how was the mental shift of the more physical machining and the 3d model
cad done for 3d printing like with the mando rifle how is the mental shift well right so what you're
asking i think is because 3d printing isn't part of my normal process did it require some
mental gymnastics for me to incorporate it in the amben rifle build and the answer is yeah totally
um in fact i printed way more than i needed to for this rifle in order to kind of get to know it um
so i did an initial pass of all of the pieces from the etsy file i used uh in draft resin um and i
even before i got the printer before i knew i was getting the printer i sent off a set to a friend
of mine who's got a sintered nylon printer and i had a set of some of those parts done in centered
nylon and in fact one of them remains on this model it's this one this front triangular piece
is not from that etsy file that i used it is the one piece from a different mando build um but yeah
the mental shift was significant because in in machining like when you're machining something you
get to know it totally you like you make drawings of every possible facet and then you work to cut
each of those facets carefully using the you know 3 000 pound thing behind me when you're
3d printing it takes a while to build the same amount of knowledge of each piece and in fact i
found one of the most difficult things about 3d printing is simply the information management
of it um this is what probably 30 separate printed parts maybe 40 separate printed pieces
and they're all named something like db1004 dot blah blah blah and it's like what are you going to
name each one like that little clip that's on the left well first of all yes that is exactly how to
name them using natural naming techniques because it's the only way you're gonna unpack it later
um but i was trying to manage information about 40 pieces when i didn't know what any of them were
and it wasn't enough for me to just go into the digital file and keep on scrolling through
them and looking at them because i didn't understand how they fit together and even
when i looked at exploded diagrams that still wasn't enough information for me
to really understand how they went together so in order to utilize the 3d printing into the
process of this rifle i needed to go through a a set of stages where i kept on looking at
the printed parts and putting them together and understanding how they went together and then
thinking how i wanted to add structure to the insides of those things right because like i
didn't just want to glue these parts to each other i wanted there to be some metal pieces
that ran the length of this and that required me to sort of continually put pieces together
it's this it's this process that i do on every prop right where i slowly get to know all the
pieces of it and then when i'm done you could show me any piece that i know precisely where it is and
where it goes but it takes a while to get there and it takes a different type of while to get
there in 3d printing as it does in machining so yeah uh i had to kind of open myself up to some
new mental gymnastics to get to know this rifle enough to build it i i like to point out that like
for me building is i have to understand the thing in my head before i complete it in the
physical world and the difficulty for me with 3d printing is that it starts in a virtual space i
don't have the actual object in my hand so so far in the 3d printing that i've done there's always
a first pass of some scrap parts just for me to get to know the set of pieces that i will be using
and then when you're starting to print stuff and the prints take like three or four days
and you've loaded 25 parts onto onto the plate in order to print them and then you're loading
another 25 and are you doubling up any or are you missing any and how do you make sure of that
yeah it's non-trivial um and yet reader we we achieved something at the end an unphotographable
piece that i am very very happy with
i think that is a great place to stop thank you guys for joining me for may the fourth
may the fourth be with you and yours on this fine day i hope everyone in your life
and your loved ones and your friends are healthy
i hope that you are vaccinated and yet you are getting to see those friends um
and i i hope you engage as much i hope you get as much pleasure from the star wars universe as
i do because it's a lovely place to visit and to spend some time and thank you guys for spending
this time with me i'm adam savage here in my cave this is the end of my live stream and as always i
will see you guys next time thank you guys so much for watching that video if you'd like to
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