Shop update #447 (6-3-26) I made a wooden frame for 3D printed wall art

A good friend’s birthday is coming up soon and I make him a present every year.  He is very passionate about his 6 Honda dirt bikes and was gobsmacked when he saw my 3D printed Stormtrooper Helmet so I put the 2 together.

I started by printing a Stormtrooper Helmet bust and corresponding wall plate.  The whole thing is about 8″ square.

I then printed a small Honda logo in white, heated it up with a torch so that I could bend it to match the curve of the helmet, and attached it with CA glue.

I had some leftover 1/4″ plywood and face frame my son’s shelf unit so I used it to make a frame.  I started by measuring how wide to cut the plywood.

Once the plywood was cut, I used it to on the table saw sled to measure the long ends for the frame.

I then marked and cut the smaller sides.

I glued and nailed 1 long side and 1 short side to the backer board and then used the 3D printed backer plate to line the other 2 pieces up.

The frames looked pretty good but the sides of the plywood and ends of the cut pieces look terrible so I sanded everything flush.

I almost liked how the sanded frames looked until I saw the bust in it so I applied more stain, let it dry and then gave them 3 coats of clear.

I am very happy with how it turned out.  I also made on for myself.

Very seldom do we get every 3D print right on the first try…