Borg Ship Assembly Brackets and Stand

Last crawled date: 4 years, 3 months ago

This is an assembly bracket and display stand for the original Borg Cube design. I found the ship parts difficult to assemble so I designed and printed these brackets. Print two of them for one cube. Also is a display stand to show off your finished project.
So, the original design was too large for my printer, so I reduced it by 50%. These brackets fit a 50% reduction in size. If you print the cube at its original size, scale these brackets to 200% when you print them. Same with the stand. Actually, the stand you may have to play around with the scale to get it to whatever size you like. Just eyeball it in your printer program.
The original design has the parts numbered. Take a close look at the included files and match up each numbered part with how they are laid out in the master file. I put a piece of tape on each one and numbered them accordingly. Then, I drew arrows so I could remember their orientation when I glued them together. Even doing this, I ended up grinding off the little extra bits that overlapped the adjacent pieces. Made assembling the parts easier.
I started off hot gluing the side pieces to one bracket. Work quickly if you use hot glue. Try to minimize the gaps. As soon as you get a bead of glue down, squeeze the side onto the bracket so it it a tight fit. Square it up on the bracket and hold it in place until the glue cools. Repeat with the other three sides. Then, glue the bottom. I used a 2-part epoxy so I had some working time. Used some clamps to hold it while the epoxy cured.
Install the final top piece the same way.
Your next step is to spray the cube with some primer. High build auto primer is ideal, but whatever you have. The grey primer will help you see all the gaps. It will also make visible all the filament hairs you need to clean up,
Now, your cube is assembled and primed, but there will be gaps no doubt. They will be easier to see when primed. I used some wood glue (white glue is fine too) in a glue syringe and squeezed glue into all the seams between the parts. I let the glue set for about 5 min, then I used a disposable brush to "tamp" the glue down into the seams. Just sort of dabbed at it. I didn't want to see glue beads along the seams.
When the glue is dried, spray another coat of primer. Repeat until you are satisfied that all the seams are filled and the cube looks like a solid piece.
I then used a dremel with a soft bristle brush tool to buff down as much as the brush could reach. It took away excess glue and little filament hairs I missed during the cleanup process. Its a step that is worth doing. Even a little roughing with some 220 grit paper on the outside to smooth out all the exterior surfaces may improve the final appearance.
Finally, I mixed up some grey and black paint in my airbrush to give it a flat gun metal color. Finished product looks great. Print the stand and you are done.
Hope this helps anyone wanting to assemble this model. I am really happy with the results.