Introduction: Optimus Prime Allspark

About: hello everyone.. my name is fasya and i am a professional 3d modeller working in for a local animation industry in Malaysia.. i started doing 3d printing as a hobby and fell in love with it.. now i do it full …

Since the new transformers going to come out this Jun.. i thought i give a homage to my childhood favorite cartoon.. since i already have an optimus prime modelled on tinkercad.. might as well use it.. to make something different im going to make prime hold the allspark.. and the allspark cube glow when you pass it to optimus prime.. so you dont have to use the on off switch all the time.. just take the cube from prime and the allspark wont glow anymore..

You can use this as decoration for your desktop or a night light for the young one..

Difficulty level:

  1. 3D printing - Easy
  2. Assembly - Easy 
  3. Wiring - Intermediate.. (small space to work with if you have big hands like mine)
  4. Painting - Easy

So let's get started..

Supplies

Step 1: Modelling Using Tinkercad

I have modelled my chibi optimus prime some time ago when i was learning to character model in tinkercad.. all i needed was to pose it to hold the allspark cube and make it detachable from each other.. we're going to use neodym magnets for that so that prime wont drop the allspark..

It was so fun modelling my optimus prime using basic shapes of the tinkercad.. you can duplicate my tinkercad model of chibi prime and tweak my model to do different pose as well.. i made the allspark thin layers so that the led lights inside the cube can glow through the cube.. Im gonna use blue LED flexible filament for the lights inside the allspark cube..

I will fit a 1000mAh lipo battery into the body of optimus and put the USB connector on one leg and the on off rocker switch on the other leg.. i also provide a hexagon hole on the leg should you need to weight down prime.. since he might be wobbly from holding the allspark cube..

You wont need any screws to connect optimus prime together since we're using pegs for all the body parts to be held together.

You can find the 3d printed stl files here: www.fay3dlab.com

Optimus Prime Allspark

Step 2: Assembly - Wiring Allspark

First thing we need to do is wire the LED for the allspark cube.. i made a LED filament holder inside the cube that will illuminate the cube 360 degrees..

The LED filament will be connected to a magnetic pogo pin connector.. i used these pogo pins on my blastoise humidifier project.. and we're connecting one side of the pogo pin magnets with the LED filament..

If you're not an expert in soldering like me i recommend this trick where i use dupont female connector as a bridge to solder the wires to the pogo pin magnets..

Once you wrap the flexible LED filament on the LED holder and screw them to the allspark base with a 6mm M3 screw..

put the pogo pins into the square holes on the cube and dab a little hot silicone glue to hold it into place..

As always.. test out the LED to see if the wiring is solid and works..

Now you can hotglue assemble the whole allspark cube together..

P/S: dont forget to label which side is positive and negative..

Now we can start painting the cube.. since we need the light to shine through the cube.. i used transparent blue airbrush color for the main cube.. and normal black acrylic color for the pattern on the allspark

Step 3: Assembly - Wiring Body

As always.. i paint my models first before wiring so it wont get messy when painting after you fully assemble the whole project..

Now.. first thing we need to do is get the wires into place for soldering..

  1. a set of red wires for the left leg for the rocker switch.. one wired to the positive pogo pins and the other need the end of the right leg for the usb charger positive output..
  2. a set of red black for the right leg for the battery to the usb charger input..
  3. a black wire from the usb charger negative output to the negative pogo pins on the waist

once you have all the wires ready.. we can start soldering it to its terminal.. i start with the pogo pins first since we need to hot glue it into place..

then we do the battery wiring.. next is the usb charger for both set input from the battery and output for the LED/rocker switch..

once you finish soldering the 4 wires.. we can push the USB charger into the right leg.. and dap a little hot glue to keep it in place..

now the last wiring we need to do is the 2 red wires for the rocker switch on the left leg.. test out the wiring by plugging in the allspark cube to the pogo pins .. make sure the cube lights up..

Now we can prep the neodym magnets for the hands that will hold the allspark cube in place.. make sure the magnets on the cube and the one in prime's palms align.. what i usually do is put the magnet on the cube.. and paint an X on it.. so you'll know which side to put glue on..

now once you glue the 2 magnets into each palm.. we're ready for final assembly.. assembly is faily simple.. the front chest and back comes together into the leg pegs.. and hands and head goes to its own pegs..

Now we need to test that the allspark works when you give prime the allspark cube.. and when you take it away..

So if you want to weight down prime to make him slighly heavier.. there is a hexagon hole in prime's left leg for you to insert nuts into them.. you'll just have to glue it into place..

And you are now finished.. a portable light that you can put as a night light for yourself..


Step 4: Conclussion

The transformers optimus prime allspark works great as a night light or a decoration on your PC tabletop.. It was a fun weekend project.. you could make multiple allspark cube with different LED filament colors so you would have a variety of allspark cube to choose from..

Have fun making this project and happy 3D printing..

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