Final Project: Design and Printing Updates

Hello, all! I'm excited to say that the Elder Wand is progressing nicely. Just to recap, earlier in the week, I printed the first two parts (out of the four 3D-printed parts) of the wand, sanded them, and cleaned up some imperfections with epoxy. Since the wand parts will all screw together with pieces of metal rod, I tapped the wand pieces and the metal rod pieces as well. Just putting the two pieces together made me so excited for the end result.

The tapped ends of each wand segment will screw into this handy base that Bryan had in the Atelier.

I spent quite some time working out how I would get the hardware into my wand, especially putting the battery into the base of the wand. This required a bit of reworking and continuous tweaking, but I'm pleased with the final design. Thank you to Bryan for putting together the hardware that will go into the base!

A quarter-cut of the base design, which allows for the appropriate hardware to be inserted or removed.

The final assembly.

What's next, you might ask? I left the Atelier Saturday night, unabashedly exhausted and also satisfied with a full day's work, while the other two parts finished printing. Now I'll just have to get rid of the support material, sand the wand to get rid of the obvious print grain appearance, and paint the parts. Bryan suggested I print the wand in a couple pieces, so I'll be painting it all together to get a consistent look for each piece. Once it's dry, I'll be able to work out any remaining imperfections and put together the hardware. 

More updates will come after tomorrow's painting!!!!! I cannot use enough exclamation marks to convey my excitement!