This week’s selection is the amazing life size body print made by Matty Benedetto.
Benedetto operates the Unnecessary Inventions YouTube channel, where he designs “unnecessary consumer products” in each video. He puts out several per week, which demonstrates his creativity and energy.
One of his most recent “inventions” was a life size 3D print of himself — that talks. This was published in his video, “I 3D Printed Myself To Do This One Task For Me”.
That task was to greet people at the door of his workshop.
Benedetto already had a 3D scan of himself, which made the process far easier. However, he (and probably no one) has a 3D printer large enough to print a life size version of a person in one job.
The task then was to segment the 3D model into printable pieces. These would be printed and then assembled into the fully human form.
However, sizing was an issue: would the 3D print be the proper height when assembled? To test this Benedetto first printed a foot and compared it to his own, and following that printed an entire leg. This seemed to be the appropriate size, so he then could print the remaining parts.
But there were dozens of parts required. This meant that Benedetto had to light up his entire print farm, which seems to include multiple devices and models, including Bambu Lab gear. This parallel operation significantly reduced the elapsed time to complete the project.
After printing the parts and assembling them, the printed Benedetto was the appropriate height, although made from a number of different filament colors.
The final task was to equip the body with a motion sensor. This would trigger an embedded board to run an audio file that would greet those passing by.
Interestingly, Benedetto didn’t write the code for this: he simply asked ChatGPT to generate the code, and it apparently worked. This is a good tip for those building 3D printed projects involving electronics.
The project also shows the versatility of desktop 3D printers: you can indeed produce large objects, if you’re willing to assemble them.
The answer to the question, “how big can it print”, is “any size”.
Via YouTube
