3-D Printed Poseable Turbo

At the Digilent MakerSpace, we have a happy little robot for a mascot. Previously he was just a 2D image, but I wanted to make him come to life so he could be in photos. I also decided that I would make him poseable. So, I designed a head and body that could be put together to create a real life version of Turbo.

You will need:

- A 3D printer

- 3D printer filament

- The stl file for the head

- The stl file for the body

- The stl file for the antenna*

*The 3D printer we used wasn't able to print the antenna but perhaps yours can

Download the STL files from this step, slice them using whatever slicer your 3D printer requires, and print them in your desired size.

Note: All of the sizes described in this instructable will be with respect to Turbo, so it doesn't matter what size you choose to print.

I made multiple Turbo's and of the ones I painted, the one where I painted his parts before I put him together definitely looked much better.

But, If you are feeling lazy as I did you can also paint him once he's all finished. The Turbo in the images in this step I painted once he was all put together. I used green filament and taped up the logo so it would have an authentic look.

I also used a metallic spray paint which turned out awesome looking. You can find metallic spray paint at any hardware store.

After you've printed Turbo's body and head, you'll need to gather the rest of the supplies:

- Scissors

- Hot glue gun + Hot glue sticks

- Pipe cleaners (At least 3 to be safe)

- A small bead for his antenna

- pencil or pen

- paper

Take your turbo body, set it on a piece of paper, and trace out a circle.

Take one piece of pipe-cleaner and bend a circle that fits right inside that circle. Then twist the end around to secure it.

Take the part of the pipe-cleaner closest to your loop and make another loop the same size.

Feed the end of the pipe-cleaner through the two loops and wrap it around snugly to secure.

Then cut off the excess pipe-cleaner so all you have is a bent figure 8.

Caution!!! Hot glue is very hot and the pipe-cleaner offers no barrier from the heat. Trust me, I burn myself on it all the time. Depending on the heat of your hot glue gun you may want to let it cool a little bit before you stick the pipe-cleaner on.

Take the body of your Turbo and make a glue circle and stick the pipe-cleaner loop on the hot glue with the part where the two loops connect to one side. The front of the body is where the triangle is.

Now take Turbos head and follow the same procedure to glue on his head. Make sure the eyes are in the front, unless you prefer something else.

If you were unable to print turbo's antenna cut a small piece of pipe-cleaner to replace it.

Taper the piece of pipe-cleaner so that it resembles a narrow cone.

Place a small glob of hot glue on the center of his head and place the antenna on that spot. You will likely have to hold the antenna on while the glue dries. Gravity just so happens to be the arch nemesis of crafting. You may even have to reinforce the antenna with some more glue around the base.

Next take the small bead and slide it onto the antenna, you can affix the bead with some glue inside if you wish.

Cut two pieces of pipe-cleaner about the length of Turbo's body.

Cut small pieces of pipe-cleaner for Turbo's hands.

Take one and wrap one end tightly around the hand so it becomes a y shape. Do the same for the second arm.

Put two small beads of hot glue on each side of Turbo and affix the arms. Again you'll likely have to hold the arms while the glue cools, and may need to add some reinforcing glue.

Cur two more pieces of pipe-cleaner a little less than twice the size of Turbo's body. Bend them into an L shape.

Make a V shape with hot glue on Turbo's butt and stick on his legs.

Turbo has little wheels for feet. Make two circles out of pipe-cleaner for his feet.

Attach his wheel-feet by wrapping the end of his legs around them.

You now have a poseable robot buddy.

If you'd like to hear more about the origins of Turbo, check out this post.

And if you need some comic relief check out this video of Turbo.