Below is a presentation of Stargates made by other stargate builders, as described in this project. If you have made a Stargate yourself and wants it displayed here, send the information and pictures to kristian@thestargateproject.com. I recommend including the following:
- Stargate/planet name, stargate address
- Some information about the stargate builder. Location? Age? Your relationship with the stargate series? Have you done similar projects before?
- Three pictures of your stargate.
- Printing details? (Type of filament, layer heights, density, etc.)
- Painting details?
- What was you hardest challenges you faced during the project, and how did you overcome them?
- Anything else you would like to include?
eXos
dgaKLl
Romania, 33yo, hard fan since the start of the SG1 Series, loved all series and movies, watched all
PLA, 0.16 layer height, 40-60% infill
2 months to print including ramp
The hardest challenge was the noise generated by the glyph ring spinning. It was extremely loud and on so many levels.
First I reprinted the whole glyph ring at 15% infill to make it lighter (it made no difference)
Then I sanded the whole ring for 4 hours to make the face, back, and sides (inner/outer) as smooth as possible (still no difference)
After this I greased the ring channel (this made a small difference)
Then I placed rubber feet under the entire gate assembly to reduce vibrations translated to the surface it stands on (this also helped slightly)
But the ultimate solution was discovered by a colleague over on Discord, and that was to place some felt/textile (I used textile electrical tape) on the inner side of the glyph ring, exactly where the ball bearings touch it. (this reduced the notice to something very ok)
I went with the SGC ramp stand because I like it more.
I also added a ZPM Hub + ZPM which gets turned-on, on Chevron 8 (since there is no LED board) Dialing the Pegasus Stargate (Atlantis) – YouTube
Still left to do:
Add cables that go from the bottom, over the side pillars towards the power-claws for effect.
Paint the thing
Cyathea
fIUdRc
I am in the US, retired, and I loved the Stargate movie and all the Stargate TV series. I have the SG1 DVD complete collection and have watched all the episodes. For our new home (that I named “Planet-Fern” for my wife’s hobby of raising ferns), I planned to put a stargate by the front door and use the 8’ x 8’ window to the dining room behind the stargate to project a video of the ‘wormhole’ effect. I found a contractor to design and machine a half-scale Stargate from “outdoor-sign” foam in 2015. I stopped my assembly of the Stargate in front of my new home, as I realized I wanted to add chevron lighting effects, but I did not know how to do that. I also purchased an SG1 season 10 episode “Bad Guys” DHD prop that I plan to create a working DHD key overlay, but I also did not know how to do that.
A friend recommended I look at Kristian’s Stargate web site in April and I immediately started this project. It took one month to order and receive the electronics, and during the same time two months of 3D printing and assembly of the Stargate, DHD and tablet. I began my 3D printing journey six years ago to build a full-size Star Wars BB-8, and I now have three printers and used a Creality CR-10S Pro to print my Stargate.
I exclusively use ABS filament for all my 3D prints and have a full enclosure on my Creality printer to stabilize the temperature and minimize warping. My print settings for this project were 0.15mm layer height and 15% infill for most of the parts. I used very clear transparent ABS for the DHD keys and Chevron lenses at 0.10 layer height and 100% infill and increased the size of the keys and lenses by 2% to account for additional shrinkage of these transparent parts, compared to the different vendor gunmetal gray ABS filament. I found Kristian’s Stargate discord forum very helpful as it had solutions to several problems I ran into, including how to increase the brightness of the DHD LEDs by simply editing one of Kristian’s stargate python scripts. One remaining issue is the ‘wormhole’ is warped outwards which I believe is due to the plexiglass mirror in the back is being pushed away from the two-way mirror in front – since I can gently press on the center of the rear mirror from the back and straighten out the ‘wormhole’. I have disassembled the stargate but I didn’t find any issue with the clamping of the mirrors. I also need to file, sand, and paint the steps and platform, but I am very happy with my working stargate and plan to scale some of the concepts to my half-scale stargate and full-size DHD!
I named my stargate address “Cyathea” which is the genus of “Tree Ferns”, which predate the dinosaurs, here is a photo of some tree ferns.
Serenity (after the ship in Firefly)
LCTJSV
US, 30, saw an episode of SGU in my early twenties and fell in love instantly, immediately started SG1 and couldn’t get enough of it. Watched all of SG1, SGA, SGU, and movies a couple times now.
I used Hatchbox Silver ABS for the entire gate (TPU for the stepper motor mount), 20% infill on most parts and maybe 80% on the base mounts that hold the ring. Layer heights were 0.2 for any part that wasn’t visible and 0.1 for the visible parts. Used Cura and tree supports and had great success with the prints, no real hurdles with slicing.
The biggest hurdle was definitely the move to using an enclosure with the ABS and replacing any PLA printed mods with ABS ones. The painting of the gate is something I would never have attempted (my elementary school daughter can paint better than I). Luckily my wife is very skilled at painting and made it look even more amazing than I thought it could be. The gate is actually very quiet when spinning and works beautifully without any issues, couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. I’ve done several other projects involving electronics and 3d printing but this one is definitely my favourite with a remote-controlled Wall-E coming in close behind and maybe my quad (drone) as a third.
PX1-482
jLgCBY
I’m located in California USA, retired computer engineer. I have been a sci-fi nut from the start of my life, following NASA, and TV classics like “Lost In Space” and “StarTrek”. I remember ditching school and driving to downtown Chicago to catch this odd movie “Star Wars” on the 2nd day it opened. (Thanks big brother)
StarGate has been a staple in my house since the movie and loved all the series. I think it was the Egyptian tie in to Sci-Fi that hooked my wife and I.
How did I pick an address and name for the gate? The address is a collection of my family birth constellations and a couple of constellations I like based on observations with my telescope. I’m also into model railroading (narrow gauge) and #482 is a train that runs from Durango to Silverton, Colorado US that I have fond memories of riding as a kid and taking my kids on. Hence PX1-482
I have been 3d printing stuff for more years than I can remember, but this is the largest and most complex project I have undertaken.
Gate is printed with eSun Gray PLA. .1mm layer height, 25% fill. Printer used is a PRUSA MK3S. Clear parts are resin printed with a ProtonS
Entire model is airbrushed with Vallejo paints. Primed with black, then base coat of 71.052 German Gray. Then I highlighted with 71.097 Base gray, 71.115 Blue Grey, and 77.723 Exhaust Manifold. The Chevrons are lightly painted with 71.086 light red. The whole model was sealed with “Floor care”.
The hardest part of the model was painting. I ended up painting it twice to get the “look” I wanted. I did make the stepper motor mount in flexible material and added felt to the outer ring, and the gate is reasonably quiet now. It’s close to being done, but the next thing I want to do (besides build another gate) is play with the software on the gate.
Velma
KJEFCV
Hi, I’m Andy,49, German and a huge fan since the first episode. My favourite episode? 🙂 The one with the golf ball (I guess you know) and Teal’c translating a Jaffa joke. Too funny. The name of my Stargate is a tribute to Scooby-Doo’s Velma. One of my favourite shows since childhood.
I’m an IT professional and programmer at work and I have an eduction in electronics. In my spare time I have developed many electronic actors for my home automation system and many other things with Atmel and ESP32. So I used a cheap light sensor module with adjustable Schmitt trigger for the homing sensor.
I print a lot of movie busts (like a big alien dog) with resin. As I’m a tech only the scary part is always the painting. But my friend and neighbour an artist paints all my needs and I print all his parts. So a win win.
As I saw Kristian’s project I immediately bought his project files and planed the build. I own 5 3D printers (3 FDM and 2 Resin). So printing was not an issue.
As I like it big and to get a better scale I printed the Stargate with 150 percent scale. I simple used PLA with 20% infill for all stargate parts. For finer detail parts like the chevrons and buttons I used orange resin with 0.05mm resolution. To get rid of the noises I didn’t use ball bearings but PTFE glide pads. All ornaments in the build a real 24k gold leaf. As I like to tell a little story in all my builds I placed a mice family running into their hide. The guards eyes are flashing randomly and the ornament eye is fading in and out. I have developed an Apple watch and iPhone app to fast dial the addresses during a presentation for visitors. I’m very happy with the project and I’m looking forward for Krisitans Atlantis build. You can count me in 🙂
