How To 3D Print A Transformers Matrix Of Leadership

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Transformers: The Movie (1986) and its upcoming release on Blu-ray, Bob Claget uses his skills and a 3D printer in the latest installment of "I Like To Make Stuff" to create The Matrix of Leadership, a conduit for the power of Primus (creator-god of the Transformers).

"A lot of people have the misconception that 3D printing is like you click a button and then you have a finished thing," Claget explains. "And in this case, and in the case of a lot of props, that is not true. In fact: This project, so far, has been one of the more time intensive things I've done in a really long time. There's a bunch of reasons why, but I think it is important for you to understand the modeling took a long time, even though I was learning Fusion at the same time I was working on the project, but I had to model the pieces and make changes and modify the models. I had to print out pieces that sometimes failed or were just wrong. So the printing process took quite awhile. And even when I had all the pieces printed, I realized that there were a lot of things I didn't add to the model that I should've. Once they were all finished printing, each piece had to be sanded and primed and sanded and painted, and that took a lot longer than I thought. I had to do the electronics, to figure out the code for the animation."

The Autobots, led by the heroic Optimus Prime, prepare to make a daring attempt to retake their planet from the evil forces of Megatron and the Decepticons. Unknown to both sides, a menacing force is heading their way – Unicron. The only hope of stopping Unicron lies within the Matrix of Leadership and the Autobot who can rise up and use its power to light their darkest hour. Will the Autobots be able to save their native planet from destruction or will the Decepticons reign supreme?

The Transformers: The Movie 30th Anniversary Edition releases on Sept. 13, 2016.