Guardians of the Galaxy 3d Printed Orb

This is an instructable to create the Orb from the Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy. In the film the orb contains the power (infinity) stone and this is part of my plan to recreate all the infinity stones and their containers from the films.

I need to make it super clear this 3d printing file is not my own work I just did the post processing and painting. I love this 3d file and wanted to share it and spread it on instructables as i couldn't find anything similar here myself. I emailed the original creator to check he was ok with me making this instructable and he kindly said yes.

The pictures above in order - the replica given to the GoTG director by Marvel for his birthday, a still from the movie and my completed orb.

You can see my other instructable which shows how i created the Aether container from Thor 2.

Step 1: Tools/Materials

1. Access to PC to get 3d print files

2. Access to 3d Printer + Filament (your own or one of many online services)

3. Needle Files

4. Sandpaper.

5. Silver and gold Acrylic Paint, fine soft paintbrush and some kitchen roll.

6. Super Glue

7. (optional) - Neodymium Magnets.

Step 2: Find and Print the 3D Files.

First things first as I said this is not my 3d printing file but I thought it was awesome and wanted to try and spread it a bit further via instructables.

Its by Tonyyoungblood and the link below will take you to the thingiverse page where the files are stored along with some remixes by various other people.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:430184.

an optional extra - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1695383 Go to this page if you want to print the rims with holes for concealed magnets to help hold the halves together

Download the file and then get it 3d printed.

I don't have my own 3d Printer so I looked at numerous websites through which you can get files 3d printed.

I looked at a few like shapeways, Sculpteo and even Thingiverse's own printer but I settled on 3d hubs as you can upload your files and material requirements and it will show you all the hubs registered who could print it. I liked this as it allowed me to look for smaller independent 3d printers where I could collect the item (so to avoid postage) and they are often cheaper than the big companies.

Step 3: Post-processing the Print

I got mine printed in black PLA filament - this colour choice helped later with the painting but we will come to that.

This was my first time working with a 3d print and I hadn't quite appreciated the level of need for post processing. The prints were a really good quality but little spurs of filament and the printing support struts needed trimming and filing/sanding to get them ready for painting.

The best way to do this I found was a Stanley knife for the big spurs and supports then small needle files. Once the big spurs had been removed I gave the general surface a going over with some medium and fine grit sandpaper to prep the surface for paint.

On this print I chose not to sand/file the recesses that cover the outside. The different layers that are a visible in the recesses actually add a shimmering effect when the rest is painted so i left them unsanded.

Step 4: Painting the Orb

Plan out how you are going to arrange your orb before you begin painting - I set my inner hemispheres at an angle to the outer hemispheres - this was similar to some shots in the film and also helps with the stability of the orb when it is set down. Planning this means you might need to extend the silver and gold paint down over the extra exposed areas.

For the gold and Silver I used acrylic paint. I wanted to try and get a weathered effect to orb (in the films its looks battered and ancient), for this i squirted some of the paint on to the kitchen roll. This allows you to just get the brush lightly covered in the paint so that when you apply it to plastic it does not accumulate and fill all the crevices or run.

As a side note if you can't get the print done in black filament then you will first need to paint the orb with a black primer. You need to put the black down first before adding the silver and gold so that the black will show through a light layer of the Silver and Gold.

Step 5: Glue the Pieces Together

Once you painted the different components its time to stick them all together. You should have 2 outer hemisphere's, 2 inner hemispheres and 2 rims.

I chose to use rims which had been modified by another user with recesses in the rim to add magnets to increase the adhesion between the two sides.

I used super glue for all the glueing starting with magnets into the rims and then the rims to the outer hemispheres, this then allows you to set up the inner hemispheres at the angle you desire.

The photo I've included is of the three infinity stone containers I have made so far The Aether, The Tesseract and the Orb. I'm currently planning on making the Eye of Agamotto so look out for that and then heaven help me Loki's sceptre from Age of Ultron. The final touch will be to cast some coloured light up resin gems to put inside each of the containers.