Articles from October 2018

The stigma of 3D printing

Before I had access to 3D printing, I felt it was a bit of a cop-out to the all-foam approach.

  • How could a manufacturing method based on automation be considered “homemade”?
  • Did you really make it yourself when you have a machine make it for you?
  • How is it different buying a piece of your cosplay online than making it on a 3D printer?

After having my printer for over two years, I feel I can answer some of these questions now.

How could a manufacturing method based on automation be considered “homemade”?

A 3D printer is just a tool, and like any other tool in a cosplayer’s kit, a tool is only as good as its user. There’s a saying that is somewhat related:

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail

The more tools you have access to, the number of ways you can make things increases. Sure, using a 3D printer may seem like a cop-out, but here’s what you don’t consider:

  • Learning how to even use the damn thing
  • 3D modeling
  • Slicing the 3D model so that it prints successfully
  • Preparing a raw print for painting
  • Added complexity of a machine that intermittently fails/clogs/messes up (all 3D printer owners have been here at some point)

Did you really make it yourself when you have a machine make it for you?

Yes. Just because the process of manufacturing changed from cutting foam and gluing it together to extruding plastic from a hot end, there is still a human behind the process. There is something to be said for the apparent skill-level of manufacturing an item using these two methods, but keep in mind the list above. It may be easier to give someone who has never made anything in their life a 3D printer and have them crank out good-looking parts when compared to having to teach them how to cut and assemble foam, but just because someone printed something out does NOT make their approach any less valid than a more manual method.

An example of a tool that might seem like “cheating” is a foam cutting knife, also referred to as a hot knife. Turning difficult cuts into trivial cuts may leave “purists” upset, but the fact of the matter is, a tool is only as good as the hand that wields it. I’ll probably repeat this later again.

How is it different buying a piece of your cosplay online than making it on a 3D printer?

One is purchasing the time, money and skill of whoever made the item, while the other is still spending time, money, and skill, but probably weighted with more of an emphasis of money. The cost of a 3D printer isn’t exactly cheap after taking into account various upgraded/modifications (I’m not happy to admit I spent like $600 on upgrades).


3D printing is not by itself an easy-way-out for cosplayers looking to cut corners and speed up their manufacturing process. If you need to make the same piece repeatedly (think scales), then 3D printing seems like the way to go, but using it just for a single prop may not be worth the effort required to set up a repeatable production from beginning to end. That’s basically what 3D printing guarantees – given some input (3D file), you’re almost always going to get the same output, barring irregularities in the printing process.

Disregarding 3D printing as a tool also means you probably won’t approve of the following AWESOME tools:

  • Laser cutter
  • Vinyl cutter
  • Vacuform machine

I’ve used the laser and vinyl cutter and – while not for cosplay – they opened up so many avenues of construction that I even managed to open an Etsy shop for a while because of it (no longer open since I don’t have access to a laser cutter).

Leaving out 3D printing is doing yourself a disservice by limiting your crafting potential. One of the BEST parts about 3D printing is that I can make something while my printer is working (less likely), or I can just sleep and wake up to a finished part (more likely). Don’t shun 3D printing, it has a lot to offer.

This is something I’ve wanted to put into words for a while.

My printer

I bought a Monoprice Maker Select v2 printer about 2 years ago and I’m still using it now.

I’ve spent over $600 on upgrades, replacement parts, and modifications in order to make it last so long.

This is a link of all the upgrades I’ve made

Several of the items on the spreadsheet are duplicates as it’s more to keep track of what I’ve spent, rather than what is the de-facto solution to a specific problem. Several of the upgrades were a result of careless operation of the 3D printer, so if you’re more careful, you won’t spend as much as I did.

I’d say the biggest upgrades are the all-metal hot end and swapping out the power module. The former for quality, the latter for safety. If I knew I would spend a total of $1000 on a 3D printer, I would’ve opted to invest in a Prusa i3 kit.

Indirect upgrades

In addition to all the modifications of the printer, I’ve also built an enclosure for it following Punished Props’ video.

Look at this bad boy

The end result was improved bed adhesion when the ambient temperature dipped low enough (below 90) to make PETG shrink when cooling.

OCTOPI – SMH

So it turns out that when I installed Octopi on my Raspberry Pi 3… I unknowingly handicapped myself and wasted a good 30% of my resources. I would log into the Octopi interface, upload my file, start the print, and then RANDOMLY, just, fucking RANDOMLY, my prints would stop. Sometimes it would be right before the end of a print, sometimes it would be 10 minutes after I started. There didn’t seem to be any connecting dots between the failures. I replaced the SD card, reinstalled Octopi, replaced the USB cable, but nothing worked. After several months of failed prints, I simply acknowledged that there was something wrong with my printer and that this is how it would be from now on.

After half a year of the printer stalling mid-print and experiencing numerous unexplained timeout messages, I thought to just remove the rPi from my workflow and simply upload files directly to the SD card and stick that into the printer. I get no fancy temperature graph, no fancy ETA, no remote administration, but GUESS FUCKING WHAT. The prints stopped failing. There has not been a single stalled print since this change some 4 months ago.

The moral of this anecdote is to thoroughly AB test when troubleshooting and to just not use OctoPi.

That’s it for now, but I’m sure I’ll have more to say at some point.