Stephen Colbert Portrait, Bust, Cube X 3d Print

This little ABS bust of Steven Colbert is 6" tall and took about 13 hours to print, at medium infill and resolution on the Cube X. Like the other Cube X prints, this wasn't my first attempt. I contacted Cubify support and asked for advice. They told me to try a smaller medium resolution print set to medium density without detail preservation. I gave it a shot and this is what I got. I applied painter's tape to the build plate and then applied Magic Glue to the tape. It seemed to work but, an hour or so into the print I notices that while the ABS was sticking to the tape it was also curling with enough force to pull the tape away from the build plate. As I've read more and more, it seems that the only way to get consistent, undistorted ABS prints ( that actually stick and don't move around)is to invest in a heated build plate. They cost about $500. Ugh. Aside from the distortion in the lower part of the pedestal (will be corrected with sculpt epox) its a fairly remarkable print. It didn't come out of the machine looking like this however. I've put 6.5 hours into finishing this and could easily put another 4 or 5 hours into it before it would be ready for molding. Most of the support material did simply snap off with the exception of the scaffold supporting the chin. That bit of support required some radical carving in order to get to the intended forms beneath it. There were also two areas of this print that were a step out of register, one, through the center of the pedestal and, two, across the shoulders and through the center of the necktie's knot. They required a fair share of finessed carving and sanding to hide. All of that Said, ABS is a lovely plastic to work with. It carves and sands out very nicely and the majority of its striations can be buffed out with acetone. In fact, when applied sensitively, acetone can buff this plastic out to a finish that very closely resembles polished marble.

SHOCKING NEWS FLASH!!!... STEPHEN COLBERT COMES OUT OF THE CLOSET AND OPENLY CONFRONTS HIS INFLUENCE ON THE MARIJUANA NATION. FOR MORE IN DEPTH DETAILS ON THIS GROUND BREAKING STORY AS IT UNFOLDS, PLEASE CLICK HERE!