A 3D Print That’s More Than Meets the Eye

Children of the 1980s will forever remember the Transformers toys. Long before becoming one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time, the Transformers spawned many of the coolest toys ever to be produced, as well as a sometimes pretty cheesy, yet definitely awesome, cartoon. Certain Transformers toys were more sought after than others, like Optimus Prime who could transform between a humanoid robot and a semi truck, and Ultra Magnus the car carrier.

But as children, many of these Transformers were out of reach. With high price tags and limited opportunities to convince their parents to buy them one, these kids were often left drooling over their favorites in the store without ever being able to have their own. But now those children are grown and have more resources at their disposal. The gratification may be long-delayed, but possession of those once out-of-reach toys is finally at hand!

But then a quick search shows that many of these toys are still beyond reach! Fifteen thousand dollars for Soundwave! Seriously? Drat! The mission has been foiled yet again by the evil Decepticon forces, no doubt. Not so fast, says YouTuber Nectar Mechanics. Why not just 3D print your own Soundwave? And maybe even give it some upgrades along the way? Yes, please!

To maximize awesomeness, Nectar Mechanics decided to include some electronics in the build. First and foremost, the cassette tape player would be more than just decoration — it would need to actually play a tape. Also, the screen on Soundwave’s chest would need to really work so that it could display schematics like in the cartoon. And just for fun, why not add some LEDs to light up the eyes?

Parts were scavenged from an old portable cassette tape player and a pair of headphones to support tape playback. An iPod touch supplied the display for Soundwave’s chest, which played host to some animations designed with Blender.

The model design process was quite lengthy and complicated. Nectar Mechanics walked through the steps, starting with creating the parts in FreeCAD. This took a lot of attention to detail, such that the robot could transform into a boombox-like tape player without interfering with the internal electronics or pinching any wires. Even the non-functional buttons were given springs and pegs so that they could be pressed without disappointment.

When the design was finally ready to go, the next step involved four weeks of printing parts with a Prusa MK4 and doing lots of sanding. The parts were then spray painted and weathered with washes and dry brushing before the model was assembled and glued together.

The finished toy turned out amazing, but you will have to decide for yourself if it is worth spending two months of your life making, or if you would be better off pulling the trigger on a purchase on an auction site. Or maybe neither, in which case you can just check out the video to see Nectar Mechanics’ amazing build.