Star Wars BB-9E by falconman

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

This is a remix of wkarraker's nice BB-8 and uses his BB-8 body design as a foundation for bB-8's nemesis, BB-9E. This is a work in progress and I will be adding the other pieces as I complete the design and test fit the parts..
Printing Instructions:
Printed using Monoprice Select Mini V1 - I used a combination of .0875 and .175 layer heights. These are multiples of the "magic numbers" for the stock MP Select Mini. I will note what layer height was used for each piece. I used a top and bottom thickness of 1.2 and sides of 1.2. In general I used 10% infill and 50mms for travel speed, except as noted.
BB-9E_Head_New.stl - Print one copy. I used a combination of Black and Silver PLA. I printed the head at .0875 layer height, 35 mms & 10% infill. I edited the GCODE to add an M600 command at layers 8, 16, 205, 225, 236 and 242. I started using black PLA and when the pauses occured, alternated between silver and black. If your printer is tuned in well, this will result in a much cleaner line than could be obtained with paint.
BB-9E_Head_Eye.stl - Print one copy. I used black and silver PLA. I used .0875 layer height, 25mms and 100% infill. Edit the GCODE to add an M600 command at layer 24. Start with black and switch to silver at the pause.
BB-9E_Head_Bottom.stl - Print one copy. I used black PLA at .0875 layer height, 10% infill, 35mms.
BB-9E_Head_Bottom_Ring.stl - Print one copy. I sued silver PLA at .0875 layer height, 10% infill and 35mms.
BB-9E_Head_Blue_Lens.stl - Print one copy. I used sme translucent blue PLA and printed at .0875 layer height, 100% infill and 25mms.
Edit 1: I've added BB-9E's body ball. There are holes inside the body to accept 8mm x 3mm magnets. I used a dot of super glue to hold the magnets at the bottom of the hole. Make sure you align the magnets in the proper pole orientation to match the other magnets in the body so the head will attach to the body. I used the following magnets for this part of the project: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MZ6EJE2
Edit 2: I've added the two pieces that make up the bottom of BB-9E's head. The solid ring with the concave section (BB-9E_Bottom.stl) receives a single 6mmx3mm magnet. Be sure this magnet is aligned so that the poles match and attract the body magnets. Press the magnet in so it is flush with the inside of the concave part of the bottom. It will extend above the piece a bit, but there is room inside the bottom ring that will hold the extra height.
The segmented ring (BB-9E_Bottom_Ring.stl) holds three 6mmx3mm magnets. Before inserting the magnets add a length of wire that runs through the transverse hole between the rim and center hub. Cut the wire so it extends fully between that span (see photo). The photo shows stranded wire, but I ended up using wire wrap wire instead. it worked very well. Press the magnets in from the solid bottom side. Make sure the magnets extend just barely above the surface so the magnets can make solid contact with the magnets in the head. This will create a way to switch off the LED's in the head by rotating the top part of the head 90 degrees. Now you can nest the bottom to the bottom ring. The center magnet should be enough to hold them together, but I glued the two together using super glue.
This is the source for the 6mmx3mm magnets I used:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MXWMF7Q
Edit 3: Added the Dome Eye and Blue Lens for BB-9E's head. I used a 3mm white LED with a 120 ohm resistor attached to the positive lead of the LED (long leg). I then attached a length of red wire to the positive leg and used shrink wrap tubing to cover. This assembly will be inserted into the blue lens (BB9E-Blue_Lens.stl). I attached the LED assembly with super glue.
I used a 3mm red LED wired to a 200 ohm resistor attached to the long leg of the LED. I then attached a length of red wire to the positive leg and used shrink wrap tubing to cover. This assembly will be inserted into the Dome Eye (BB-9E_Head_Eye.stl). I attached the LED assembly with super glue.
I used the following LED's from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018NQ77HG
The head (BB-9E_Head.stl) takes 5 of the magnets. In the next installment, I will include a wiring diagram.
More to follow!
I recommend using jpvanderendt's excellent stand design for your completed BB-9E: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1718534