3D Printing a Vacuum

Last year I decided to practice my prop modeling skills and that the theme would be things that I wish to have in my future home. The first thing was an olive green corduroy couch, next is a Dyson vacuum cleaner! Specifically, the DC24 model. Originally I thought I was going to make it out of a combo of sculpey clay, aluminum wire, and bits of plastic that I had around, but then I discovered the wonder that is Rhino! Rhino is a NURBS based 3D modeling program, and normally I am not that great with computer programs, actually I'm pretty bad at them, but Rhino was easy to pick up. I did some online tutorials, and then used all the basic commands that I learned to model the vacuum.

Here's a shot of the print in progress. Sorry, the pictures aren't too great, they're from my phone. 

Here's the final model! All the black stuff is support material  that the printer builds up around the actual model and I had to put it into a chemical bath for several hours to dissolve the support. The print itself took about 5 hours to finish and I'm really happy with how it came out. I've never 3D printed anything before, and it was a great quick way to create my prop without having to fabricate all the parts separately. I printed my piece out of ABS plastic using the Dimension 1200 SST printer at Length Width Height, a fabrication lab in NYC. Overall I think 3D printing is an awesome way to create prototypes or see how certain parts of your model will work, especially if you don't have a lot of time or money to spend on material. This print was just a test to see if I had any flaws in the model, I'm going to print it again, paint it, and repost pictures soon!