3D-Printed TARDIS Transformer Is More Than Meets The Eye
This article is more than 2 years old
Sure, the TARDIS has plenty of cred as a time machine transportation device, but if you anthropomorphize it — or, more accurately, robo-pomorphize — and imagine it keeping rank with Optimus Prime (that is, assuming the TARDIS wouldn’t be a Decepticon), a whole world of crossover possibilities open up, including this awesome toy.
The creator, Andrew Lindsey, whose other toys and 3D-printed creations are featured on Thingiverse, was inspired by this “TARDIS Prime” t-shirt. After he saw someone wearing it, he had to figure out how to make the toy. And what better way to do it than with a 3D printer?
Lindsey actually built his own 3D Delta-style printer from scratch, a long process chronicled on his blog. He also drew all of the original AutoCAD files — apparently the TARDIS transformer’s hands were the hardest part — and they’re available for download on his blog, for free. That’s right. No matter what happens to Lindsey for the rest of his life, he can rest assured that he’s made a valuable contribution to the human race without even making a buck.
He designed the entire transformation sequence for the TARDIS Prime himself, and the print requires over 70 individual parts. Don’t worry, the instructions are also available on his site. Once printed and assembled, the TARDIS is just under seven inches tall, but when it’s in robot mode, it’s over a foot. Lindsey is a bit hard on himself: “I’m not completely happy with the way this turned out,” he writes on his blog, because the robot can’t stand on its own two feet unless very carefully balanced. Also, its hip joints are too loose (I think my grandmother had a similar problem). Well, dude, just remember that nothing like this existed before you figured out how to 3D print it, so I think we can let TARDIS Prime take a seat and rest.
I wonder if Lindsey takes requests. What do you think the next 3D printed mash-up should be? DataTron? The Fortress of Babylon 5? BaltarD2?
