Introduction: Excalibur (Fate/Stay Night)

For my SIDE Project in Ms. Berbawy's Principles of Engineering Class, I made a life-sized replica of Fate/Stay Night's Excalibur, a two-handed sword utilized by the one of the protagonists, Artoria Pendragon. More projects can be found on her website.

I was primarily inspired to replicate Excalibur from a YouTube video where the craftsman made a life-sized replica of the sword using cardboard. Throughout my process of creating various parts of the sword, I occasionally used his measurements (primarily for the blade's decoration and engraving). While I primarily used my own replica of the sword (though a much smaller sword meant for a figurine of Artoria), you can use his measurements if you do not have any measurements or small replicas of the sword. Have fun!

Throughout the process of creating the sword, I familiarized myself with the CAD program Fusion360, as well as the PrusaMini and the Original Prusa i3 MK3S.

Supplies

For this project, I used:

PLA Filament (filament can differ depending on your preference of color/material, but I used)

Assembly and Final Touches:

  • 1/2" Diameter Wooden Dowel (98cm long)
  • Paint: Acrylic Paint and Acrylic Brushes (color/material can differ depending on your preference)
  • Loctite Super Glue (Brand does not matter)
  • Sandpaper

3D Printing:

  • Original Prusa Mini
  • Original Prusa i3 MK3S

Software:

  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Fusion360
  • Prusa Slicer

Measurements:

Step 1: Planning

Using the measurements from the Cardboard Excalibur Youtuber and/or the Redditor, you can CAD the parts on Fusion 360. However, if you wish to use your own measurements like I did (optional), take an optional step to measure your miniature replica!

I split the sword into four parts and connected them internally with a wooden dowel (shown above for easier visual understanding):

  • Blade
  • Hilt
  • Guard
  • Blade Decoration

The dowel is 1/2in in diameter and I cut mine to 98cm (I purposely made mine slightly shorter than the maximum length of it in case of any complications when assembling, there is slight wiggle room inside the hilt but it is not visible and does not cause any problems).

Step 2: CAD Hilt

The hilt is the easiest of the four parts to CAD first.

The first image is how the hilt is supposed to look like, while the second image is a side view.

To make the hilt, I first made a 25cm line (this is the length of the hilt), then divided it depending on my measurements (I had to estimate where most of these divisions are. Divide the measurements according to where you measured had the biggest change in diameter size throughout the hilt. The third photo are my estimated increments.

Then with each increment (you should have 6 breakpoints= 8 different radii because the top and bottom part of the hilt). For each breakpoint, the order should go:

  1. 3.8cm (The bottom of the hilt)
  2. 4.4cm
  3. 3.8cm
  4. 3cm
  5. 2.5cm
  6. 3.5cm
  7. 6cm
  8. 4cm (The top of the hilt, connects to the guard)

After, loft every part of the hilt from 3-8 (exclude 1-2! Loft them separately and do two: one for 1-2 (bottom cap)). Your hilt should look the exact same of similar to Photo1.

Next, split your hilt. (There are two different colors for the hilt. While the hilt is mostly blue, there is a top and bottom part of gold. Also, the PrusaMini is too small to accommodate the entire length of the blue part of the hilt). I split mine at #7's plane (top gold cap) and #5's plane (middle of the hilt). Your hilt should be split like Photo2.

After, extrude a 1.27cm diameter hole (1/2' diameter) through the hilt, except for the bottom cap. Instead, extrude a 0.5cm diameter circle outward towards the rest of the hilt (it will go into the hilt like a "cap")

The STL files for the hilt are below.

Step 3: CAD Guard

For the guard, made the base of the guard using measurements from all three of my sources. The sketch of it is shown in Photo1. Extrude the design by 2.83cm. It should now look like Photo2.

Now, onto the design of the guard engraving. You can either measure the guard engravings by printing the Cardboard Youtuber's template (in his Youtube video's description, the sword template is already to scale) and create the sketch using such measurements, or decal the engraving and trace the engravings. Both sides have the same engravings is symmetrical, so you can just do one half and just mirror it onto the left side, then mirror it to the other side of the guard, shown in Photo3. There is also a center part of the engraving, measurements are shown in Photo3.

Note: the obtuse angle should be around 119 degrees.

After you extrude the engravings, the guard should look like Photo4.

After, extrude a 1.27cm diameter hole (just like in Step2) through the middle of guard. After, shell the guard by 0.7cm. Make a 0.5cm thickness circular extrusion around the 1.27 diameter (to allow the dowel to stay in place, like in Photo5). After, split the guard into two halves for easier assembly and 3D printing.

Optional: Make lego-like holes that connect with each other. While I ultimately found that they did not do much to help the piece stay together (the infill was not thick enough and therefore the extruded cylinders were too fragile and broke, I used a 15% infill but you should use a higher percentage infill like 25%), it can help when attempting to super glue the parts so they won't be misaligned.

The STL Files are found below.

Step 4: CAD Blade

For the blade, I sketched out the base accordingly so as shown on Photo2. The blade is supposed to be thin, so the distance between the middle and the top part of it should be 1.345cm. Loft the two together, then mirror and duplicate the half of the blade into two, as shown on Photo1.

Use the template of the blade engraving by the Cardboard Youtuber (in his Excalibur video's description) and decal the design onto the blade, then use curves, lines, and splines to replicate the engraving. The measurements should already be correct, so no need to rescale his template. Don't extrude the design onto the blade yet.

Next, shell the blade by 0.26cm. After, create a new cylinder (I made the cylinder 1.5cm diameter) that will surround the dowel, then extrude 1.27cm diameter inside the cylinder. The Bottom should end up like Photo 4.

Now, extrude the blade engraving (doing so before shelling would cause the inside of the sword to have a bump from the engraving). I extruded it by 0.05cm, but it can differ depending on how shallow you want the engraving to be.

Then, split the blade into multiple parts. The lengths can vary depending on your 3D printer's size, and ultimately does not matter. I did five because it was the least I could do with the Original Prusa and PrusaMini printers.

The STIL Files for the blade are found below.

Step 5: CAD Blade Decoration

The Blade decoration must be done after the blade. After making your blade, download the blade decoration design from Cardboard Youtuber and decal it onto the blade. The measurements should already be correct, so no need to do additional scaling.

Trace the blade using splines, lines, and arcs, but for the front face. Next, (make sure this is correct plane!) decal the decoration once more, but on the side blades! Then trace the side blades accordingly. (shown in Photo2). Then, extrude each part by 0.4cm, and it should end up like Photo3. There will be gaps between each piece (Photo3), so extrude and join each side of the blade together to eliminate the gaps! Now it should look like Photo4.

Blade decoration is now done!

The Blade Decoration file is found below.

Step 6: 3D Print

It's finally time to 3D print your hard work to reality! Use the PrusaSlicer.

For the 3D prints, I separated all the parts to 7 prints.

Note: #1,2,6 all use the Original Prusa while the rest use the PrusaMini.

  1. Guard (Right)
  2. Guard (Left)
  3. Hilt (Blue)
  4. Hilt (Gold Caps)
  5. Blade (Bottom, 2nd most bottom [one with engraving], middle)
  6. Blade (2nd most top, Top)
  7. Blade Decoration (do this print twice!)

Note: For all of the prints except for the hilt pieces and #6 Blade, I used supports everywhere.

For Guard Right, you should use a higher % of infill (default is 15% infill), or else the caps may fall off during assembly. 25% infill should be fine. For all my prints, I used "0.15mm QUALITY" setting for both printers. You can use a thinner or thicker line setting depending on your preference/printer

Step 7: Assemble

With your parts, you can finally assemble!

However, There are still two things that have not been made yet: the blue markings on the blade decoration and guard. For this, I simply used mixed media paper (good for acrylic paint) and a shade of blue acrylic paint I previously had. The brand does not matter so just find one that you like the most! Keep in mind that dried acrylic paint will be darker, so pick a brighter blue for the best results! Also, paint multiple layers and use less water to fasten the process and make the colors bolder.

Tip: The decoration's blue does not need to be accurate, as the gold will cover up any excess shown (just cut a rough shape). However, the guard's blue needs to be accurate (or else it cannot fit!) While you can just cut one part via printing the template for the guard and cutting it like so, I found it easier to just cut a strip of paper and then cutting it to two pieces that fit into the guard perfectly, then gluing and painting it.

Assembling is pretty straightforward; just use superglue to glue and reinforce every part to each other. The 1/2'' dowel may be a bit too big for the holes it is supposed to fit in, so feel free to use some sandpaper and sand the entire dowel.

Step 8: Excalibur: Done!

With the final product assembled, your very own Excalibur sword is finished! Take pictures with it, use it for cosplay, or just display it in your room. What else is better than having your very own hard work displayed for everyone to see?

A Video of the Final Product

Step 9: (Optional) Table Stand

Want to display your brand new Excalibur in its full glory? you can make a table stand for it!

Find the point (or roughly the point, exact does not matter) where your sword's blade would touch the table when put on it's side (with sword's details and engravings visible to see!) Make a line that is tangent to that point. That line would be your makeshift "table" to make sure the sword's stand will work on the table.

Afterwards, CAD a block that goes into the sword's guard. That will be your stand. Using your prior measurements of the sword's guard, trace it onto the block's sketch. Make sure the guard's sketch is slightly wider than the actual guard so the guard will slide into the block with ease.

After, extrude the part. The width of the block does not matter, but I personally made it slightly wider so the sword won't tip.

Done!

The file for the stand is included below.