Custom Storm Trooper Rose Petal Blaster
(In progress)
A Brief Overview
Project Context
One of my cousins is being married April 2023. She has expressed interest in the flower girl (a 8 year old ardent Star Wars fanatic) have a rose petal blaster of some kind to walk down the aisle with.
After discussing customer needs and safety measures with the parents of the flower girl and other family members, it was decided a variable air compressor gun with a 3D printed shell would be utilized. For simplicity, the initial prototype would be front loaded, and a cut off valve would be put inline to prevent any accidental blasts. Expected range is 5-7 feet of rose petal spread.
Customer Needs
After interviewing the bride, flower girl, parents and other attending family members the following objectives were obtained:
Additionally, the blaster is to be modeled after a Star Wars First Order Stormtrooper F-11D blaster
Purchased Main Component
A cheap & easily obtained variable air compressor nozzle was selected from Amazon.com. The blue knob visualized to the right is the flow control from 0-100% allowing some toggling of the air outflow to a desirable level.
A CAD model of this nozzle was developed in Soldiworks 2021. Although imperfect, it provides a solid basis to proceed.
First Steps
After modeling the air nozzle, a housing was developed to envelop the nozzle, this housing would provide the basis for other parts to be attached to. This housing was made via a cavity feature. Five iterations were developed and 3D printed of this part.
Iteration 4 to the left fit comfortably, so iteration five below was shaved down to reduce print time and improve functionality. Additionally five recessed bolt points fitting hex nuts & round bolt heads were added.
Trim & Barrel Support
Next mirrored trim pieces as well as a barrel support were developed. At this stage, appropriate bolts & hex nuts (¾, 1, 1¼ 6-32) were obtained and tested. Note the slots built into the barrel support. Additionally, the barrel support has two slots on the bottom face for a bottom handfixture to be later glued in place.
Barrel
It is worth noting that prototype 1 was rushed due to flying out to the cousin’s bridal shower (She needed to show the venue owners for approval) hence why the barrel was printed in three seperate peices instead of two. The first section was an inch short, and it was more time efficient to simpy print an additional inch than to print the entire piece again.
Notes on the barrel for prototype 2 are to inlcude a slightly wider barrel for better rose petal stuffing, and to make a more visually appeasing transition to the larger barrel section. Also to include aethsetic divits on the entirety of the barrel.
Barrel Body & Buttstock
Final Touches
Prototype 1: 11/8/2022
Printed on a Ender Pro 3 utilizng Ultimaker Cura. Total print time in excess of 40 hours. Only reprint required were for iterating the housing clamshell. Prototype 1 was bolted and glued together and had a capacity for ~80 silk rose petals per shot. Functions as desired.