Those updates look really great, they have turned out a peach. As for the one that you need the hole in, if this plastic can be melted with a hot rod or wire or knife blade, how would you go making it like that? Hoot rod & push it from the side so the plastic gets pushed inwards (if that would work) or if it just pushes out to the sides & the top how easy would it be to trim off?

Just a thought opposed to drilling which can be a pain even in wood. would save having to waste filament doing another.

Chris.

Hey Chris, thanks mate, I'm very happy with the way it's turning out, in spite of the few dramas; they're few and far between, and not really major ones, so... I do tend to over-react a bit sometimes...

All good suggestions, I'm not sure how any particular one would work. How hot can you heat a hot rod / wire / blade? The plastic starts to change state at between 200^o and 220^o C. It's not exactly liquid at that point, just hot enough to have become goop. Getting it to liquid requires a lot more heat. When I have a clogged nozzle, I have to take the whole thing out and hold it over a blue flame for a few minutes before the plastic clogging it boils off! A high-speed drill can turn the plastic into goop, and that's a problem because it inevitable clogs the hole you're trying to drill, and the drill-bit, and potentially wrecks bits you don't want to wreck. Inserting a heated rod or wire I think would work a lot better, but it gets me back to the original question: how hot? If I can only get it to goop stage, then I'm still at square one...

... anyway, it's kinda moot; I sort of solved it already     ... and I didn't really have to do anything special either... I'll post about it in the next update...

D.

... it's the end; but the moment has been prepared for... - Fourth Doctor, Logopolis, 1981

... well, maybe not QUITE the end, but pretty close. As near as, really. Anything else after this will either be icing or re-dressing. It actually feels a bit anti-climactic, like there should have been more build-up and/ore less revealing to now... anyway...

... and before I start I'd like to show you these...








... which is to say that, now that the job is done, I have a functioning, tidy office again... ... but I'm getting ahead of myself...


I left off while there was still a couple of sections left to print...

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... you can see on that second image the position of that new boss section which is an allowance for the hole for the pipe I was talking about at the end of the last update... anyway, the second last section finished first...

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... it's really starting to hold together well now, there's something a lot more solid about it now that those base sections are going in. I can actually lift the whole thing up in the air with confidence

A package arrived in the last few days as well...








... yes, it's a glass plate! I now can print on both printers on glass! Yay! It's a bit late for THIS project, but it will be useful in future for work entailing 2 printers. Notice how it also says "+ clip" on the package. Those are, supposedly, for holding the glass plate to the heated bed...




           

... absolutely, next to useless!! If you're not rolling your eyes, then you should be. I don't know if this is honestly what they recommend, or it was just the cheapest option, or they think we're stupid. I got the same sort of clips with the original glass plate (which came with the original printer), and I was a bit baffled then as well. This is why I tape the glass plate down; it holds better, it doesn't get in the way of the prints, or the moving parts, and can easily be re-applied. These things don't even keep the glass in one place!... #endrant




... shiny... but, that's for later... this is for now...






... looks good... the finished part is technically the last piece of the base section. The NEW print is re-print of the other half of the completed one, WITH the allowance for that pipe hole... yessss, I decided to reprint the whole thing JUST for that hole... in retrospect (and with foresight as well for that matter, but some pugnacious urge took me at the time) I realise it is really a waste of time and filament... there was some weird tic that made me think it had to be ABSOLUTELY right...




... and that allowance for the pipe has come out well too...








... lines up nicely...










... it's a nice feeling when it starts to come together and it actually works! I have been doing this for a while now, and am pretty confident in my abilities and work, but it's still nice to see the plan come together in the way you wanted it to...

... oh and that hole...




... actually.... mayyyyyybe... I don't need to do anything else about it...?? ... maybe...



... right...! well... I guess that answers THAT question... all that extra worrying and printing for nothing...! Actually, I'm happy about this; happy, serendipitous accidents are kind of fun in projects like this. The devil is in the details, and you endeavour to pick em all. Inevitably, things get missed. When things just work by sheer, dumb luck because you weren't paying attention technically shouldn't be cause for celebration, but I enjoy those moments just the same...

... ok, well... this means I can STOP re-printing that other section. Fortunately, it hadn't got much beyond where it was when I took that picture above, so I really didn't waste much filament. Now, it really comes down to the last 3 critical pieces; The front section of the under-dais, and the 2 semicircular pieces that surround that and connect to the rest of the base...

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... I was actually expecting both these pieces to have vastly different times for printing, but they were pretty close! The under-dais section took 8 hours 56 minutes, and that arc section took 8 hours and 6 minutes... they were started within half an hour of each other, so they came off the printers at almost the same time, within about 10-15 minutes of each other. The arc sections were deliberately printed on the glass on printer 1, top down. It's not the right colour, but I at least wanted to keep the gloss look of the floor...





... which, I have to say, look fracking mint!          The surface looks near flawless! It could not have printed better! I WAS worried about curling and warping; didn't happen. I wish they all worked like this...

I waited until the under-dais section was finished before attempting another disassembly and re-assembly. With the way I designed it, it actually has to go together and come apart in a very specific way. Doing it twice for 2 pieces that are going into much the same place and within 10-15 minutes of each other seemed a bit too much, so I did em both at the same time...












... sweet...  in much the same vein, I decided to wait until it had printed the last section before re-assembling...




... also looks good, until I got a good look at the top...






... looks ok, right...?








??   I have no idea what happened there. It's like it skipped a few lines of print! But, that being the case, part of the next layer should have oozed down to fill the gap, albeit somewhat untidily. In which case, it's like those few lines were maybe "ripped off", either because they stuck to the bed, or something... but, then I would have seen them on the glass. And, in any case, i don't see how it would have been possible; it would stick to the other heated and melted plastic more readily than anything else. I really don't know what happened, and I can't explain it. And, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I care that much either; certainly not enough to reprint the whole thing for a few missing lines of filament, especially as I've accepted much, much worse before. And, overall, the print is perfect! Like the previous, it didn't warp, and the surface is as good as I could have hoped for, minus those few missing lines...










... so, this is pretty much getting to the bittersweet moment; everything is now pretty well done, and it all fits together like it should...




... which is nice, but that's essentially it! There's nothing left to print, unless I choose to re-dress something, or re-print those front pieces in the correct colours...

... and I feel like there should be a fanfare, or maybe some virtual bunting around that last image. Mind you, we're not QUITE done...










... a few different angles. Also, assembly wasn't QUITE as smooth as I would have had you believe...









... once everything slotted into place, it became apparent that I had not left enough room for the legs of the buttresses... they don't sit flat and flush like they should... it's "ok" the whole thing works well enough, but as one of the things to redress in the future will be to lengthen the slots these fit into slightly, and to file away a small section of the lower dais pieces where they but up against the buttresses... or, reprint those pieces to allow for them...

... the pipes will also need joining. probably with a dab of hot-glue, but I'm not too worried about those...






... looking very at home there! But let's present this the way it was meant to be presented...

...


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... hmmmm, needs mood lighting...




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... these shots aren't the best, they're actually screen-grabs from a video I took, but they look better than than the photos. The lighting just came up with better ambience than the still frames did...

... I should also point out that, it is quite large in real life, possibly the biggest model I have done, but because of all those hollow sections, it's really not heavy at all, which is a bonus. And there's no drama with carrying it around either, everything is nice and sturdy thanks to all the interlocking parts...

... so that's about it for now. There may be a couple of extra updates in the future as I change or improve things, but the model is done! Until the next update or model...

D.

Fantastic work!  The lighting in the video really sells the feel of the set.  Would it be possible to get a front-on shot that could be adapted into a backdrop in one of the toy TARDIS Police Boxes?

Looks amazing!

WOW, this has turned out really great! You've done a brilliant job on this, & the time its taken hasn't been long either, well it doesn't seem that long, but it's a real credit to you! Thanks for sharing to us where some of us can only dream of doing something like this!

Thanks again,

Chris.

Exquisite, really nice build, with the background lighting it really sells it. Displayed with some back lighting, it would look fantastic on anyone's shelf.
Now about those details, when are you going to connect the floor pipes, dangle some cables from the coral struts, change the lights inside the console to white and repaint the console rim silver?
Only joking!
Brilliant design, clever printing and construction; perfect set, it has been a joy to watch this war doctor Tardis come together, well done!!

This is simply amazing work! Any idea if you'd upload the files on something like thingverse so others can have an amazing diorama like this? I know id love this to be on my shelf next to my other TARDIS'