“Do you think that 3D printer’s sexy? How did that 3D printer ever get in here? Do you see it? After we set this build….can we go get some filament? But first…let me take a #DRONIE!”
Not quite The Chainsmokers, I know. But, it’s 2015, and selfies are sooo yesterday. Now, it’s the era of the dronie (pictures or videos taken using a self-controlled drone)! And just in time, too. Adafruit is all set to host an online drone film & photography contest – The Dronie Awards 2015 – that they believe will be the biggest and best of its kind. Interestingly, their panel of judges, so far, is entirely made up of female hardware engineers.
The kicker is that the winner of the The Dronie Awards 2015 will be the proud owner of a unique 3D printed drone trophy made by Noe Ruiz at Adafruit. Just when you thought that drones are where it’s at, 3D printed drones (well, in this case, of the trophy kind) loom on the horizon. Using colorFabb’s bronzeFill, a bronze powder/PLA composite filament that can be polished to look and feel like metal, Noe 3D printed a drone trophy called ‘Dronie’.
“We think this will be one of the best online film contests for drones, so we had to design a cool award with 3D printing and metal filament… Dronie is basically our friendly, cuddly, gumdrop-looking character that really represents Adafruit’s Make-Robot-Friend mantra,” Noe explains.
And do the propellers spin? Yes, they do. To do this, in addition to high-resolution FFF printing with metal composite filament, Noe used an Autodesk Ember SLA printer to separately print tiny lug nuts in clear resin. After tumbling the bronze parts with stainless steel screws to make them shine, he then assembled the trophy using snap-fits, glue, and magnets. The overall look is that of a shiny, heavy bronze trophy, when it is anything but. To see how Noe made the trophy from scratch, watch the video below.
Adafruit will be announcing the rules, prizes, and much more soon, so watch this space. Do make sure to tag your videos with #dronie. So, go ahead and bring out your inner drone!
