Introduction: Stargate Goa'uld Ring & Pendant With LED
I'm a huge sci-fi geek and, if you check out my Instructables, you will know why. A while ago I have bought resin 3D printer and I have started to experiment with it. I have realise, that you can print translucent items which can be used to make jewellery. As a geek, I have started to look for new projects and, because I love Stargate, I have decided to make Goa'uld themed pendant and ring.
In this instructable I will show you how to make Stargate ring and Goa'uld themed pendant with LED :)
Supplies
- 250mm of UV resin (preferably red and green)
- 60cm-80cm 3mm thick chain (preferably bronze or brass)
- Superglue (preferably Gorilla glue)
- Acrylic paints (Sliver, Copper, Gold, Black)
- Solder
- 5mm Red/Green LED
- Clear nail polish
Tools:
- Resin 3D printer
- UV curing box (if UV resin used)
- Pliers
- Solder iron
Software:
- SLA/DLP slicer
Step 1: CAD Design
It took about 20 hours to design ring and pendant in Fusion 360. The most challenging part was to make grooves in the gemstone to give them Gou'uld's look as seen in Stargate movie and TV show.
The stl files are attached and, if you decide to print the ring, measure your finger size and scale the model accurately. You can only scale the shank, as it's a separate stl file, and you can glue it to the head later.
If you decide to print the Goa'uld pendant you have a choice of two slightly different gemstone cases. One is especially designed for FDM printers and the other one is more screen accurate and good for resin printers.
Step 2: 3D Printing in Resin
When it comes to printing in resin, there are two most common printer types, DLP/MSLA (Digital Light Processing) like Anycubic Photon or Wanhao Duplicator (this is the one I have been using) and SLA like Formlab.
After having tested few various UV resins, I have found out, that for my Photon the original Anycubic resin produces best results and the price is very good compared with other suppliers. For this project I have used translucent red and green resin, and I have printed all parts on my Anycubic Photon S.
I have used dedicated software for slicing but you should get similar software with other bards too. I recommend 40 micron resolution and 7-10 seconds layer exposure. For few bottom layers I recommend 60-70 seconds exposure. Please bare in mind, that you will have to tweak settings slightly depending on what resin you will use and brand of your printer.
I recommend to generate support material as you can see on above pictures. I found out that medium density support works well and it's fairly easy to remove after.
Step 3: Cleaning and Curing Under UV Light
- Remove the part from the plate using plastic spatula (don't use metal as you will scratch the build plate).
- Remove all support material using Stanley knife
- Clean your print with Isopropyl alcohol (99% IPA)
- Cure your print under UV light for about 5 mins. If you don't have dedicated UV box, you can expose your print to Sunlight for few minutes
- After curing, paint it with clear nail polish. It will make your gemstone shiny and give more realistic look.
NOTE: Remember to wear gloves and mask to protect your hands and mouth from resin and IPA.
Step 4: Ring Assembly
After printing and cleaning all parts, we can assemble our Goa'uld ring. Firstly, you have to glue the shank to the gemstone base. For that I would recommend Gorilla super glue, but in addition, you can use small brush and add a little bit of liquid UV resin to the joint and then expose it to Sunlight or other source of UV light (this will ensure strong bond between two parts)
After gluing, use silver spray paint and paint the ring (shank and head) and leave it for 24 hours to dry properly. Next day paint details with copper paint and glue green gemstone into the rings's head.
NOTE: I used silver and copper paint in this case but you can of course use any colours you like.
Step 5: Pendant Assembly
- Solder the electronics like on the diagram and pictures above
- Paint pendant case with silver spray paint and leave 24 hours to dry properly. Next day paint details with copper paint.
- Insert electronics into pendant case (see picture above)
- Glue gemstone into pendant case
- Insert chain (about 70cm) into pendant loop
Step 6: Finished Pendant
Your Gou'uld pendant is ready. You can either wear it without LED or you can switch LED to create glowing effect like most of the Gou'uld devices in Stargate TV show. Above you can see me wearing pendant at Comic Con :)
As you can see I made two different colours, red and green, but red looks a lot better especially with LED switched on.
I hope you will enjoy making either ring or pendant or both - 'Jaffa kree'