In the interest of improving this wonderful game, I would like to extend the offer of 3d printing services to the FI community.

Several people noticed my costume last game(bug in a can) and inquired about the method I used to make it. The answer is: I am fortunate to be in possession of a 3d printer. It uses a Fused Filament Fabrication method to produce objects from a 3d model. The insect mandibles, the armor nameplate, LED array and all the joints and PVC connectors on my armor were printed, as were the clip decorations on my arm/gun/thing.

There are a number of models on thingiverse. I can make anything there that lists 3d printer as the required tool. I would estimate that around 5% of the objects on thingiverse are for laser cutters or CNC routers. Those things I cannot make.
Also any 3d model which can be converted to an STL file I can also print, provided it fits within the 200x200x100mm build area of my printer.

I buy ABS plastic in bulk, and offer to print objects at cost(filament + machine time) to the FI community.
I currently only have black ABS, but I can order other colors if the need arises.
ABS can be painted and black makes for a good base color on most projects.

For comparison, Legos are made of injection molded ABS, producing a light weight and fairly strong product.

I can also extrude PLA, but I have not done so yet, as PLA can get soft and weak if left in the sun. I also can't get PLA in bulk, so it will cost about twice what ABS does.

I can deliver printed objects personally to you the next FI event, or if you need something sooner, I'll ship it(again, at cost).

So very cool! We live in the future, 3D printing for everyone!

I'm working with a 3d printer using a PLA substrate and so far the material seems reasonably strong (I've hit it, dropped, it drilled holes in it and such) but I haven't tried to give it a larp field test. PLA's big selling point seems to be that it is eco-friendly and biodegradable, which means Larpers should avoid it.

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Brian Paul!
-Prop Boss, Plot Team, Rules Comm, Other Stuff

Chapman, can you give a few price points? The Jinjia 3-D printed parts were printed by a coworker with what sounds like a similar setup to yours, and the raw filament ended up costing around $3-$4 per triangular plate. (though, maybe he was charging for the time/labor of scraping off the lattice - which is fine) I can just see someone having a Great Idea for a device, planning to mass produce it in-game with your help, and finding out that their Great Idea is going to take $10 of plastic per device. :-/

The one time I opened Blender it made me hate life about as much as The GIMP did. if anyone here is particularly good at this, speak up; it's not just about putting the file into the replicator, someone's got to make a file that doesn't suck and will print, too

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timothy xavier

I use Solidworks for making models. The measurement driven construction meshes pretty well with how I think and what I'm using it for. The only downside to solidworks was the pricetag. though i hear a student version is available for about $150.

I could be persuaded to model something from a drawn sketch with measurements. If you happen to be good with graph paper, I can model up something very quickly. The limitation there is my time. The printer is fairly autonomous. I set it and forget it. 5 min(ish) to slice a model, and I send it to the printer. Depending on the size of the model, It might take me a bit to get it off the bed(very large things stick insanely well, and I have to let it cool to shrink so they'll come off. A bunch of smaller things I can just pop off hot and then print something else.

If the print required lattice, or a raft, it could be that he was using PLA on an unheated bed.
My printer's glass heated bed does not need a raft, so there is A) nothing to scrape off, and B) less wasted filament. Parts come off with a nice smooth bottom from the glass.

The only wasted filament would be if the model had large unsupported overhangs requiring support material. But that only would appear under the unsupported flat overhang. I can get it to print an unsupported angle out to 30 degrees from horizontal with no support, but you might get hanging threads, so 45 is safer.

To answer your question:
I can't get you exact prices without a model to slice. The software will figure out how much plastic is extruded to make the model and then spit out a number based on that and the cost of filament.

For an example,
The clip 'blades' on my bug armgun were all under a dollar, as were the printed PVC joints in my armor.
I don't usually run prices on the stuff i make for myself, but I can run several models and get you exact figures tonight. If you have any models you want an exact quote on, feel free to send them my way.

Also, $10 would be a pound of plastic. That's what it costs me to get it in bulk. I charge a little bit for the machine time, to cover things like the kapton tape on the printbed, which gets worn out from pulling parts off of it. So if you know how much a printed model weighs(like if you already had one printed) then you could get an estimate of what it would cost me to print it. Infill density and perimeter detail have some effect on it, but it is very minor.

The going rate on filament is anywhere from $40($39.99 shipped from amazon) to $50 per kg, and that's about 2.2 pounds, so about $20-25 per pound.

Do you have any experience with 3-D scanning? I've perused thingiverse and related links and seen that it's possible to do with some free software and a Kinect or similar, but getting the rig and experience together is a little daunting!

Jim, for user friendly 3d modeling, try Google Sketchup. You can get free plugins that will allow you to export files in STL format. I am learning to use Alibre, mostly because my instructor uses it and because the Hobby/Student/Home version is only $200.

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Brian Paul!
-Prop Boss, Plot Team, Rules Comm, Other Stuff

I have no experience with 3d scanning.
though if one has enough 2d pictures of something from different angles, one could make a model with this software:
http://www.123dapp.com/catch

That is also neat!! To experiment!

Actual price point:
Weighted Companion Cube
$0.25 to print
It's about 1" in size. I like using it as a test object.

For the duration of the summer at least, I have access to 2 laser cutters and a waterjet.

I may have access to some scrap bits of metal. Let me know if anyone needs anything like that.