Customizable Bender (Futurama) Bottle Opener

thingiverse

Bender Bending Rodriguez! Designed for @artofgeekchallenge on Instagram.  Goals with this project: 1. Build a large model from separate parts, easy to assemble, with minimal supports required. 2. Make it simple to paint different colors. 3. Since Bender drinks beer, let's give him a bottle opener. To achieve goal 1, I chose to make Bender in 3 vertical sections: 1. Bottom/Mouth The Bottle Opener attaches to this section. 2. Head/Face Goggles slide over the "eyebrows" and eyeballs, locking into place on the face. 3. Top/Antenna The top can be printed solid (then glued to the head), supported, or spliced (then glued to each other). My favorite method is the last. The sections are hollow, attaching to each other using 20mm+ M3 screws/square nuts. I highly recommend getting some if you don't have any, they're fantastic! There's a few different head/top versions available. Head7B pairs well with Top10A/B (and connects to Head_Bottom). I spent the most time perfecting the bottle opener, making it both useful and aesthetically pleasing. It's not the best design, as you should probably lean Bender forward to avoid spilling your beer, but it gets the job done! I also thought it would be fun to give Bender moving eyeballs, allowing them to move freely. I was considering equipping him with an Arduino brain to move the eyeballs, detect when he's being used, and make sounds accordingly. That project is still in development.