Introduction: 3d Printed GoPro Type Sign

By Curtis Randall
About: Hi! My name is Curtis, nice to meet you. I have been an Instructables member for a long time now. I am a YouTuber and a humble Maker. I really just like to make things. Reach out to me, I am a talker! Cheers

I built this CamelBak Gone GoPro Mount Instructable and I noticed many curious faces while filming. I also just got a metric boat-load of stickers printed to promote my YouTube channel. I realized that I need a small sign on my camera so the curious can learn more about me and see the video I was making. I partnered up with my life long friend Kenneth Lantz to 3D print little signs. Check out his talent here ---> KennethLantz.com and TheMariagoCollective.com

This is what I used

  • Adobe Illustrator
  • A slight obsession with typography
  • Rhino
  • A really good friend with a 3D-printer
  • Drinks and dinner (you have to do something while it is printing right??)

Step 1: Design for Interest and Readability

I knew this would not 3d print nearly as crisp and clean as I designed it on the computer. This is an important step if you want your final product to be legible. I knew I wanted to tell the world “The Proper Gents” and that I wanted to offer free stickers. I was working with a small area and I couldn’t exactly put a business card’s worth of information. It would have looked tacky and less is more in this case. If I could peak interest enough for people to talk to me about the free stickers, they would probably subscribe to my channel once they saw my sticker....and might even like my videos. I had what I wanted to communicate and I knew my size restrictions. I made the words large enough to be printable and legible. I was far less concerned about the size of my top hat moustach logo because it is plastered all over my channel anyways. Once I got things the way I wanted in Illustrator it was time to export to Rhino to make this 3d.

Attachments

Step 2: Rhino and Extrusions

Bringing in artwork from other programs seems to always cause issues and this instance was very much the case. The plan was to print the base in white, switch colors to black when it got to the words and logo layers. The base was extruded thick enough for stability (about .124 thick). The words and logo were extruded enough to be legible which was 3 layers.

Step 3: Slice and Dice (and 3d Print)

Kenny exported and the model was sliced and g code was generated. Our first run peeled and failed, but we gave it another try and it printed flawlessly. Like I mentioned earlier, once the base was printed in white, Kenny switched to black filament and we continued the print. We ran another version of this with my YouTube URL just to see if it would be legible. We were surprised how well it came out.

Step 4: Mount to the Mount

I used 3mm thick black PVC as a base for this mini sign. My camera mount has two slots that I chose to utilized for my sign. I highly recomend working with paper before using your final material. Work the bugs out with the cheap stuff. It also gives you an extra step to rethink things. I hand cut and stacked the rectangles with double stick tape to form the mount that attaches to the camera. I attached the 3d print to the sign with double stick tape. (see a trend here? haha) Super glue, epoxy, even hot glue are perfectly fine substitutes. I prefer double stick because I didn’t want to risk making a mess. I repeated the process for a 2nd 3d print. I wanted two inserts just in case I ran out of stickers. The second print simply says subscribe with my URL.

Step 5: Final Thoughts and Glamour Shots

Walking around with a rig like this will get you more attention than you can imagine, so you better be friendly like me! I really like going to conventions and filming my timelapse while walking around. It is amazing how many nice people are out there and I am literally wearing my perfect conversation starter. Although I don’t recommend this as an ice breaker on a first date...might be a tad awkward. This was a fun little side project that gives dimension and depth to an otherwise boring sign. I highly recommend trying a project like this if you have access to a 3d printer at a local hacker space. Talk to me in the comments below. I would love to hear what you have to say. I really like talking to the instructables community because they are some of the nicest folks out there on the interwebs. Subscribe if you so desire @ YouTube.com/ProperGents . I think that just about wraps it up...until the next project!!!