I have managed to eventually complete my first proper prototype badge. I will share some photos and then some lessons learned in case any of you fancy trying something similar.
1) Be aware that 3D printing using a £150 home built kit is not an eact science and you will get issues. The first shows what happens if the print speed is too fact. The second has slipped on the X-Axis due to a slack belt so has that 'step' at the top of the badge with a matching undercut at the bottom.
20180207_105733 by
WCA!, on Flickr
carbadge by
WCA!, on Flickr
As you can see, I still used the second failed print to test the idea of different coloured inserts and was quite please with the results. What I needed now was a decent quality print for the base badge and the various inserts. Tighten the belts and correct the temperature and you get this. A quick buzz with the dremel to get rd of any lines.
20180213_151724 by
WCA!, on Flickr
Repeat for the rest and you are ready for prep and paint.
20180214_120235 by
WCA!, on Flickr
Here it is painted. I was struggling to think how to make the script a different colour to the main body of the badge. I did not want to try and print an insert for each letter as that would be too small and fiddly. I ended up sinking the letters back into the badge and filling them with pastercine (pink in the picture above) and simply spraying over. The plan was to then use a scalpel to dig out the letters to reveal the underlying colour.
20180215_103212 by
WCA!, on Flickr
The letters came out 'okay' but not great. I will need to find a better way I think. Anyway, I decided to proceed with what I had, after changng the colour of the ring and the U to red. I coated the whole badge with some clear 5 minute Z-poxy resin and left to dry.
20180215_165235 by
WCA!, on Flickr
This gave the badge a nice glossy finish but dried so quickly t was hard to get a nice finish. In future I will get some of the 30 minute z-Poxy.
20180215_164332 by
WCA!, on Flickr
I new this was only ever a prototype some continued to experiment. This time I made up a bigger batch of the poxy and literally spooned it over the badge to form a layer a couple of mm think and even had a few drips of the edges. The result looked a lot better apart from some bubbles in the clear poxy.
20180216_101207 by
WCA!, on Flickr
It is hard to get a photo of a clear coating but this is as close as I got.
20180216_101216 by
WCA!, on Flickr
And finally a shot showing progress from firwst print to final prototype
20180216_101741 by
WCA!, on Flickr
Lessons Learned
1) Get your printer set up properly before you start
2) Letters and script are a pain in the arse and need a better solution to get a reasonable finish.
3) Use decent paint - mine was a mixture of Simone sliver wheel paint, Rustoleum Painters touch applied by brush, some rattle can blue and green paint and some white 'appliance paint'.
4) Use a slower curing poxy.
5) Spend more time looking at the colours in the design. I don't like the red U, I think it should be green or blue.