After two 'catastrophic failures,' this man successfully 3D prints a life-sized doppelganger
No word on whether the 3D-printed copy has gained sentience yet.
Have you ever thought to yourself, "Wouldn't it be great to have a life-sized statue of myself around the house to admire?" No? Well, I have, and this YouTuber shows us exactly how to build your own 3D-printer for just such a clone.
YouTuber Ivan Miranda took his giant 3D printer and decided to create a 1:1 scale model of, well, himself (via Tom's Hardware). Miranda starts the video by showing off the construction of the massive print frame that was fitted with his giant 3D printer, which later spawned his plastic progeny.
The frame has an impressive build volume of "1,110mm x 1,110mm x 2,005mm, adding up to more than 2.5m3 build volume," as the YouTube description states. Or, as you can see from the video above, roughly the size of an adult human.
It turns out the most significant challenge with a print of this size is prepping the heated printing bed. The heat from the bed helps the materials stick together throughout the printing process. He ingeniously solved this problem by using off-the-shelf underfloor heating cables.
When all was said and done, the process took about 108 total printing hours, including three failures and 2 "catastrophic failures." The person-sized model comprises 4,375 layers of red PLA filament.
If you want to surround yourself with, um, lifesize copies of yourself, Miranda sells the design files for the frame for $30. It consists mainly of easy-to-source components (like aluminum framing) and the files to 3D print the rest of it. However, he hasn't released the files for his 3D twin yet.
When he's not building a 3D-printed clone army, he's also making 3D-printed go-karts and even a freaking tank. Personally, I could go for a pair of Jorge-sized statues flanking my desk; it might terrify me into being more productive.