That’s No Moon – It’s a Giant 3D Printed Death Star

The new Star Wars movie premiers in less than a week, so I know what my plans are for next weekend. Unlike last year’s The Force Awakens, Rogue One is a standalone prequel, going all the way back to the early days of the Death Star and the Rebel Alliance’s effort to steal the design plans for it. However, it looks as though 3D Printing Studios may have beaten them to the punch.

The 3D printing business, in reality, didn’t have to steal anything to create the 3D printed Death Star currently on display at the Event Cinemas location on George Street in Sydney, Australia. Disney handed the plans right over, in the form of a highly detailed 3D model, and 3D Printing Studios went to work. The entire project, from the time the company received the 3D model to the final installation, took less than three weeks, and the 3D printed Death Star is now featuring in a last-minute promotional campaign.

You can see the 3D printed Death Star, which is clearly not a moon, in a seriously impressive mannequin challenge taken on by Star Wars fans:

The model, which weighs over 150kg, was 3D printed with multiple printers and several different materials.

“We used a number of 3D Printers including a Projet 3500 HD Max to print the ultra high detailed trench, an Objet Connex for the large laser and large sections in the poles and multiple Fortus‘s and EOS SLS machines for printing the structural components,” Stuart Grover, Owner and Founding Partner of 3D Printing Studios, told 3DPrint.com.

The spherical structure of the Death Star itself was actually cut from clear acrylic material, while the trench was 3D printed from VisiJet M3 Black thermoplastic. Objet VeroWhite was used to print the dish as well as the features at the poles and above and below the trench. Supporting parts and features were printed in ABS.

“The challenging parts of the project where managing and manipulating the very large 3D file and ensuring the Death Star was structurally sound given it weighs over 150KG,” Grover continued. “It was a fun project though and we now know a lot more about the death star than we ever did before.”

Undoubtedly, the Rebel Alliance would give a lot for that information. The 3D printed Death Star is on display at Event Cinemas until December 15, when Rogue One premiers.

It’s hard to top a project like that, but 3D Printing Studios is staying plenty busy. Currently, the company is working on scaling up and 3D printing several artifacts from the Australian National Museum for an upcoming exhibit. Visitors to the exhibit will be able to approach, touch and examine the 3D printed artifacts, giving them a more detailed, hands-on understanding of the objects than they would ever be able to get from simply peering at a display case.

No matter what 3D Printing Studios does, it’s pretty much guaranteed that it won’t be boring. If you’d like to learn more about the company, you can check out our interview with Jason Joo, Managing Director and Co-Founder for the Asia region, here. You can also check out the Star Wars Facebook page for a few more images of the 3D printed Death Star. Discuss in the 3D Printed Death Star forum at 3DPB.com.