Dace Campbell is a lifelong Star Wars fan, so when the battery for his Android phone wasn’t cutting it for long enough, he started searching for a charger. Inspired by his phone’s operating sytem, an (An)droid, he decided to get a charger in the form of the GNK power droid, commonly pronounced as “gonk.” UnFortunately, he wasn’t able to find a toy of the appropriate scale to convert, so instead made one himself.
His droid is made to house an Anker “lipstick” charger that slides into the hole on the front. This provides the actual power source for his phone, and can be removed with the help of a small hole on the back. As of now it’s a tight fit, and Campbell would likely print it a little looser if he makes another iteration of this droid.
Since Campbell works at Autodesk and has many years of experience with it, he modeled the GNK in 3D using AutoCAD 2013. His work situation was also helpful in that it gave him access to Autodesk’s shop facilities at Pier 9 in San Francisco, where he 3D printed the “GNK-USB” droid.
The droid is printed with rigid material for the body and feet and flexible material for the legs. This was accomplished in three sections with an Objet Connex 500 printer loaded with rigid white and flexible black material. The print took 14 hours to complete, as well as several hours to clean out the support material.
Although the droid looks quite finished in the photos, it’s not painted. According to Campbell, “It is ready for paint, and have considered ‘aging’ it with rust and corrosion, but just haven’t brought myself to spoil its satiny white finish.”
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