able to find a material that could be melting and molded without melting the mold itself. I would have to have a low melting point yet remain solid. 

fair enough

[GeoTang]

Do you know what the 3d printer's model was?
If not, how thin were the layers for the keycaps?

[Mandolin]

They look like you took a piece of philadelphia cream cheese and splattered it with some blueberry and strawberry sauce 

[TheFlyingRaccoon]

Do you know what the 3d printer's model was?
If not, how thin were the layers for the keycaps?

It is a Dimension BST. The layers are too small to measure as the printer is very precise.

They look like you took a piece of philadelphia cream cheese and splattered it with some blueberry and strawberry sauce 

 ) Yeah I was not very happy about the paint. In fact I repainted them and sanded some more but they still don't look great. The actually keycap though is very nice. I am impressed with the quality of the 3D printer.