3D printed magic tricks

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P.T.Widdle
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3D printed magic tricks

Postby P.T.Widdle » March 28th, 2013, 1:58 pm

I realize this is a Can 'O Worms topic, but my immediate interest is that I would like to start an after school magic club at a middle school that owns a 3D printer. I thought it would be fun for the kids to be able to print some small props, like a paddle, color-blind box, ball vase, etc. Any more suggestions for small items that wouldn't fall into Tenyo copyright categories, for example?

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby Richard Kaufman » March 28th, 2013, 4:12 pm

A well-designed paddle, with a rounded (oval-shaped) shaft would be good. And pretty easy to make on a 3D printer I'd assume.

Most slum magic tricks are in public domain at this point.
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby Pete McCabe » March 29th, 2013, 2:01 am

The classic Spiked Coin is a good bet. Make one with a built-in eyelet so you can attach a strap handle, then do Jim Fish's version with a hammer, real nails, and a board. If you make one let me know—I'll pay you to make one for me.

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MManchester
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby MManchester » March 29th, 2013, 9:38 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:slum magic tricks


Not familiar with this term. Can you elaborate on the kind of magic that fits this category.
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Richard Kaufman
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby Richard Kaufman » March 29th, 2013, 10:06 pm

Pete, do you mean the round box with holes in the top for the spikes? The commonly seen version was invented by Dick Zimmerman for a Matel magic set in 1969.
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Richard Kaufman
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby Richard Kaufman » March 29th, 2013, 10:11 pm

The term "slum magic" refers to simple tricks of the type that are pitched over small magic counters in flea markets. Svengali Deck, Ball vase, Nickles to Dimes.
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Jim Riser
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby Jim Riser » March 29th, 2013, 11:23 pm

It would be very difficult to suggest items to make without knowing the resolution your printer is capable of producing. 3D printers still have a long way to go.

This item

http://jamesriser.com/Magic/SkeletonMag ... t01380.jpg

was printed on state of the art equipment. There were problems galore with the project.

Do not expect a smooth surface on your product nor fine details even with very high end equipment.
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby P.T.Widdle » March 30th, 2013, 8:25 pm

I believe it's a Makerbot Replicator. I know the items won't be perfect, but I still think the kids will get a lot out of designing and printing the tricks themselves. Actually, I might make this project part of a technology class rather than part of a magic club. We'll see.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I like the coin box idea, and I think that it would be fun to try.

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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby Jim Riser » March 31st, 2013, 1:36 pm

P.T.;
The Makerbot is lower resolution but fine for teaching and experimentation. A fun item to make would be a lidded box with human finger inside (hole in bottom). The old three lids to cover a coin (attached hair - find the coin) is another item. A third might be a square plastic frame for the old Kennard (sp?) die release.
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lybrary
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby lybrary » March 31st, 2013, 9:23 pm

P.T., this is an excellent idea. You are lucky that your school has such a printer and I commend you for making use of it. I wish I had teachers like you. I have a Cube 3D printer for a couple of months now. I also worked with 3D printers at MIT several years ago when they still cost ~$100k. Now that one can buy really good ones for around $1000 they are affordable for anybody who wants to print stuff for themselves and experiment with this technology.

I have to say, that even though I had prior experience with high end 3D printers I am pleasantly surprised at the quality of what the cheap ones create. Yes, they are not perfect, but it is amazing what they can already do. Focus on what is possible not where they still lack.

I have printed dozens of items for myself, from special pipe fittings for a project, to rising card gimmicks and toys for my son. So far my largest and most successful project was a Cy Endfield type of chess set. For details see http://www.lybrary.com/cy-endfields-chess-set-a-19.html

I have not yet explored what is possible for magic with these printers, but I am happy to print out prototypes for anybody with a good idea. I can directly print STL files, but I am also willing to simply take an idea and create the 3D design myself. A great tool I can recommend is OpenSCAD (free software) which will appeal to anybody who can program, because it is not your point-and-click design tool, but rather an algorithmic program where you can build and combine all kinds of basic shapes into the most complex and precisely created designs. I am using OpenSCAD for pretty much all my projects.
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby Jim Riser » April 1st, 2013, 5:07 pm

For all of you bargain basement guys who want to try 3D printing ....

http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/f487/

It does not get any cheaper than this. iPad and batteries not supplied!
Jim

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lybrary
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby lybrary » April 1st, 2013, 6:56 pm

A better suggestion for those who want to enter the 3D printing world cheaply is to look into the RepRap movement. It will cost a bit more than $50, but not much more and then you have a real 3D printer. Google RepRap for more info.
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby shatteredorbit » August 18th, 2013, 9:06 pm

lybrary wrote:I have printed dozens of items for myself, from special pipe fittings for a project, to rising card gimmicks and toys for my son. So far my largest and most successful project was a Cy Endfield type of chess set. For details see http://www.lybrary.com/cy-endfields-chess-set-a-19.html


The original chess set and your printed version is amazing! Is this 3d printed, or cut from pipe fittings?

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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby lybrary » August 19th, 2013, 3:11 pm

The original version was made by a silversmith. Exactly how it was made I don't know, but since it was made from silver and gold it certainly was not made from pipe fittings :-) My plastic rendition was entirely printed on a Cube 3D printer.
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shatteredorbit
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby shatteredorbit » March 31st, 2014, 3:29 am

Of course the original isn't made from pipe fittings. I was referring to your comment about pipe fittings. Nice to see that the entire set can be done with a 3d printer.

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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby mrgoat » March 31st, 2014, 9:13 am

to make one as a project teaching CADCAM could be interesting, but it'd be a heck of a lot cheaper to just buy them if you want them to teach a class magic...

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lybrary
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby lybrary » March 31st, 2014, 11:14 am

David Walsh has created the first 3D printed commercial magic product. For details see here http://www.lybrary.com/tr-holdout-p-455626.html I believe that this is just the start of a wave of new 3D printed products in magic.

If you have an idea that you think could be 3D printed contact me. Lybrary.com is going to be part of the 3D-print revolution. I have been happily 3D printing for more than a year and am now even building my own unique 3D printer as well as help creators bring their ideas to market.
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PickaCard
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby PickaCard » March 31st, 2014, 4:56 pm

3D printed Ultra Tube anyone?

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby Richard Kaufman » March 31st, 2014, 5:32 pm

The quality of what comes out of a 3D printer could not produce a functioning Ultra Tube.
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Tom Moore
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby Tom Moore » March 31st, 2014, 6:29 pm

Some of the high end, cost-as-much-as-a-house pieces can but the desktop units at the prosumer / consumer end of the market still have incredibly low resolution; they're still at effectively the dot-matrix printer phase. That said they are an amazing tool, we've had one for just over a year now and it gets a phenomenal amount of usage but its still essentially a prototyping and concept testing device, we are at least 4-5 years away from a desktop 3D printer that can produce something anywhere near the quality of the kind of plastic tat we are used to handling every day.
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lybrary
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby lybrary » March 31st, 2014, 9:29 pm

Tom, I have to disagree. With aceton vapor smoothing you can achieve incredible smooth surfaces equivalent to what you would be used to from injection molding. Dimensional accuracy is not yet as good with low end consumer units, but 0.1mm dimensional accuracy gets you pretty far for many things. Don't forget that 0.1mm is equivalent to 250dpi, which in my book is already very good. Better machines can get resolution down to 16 micrometer which is equivalent to 1500dpi. And don't forget that the pace of innovation in 3D printing is mindnumbingly fast.

While it will still take time to replicate the typical Tenyo type trick with a 3D printer, there are many things you can do with current low to mid range equipment. Plus all the advantages that 3D printing brings which traditional manufacturing can't achieve, like mixing of plastics, print pieces already assembled, one-off or small run manufacturing, all at falling prices of production.
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby Pete McCabe » March 31st, 2014, 9:55 pm

I saw a demo once of a 3D printer that could print two different types of plastic, and it made an iPhone case with moving (!) gears. I think if you can do that, you should be able to make an Ultraslice.

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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby Tom Moore » April 1st, 2014, 6:19 am

Vapor smoothing is an "after printing" process rather than something relerevant to the printing process; also whilst it does make the surface smoother it screws up the tolerances even more. In engineering terms this end of the 3D market is still a long way off hitting the kind of accuracy that almost any other manufacturing process would consider "rough" - but that's not why they were invented, they're invented for speedy prototyping not precision.

I've not checked but i'd expect tenyo's injection moulding is (like most cast plastic process's) precise to 0.001mm which is still a world away from 3D printing technologies and i'd even go so far as to say basically impossible using the filament based printing technology. The next big leap in quality and price is going to be coming from the laser/resin end of the market as they have already got much finer resolution, better consistency/dimensional accuracy and several key patents are shortly to expire which means the chinese clone's will start flooding the market and pull the price down.

Pete - ours is a double headed machine (they're not that rare any more) but they've even got ways of making a single-head machine be able to print "ready assembled" mechanism, again thought sadly the resolution is some way off producing something that is properly smooth and durable.
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lybrary
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby lybrary » April 1st, 2014, 9:59 am

I am sure that resolution and accuracy will improve almost as fast as it has improved with regular desktop printers. Not too long ago my first inkjet printer had a resolution of 90dpi. That was the best HP had to offer in those days. That was mid 80s. Now it is hard to find a printer with less than 600dpi.

With 3D printing we are sort of in the 80s of the computer revolution. New print technologies are being invented regularly. It is not yet clear which one will be the most useful. I agree that FDM (fused deposition method) has its limitations, but there are others that already reach into the 10s of micrometer range and will soon be in the micrometer range on par with injection molding.

But in my opinion it is not particularly clever to try to mimic with a new technology old technology. Rather see what can be done with the new technology better. While FDM is not as fine and as accurate than injection molding for many applications it does not have to be. I am sure one could create a line of plastic magic tricks which do not require the precision and surface smoothness of injection molding. That is the opportunity.
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Dan Strange
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby Dan Strange » April 1st, 2014, 8:07 pm

Craig Filicetti at Promystic has been using a 3D printer for some of his props for a couple of years I believe.

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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby Jim Riser » April 1st, 2014, 11:59 pm

There is a whole slew of items which could be made and successfully marketed using the current level of sophistication of 3D printers. There are key elements to the success of such a project:

1. Take advantage of the "roughness"
2. Take advantage of currently available colors
3. Combine manufacturing processes
4. Skill in 3D modeling is required - merely scanning will not do

What is the goal here? To produce items using cheap technology to bypass learning a skill? The easy way? To make a quick buck doing minimal work? Does the word laziness apply here?

Does the magic community need more mass produced crap?

I could have a line of 10 items produced by 3D printing on the market within two weeks. But why?
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby David Walsh » April 9th, 2014, 2:43 am

I done a lot of research into 3d printing, without actually doing any printing. I got kind of lucky with it. I served my time as an engineer and have been working with 3d modelling for around 25 years. It was tedious in the early years of my slow Atari STE running cyber studio CAD 3D, more on and off in the middle years and way more frequent (daily basis) in recent years for graphics purposes in the corporate film industry.

What I found was that home 3d printers were of no interest to me personally. Definitely because of the quality I wanted, but more so relating to the acceleration of advances in the technology. Buy a printer today and you'll want a new one in a small matter of months. 2014 is a big year for the industry.

This reflects in the costs of printing, that are falling already, by professional companies who need to justify the cost of machines.

I think it's great that these, low cost, home printers are available so anyone with an interest can create their own projects. But that's still how I see them, as tools for hobbiests. I recon things like imp bottles with no fine accuracy necessities could be made on a decent home printer by someone who has experimented enough.

Personally I'm happy to have the manufacturing side of things done by those who have the time to keep up to date with the machines and the techniques required.

In the professional world 3d printing has passed the prototyping stages. Formula 1 are already using the technology to make final production parts for their race cars, not just for prototyping.

http://www.3dsystems.com/learning-cente ... 3d-systems

Something mentioned towards the end of the video above, I think, relates to the magic world. That is in manufacturing small numbers of parts. Compared to other industries, magic is a niche market, often with niche products within the niche market. I recon 3d printing is great for magic. Large tooling costs for low, per unit, manufacturing runs makes for a very expensive product. A lot of products can be made by 3d printing already that can be manufactured cheaper than otherwise, or even products that would never see the light of day. Not just products, but props etc. for individual magicians.

I found that the professional manufacturers are offering less than they can do to bring costs down. Already the printers, for many materials, can work more accurately than is being offered. But then the time to print and the costs rise, so they lower the resolutions.

As it gets more competitive the higher resolutions, already available, will become available at the same costs. They already are available to those that request them, but at F1 budgets.

I like to look at what can be done with what is available at reasonable cost. Anything other gets stuck in the, one for the future, bank.

Making imp bottles etc. is great for the magician with an interest in home printing. But what I would like to see in the magic market is what 3d printing can do to take old magic to new levels, and what can be done with printers that could not be done in any other way, making new magic possible.

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Angelo Carbone
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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby Angelo Carbone » April 9th, 2014, 5:13 am

I am expecting to receive a Matterform 3D scanner and a Buccaneer 3D printer in the next few months. I am getting these through crowd funding sites. Should be great to make prototypes and gimmicks.

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Re: 3D printed magic tricks

Postby Eoin O'hare » April 10th, 2014, 11:40 am

Designer & Maker of The Stripper Jig Card Trimmer


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