Darth

youmagine

While taking a recent family vacation with all 26 of us, my wife and I took the family members to various attractions, one of which was a museum featuring a fascinating automata. The kids and grandkids suggested that I design and 3D print a version of the automata using Darth Vader instead of the generic figure from the museum piece, and "Darth" is the result. While much smaller than and less complex than the museum piece, Darth presents a significant challenge to print, assemble, and align. The design incorporates 26 unique 3D printed components (81 total parts) and utilizes eight 3D printed turnbuckles with left and right hand threads for fine tuning. I will describe the process of printing, assembling, and aligning the various Darth components below. As usual, I may have forgotten a file or two or made another mistake, so please do not hesitate to point out any errors as I make plenty of mistakes. Designed using Autodesk Fusion 360, sliced with Cura 3.5.1, and printed in PLA on an Ultimaker 2+ Extended and an Ultimaker 3 Extended.