Hey everyone - The girlfriend and I are cosplayers (adults who dress up like video game/movie/television characters for no reason at all) and we use a TAZ to print some of our costume parts. I’ll use this thread to showcase some of our prints and answer any questions you guys have
The mask was a bit too large for the z-axis of the TAZ, so we split it up (we often do this because our prints are big)
I “weld” the seams together using a soldering iron. The mask is PLA so it melts easily. Keeping the “seam” on the inside gave it plenty of strength without messing up the outside finish.
Our process is pretty simple… We take the prints off the bed and do obvious support material removal by hand, and then with tools if necessary. Then we coat everything in wall spackle or wall-filler. Then we hand sand. Then filler-primer spray.
Things should be pretty smooth by then, and the filler primer does a great job of “highlighting” anything that still needs attention. I also encourage huge overspray with the filler primer when things won’t behave. Drips sand off very easily… I buy the stuff 2-3 bottles at a time
do you find the wall filler to be quite durable or does it seem like something that could easily be chipped out later? thanks! id like to try something like that myself. i always seem to still have the print lines pop through my paint at the end.
I’ll admit, I felt like a moron the first time I did it. I’ve got this big tub of the purple (dries white) stuff, and I dip my finger in and smooth it across every surface I need to take care of. Then I start with 150grit sand paper by hand or on a mouse sander: http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-MS800B-Detail-Collection/dp/B001H0GC04 (just an example, I use a Ryobi one).
I’ll sand it down until almost all of the filler’s gone, then move to a spray filler-primer and patch up any areas that don’t look good.
We’re mid-process with the girlfriend’s next costume pieces (including a ~1m “sword”), I’ll put up some progress photos soon.
shudder I had a photographer come up to me at a con when I was wearing Rubick. He says “Wow, that’s an awesome mask! Is it real?” and FLICKED my mask right on the forehead. It was fine! I think the hardness comes from the paint - I’ve never had an issue with chipping.
I’m going to PM you, we’d love to highlight both your prints on our blog in a Batman-themed post.