I’ve been working on a 3d print of a tricorder.   I’ve wanted one ever since I was a kid.  I found the model here: Tricorder

I figured I’d print it as a test of the new spool of  “silver” filament that I got recently.  I’ve still got a ways to go on finishing it.  Here are the images I have of it so far:

It took a little bit of post-processing to get it to where it is now.  As-printed, the hinges don’t allow the full range of motion of the flip portion.  I had to carve them out a bit.  However, in the process of testing, the gripping portion of the hinge brackets broke, and they were never great to begin with.  I still need to find a way to manufacture and attach pieces to hold the hinges in so the bottom doesn’t fall off anymore.  And my printer just started going haywire in my last attempt at printing parts for the hinges.  It’s now deadline for a bit, but that’s another story.

The other issue is that I printed it at the “Fast” setting in Simplify3D for my printer, and it seems mostly good enough for me.  I do think I made one mistake.  Since this was a wide but not terribly tall print, I printed this with rafting, to make it easier to remove from the print bed.  The tradeoff was the terrible surface quality on the bottom of it, as you can see in the picture on the right.  I’m still debating whether to try to fix the surface with a filler, which would require me to then sand, prime, and pain the whole thing, or just to call it wear and tear from usage.

I also need to find, print, and attach the appropriate decals.  I’m considering asking a friend who has a machine for printing and cutting vinyl to make the decals for me.

Anyway, I’m much closer to one of my childhood goals of having my own tricorder!

This also prompted an interesting conversation with my RPG group.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”  ~Arthur C. Clarke

Have a character whose backstory is that they are a Vulcan who is posing as an elf wizard, and relate every spell back to him using a device that creates the same effect.  A tricorder being used for Detect Magic was the first example.  Then there was stuff like using various settings on a phaser for various fire spells.  Just a thought.  It would also explain a wizard not having any local or historical knowledge.

The printer is up and running again.  I reattached the belt with the new replacement part, lubed the rods and z axis screws with a spray can of white lithium grease, put a couple of drops of sewing machine oil on the pulley for the y axis, and tightened all the screws after reassembly.

Now all that’s left is calibration.  The xyz axis calibration cube came out alright, but the surface finish test and the surfaces of my minis could be better.  I also need to figure out why the hands keep getting sliced into two shells each instead of being merged as a unit.