Energy Sword 1:1 3D Print

[Wayward Flood]

I started messing around with 3D printing again and wanted to print something big while I was modeling stuff. After seeing how small some retail energy sword props were I wanted to handle one to scale in game out of curiosity. It never occurred to me how big the things are to an average sized person since elites and Spartans are larger in game.

I found a to scale model ready to print here that resembles the Halo Reach sword and went to work. I had some spools of PLA left over as a gift. 2 spools are see through so I used that instead of buying see through light blue and because I'm cheap. There are multiple layers so it appears white. It's 16 pieces that took 9 days of printing time with a 4mm nozzle at 25% infill. I then sanded the pieces to fit together after the plastic resized a little from cooling and caulked them together.

As you can tell from my hand its difficult but possible to hold one handed. I'm surprised its as sturdy to swing as it is being 2 seperate 4 foot blades held together at the bottom. I can swing it about without the blade parts wobbling at all. Maybe I'll make another one later that is painted and add lights in the blade.

 

[Wayward Flood]

Painted my sword this week. Used translucent blue paint with black and silver and a seal coat. I didn't bother with sanding that much or carefully painting it due to the seams showing and PLA weld marks. Sanding the clear PLA removes its visible transparency into the print so I didn't go that route. My printer prints PLA pretty smooth so it isn't a big issue. This was more or an experimental prop with clear PLA then a very detailed prop. You can see how the transparent it is with a flashlight and laser pointer shining below it in the picture.