3D Printing

Adafruit Brings Out the Big 3D Printed Guns

We can no longer use the phrase “Halloween’s almost here” in presenting their projects, but, nevertheless, Adafruit is back with more 3D printed props perfect for cosplay at any time of the year.  This one will take you back to mid-century flicks about giant spiders, Barbarellas, and marrying monsters from outer space.  Noe and Pedro Ruiz have crafted an alien ray gun with light up LEDs and classic sound effects.

adafruit-3D-printed-ray-gun

The brothers describe this project as a challenging one, as it entails the soldering and assembling of small circuits, twenty 3D printed parts, and twenty wired connections.  Still, it’s so enticing that even losers like me want to attempt it! To attempt it, the Ruiz Bros. say you’ll need the following hardware: Audio FX Sound Baord, Pro Trinket 5V/3V, PAM8302 Mono 2.5W Class D Audio Amplifier , Pro Trinket Lilon/LiPoly Backpack Add-On, NeoPixel Ring 12 x , Laser Diode, 500mAh Lithium Ion Polymer Battery, Mini Metal Speaker, [and] 6mm Slim Tactile Switch Buttons.”  On top of that, you’ll need every tool you can think of to print it out, connect it together, and sand it down to be the polished ray gun of your dreams.

3d printed parts for adafruit ray gun

Of the twenty printed parts, you’ll have to 3D print six of them in transparent material to let the LED light shine through and many of the parts require support structures, so the brothers recommend a heavy duty sander to rub off the nubs on your ray gun (not to sound suggestive or anything). Printing, sanding, gluing and, if you’re feeling frisky, painting parts will be the least of your troubles, as its the wiring and programming of the thing that may prove most difficult.

3D printed laser gun from adafruit

You’ll have to program your Pro Trinket to flash the lights on the NeoPixel Ring and upload sound effects to the Audio FX Sound Board and wire them to the LiPoly Backpack, if you want an on/off switch. You’ll also have to wire the Sound Board to the Wire Speaker so that your preprogrammed pew pew effects have a place to exist in the hearable world. Finally, a laser diode and a push button are the icing on the cake, with the push button giving the 3D printed trigger something to trigger.  You can watch a brief overview of the process below:

The Ruiz Bros. warn that there are lots of small spaces to feed wires and small pieces to connect together, but, if you’re foolhardy enough, you could have yourself a nice lookin’ laser pistol. I’d name mine Lil’ Ray Ray.

adafruit 3D printed ray gun

What would you name yours?