3D printed props

We have seen our fair share of 3D printed props based on those found within video games. In fact, there are a whole slew of cosplayers who rely on many of these props to express themselves in a type of performance art. 3D printing has taken prop making, added precision and complexity, and has allowed for much more realistic pieces to be made.

One such piece was recently created by a man named Farell Rozan, based off of one of his favorite games, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. The game, set in the early 18th century during the Golden Age of Piracy, and developed by Ubisoft Montreal, pits players against one another or the computer, in a fun, intriguing, stealth action-adventure.

Rozan had recently purchased a Flashforge Creator pro 3D printer and wanted to create something fun, yet a bit challenging for his first project. What better an item to choose than the Assassin’s Creed blade.

“The Assassins Creed Blade is actually my first major 3D print project. I’ve been wanting to explore printing a model that has a mechanism, with moving parts, plus utilizing dual printing,” explained Rozan to 3DPrint.com. “Since it’s my first [project], I wanted to make something simple that has a trigger and performs an action. Making a gun requires a lot of mechanical parts so that’s not an option for a beginner. I’ve been playing the Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, and I thought the hidden blade was perfect for the job! I’ve always admired the mechanism of the blade and how stealthy it is.”

Once this decision was made, Rozan scoured the internet for the perfect model. After searching Thingiverse and Youtube for quite a while, all the models he found were quite large, needing a thick handle to enclose the mechanisms required for the retraction of the blade. Unfulfilled, Rozan decided that the only way he was going to 3D print a blade he’d be satisfied with, was to design it himself.

“Using Google Sketchup, I designed the model that utilizes a rubber band and a trigger-release in the mechanism,” explained Rozan. “With parts that hold the blade sturdily during extraction, and a few braces to hold the body frame together.”

Being a newcomer to 3D printing, Rozan had difficulty calibrating his printer and had to reexamine several areas of his design. One of the main design flaws he had experienced, was that of not allowing for the proper amount of gap tolerance. Additionally, it was difficult for Rozan to figure out the correct amount of infill to use so that the blade, which was printed with the more tolerant ABS thermoplastic, would not bend or snap very easily. After his 4th design, and learning a great deal about modelling and printing in three dimensions, he felt he had perfected his creation. Judging by the images and videos Rozan has provided us, I think he may be right. Rozan discussed with us what he has learned from this project:

“It’s better to simplify the parts to allow some tolerance in minor print defects. Also, it’s always an option to fix some model parts during the post process rather than fixing the 3D model for accuracy. Printer calibration is key. There’s a lot of times where I thought the defects came from errors from my 3D model, but it turned out it was due to the printer calibration. The orientation of your model while printing is also key for making high strength parts.”

In total, the final blade took about 12 hours to print out on the Flashforge Creator pro. Once printed, it took Rozan an additional 4 hours for post-processing. The entire blade is made up of 42 parts, which include rubber bands and wrist straps in addition to the 3D printed pieces. Let’s hear your thoughts on Rozan’s creation, in the 3D Printed Assassin’s Creed Blade forum thread on 3DPB.com.