by UnimatrixRed 

A fun little project for Star Trek fans. I made a kit to build the communicator from separate parts that are fitted together for easy gluing and coloring.

So far I've only printed the kit using a .25mm nozzle but did preview everything with a .4mm nozzle template and it appeared the lid would print but if someone could let me know that would help. I'm waiting on some more filament to arrive before I can finish my build and post the pictures.

Parts should open in the orientation they were printed in. Use supports for the lid and body (doesn't use much - the lid only needs support for the hinge part).

For the bulbs/sockets/knobs I suggest printing a few copies of them all at once since they tend to get lost easily when removing them from the print bed. I use a paper towel to cover and remove them to keep them from jumping away, if that helps anyone.

The lid fits and opens great for me at .25mm nozzle size, so please tell me if you have any trouble with it at .4mm.

The top and bottom body pieces benefit from very low layer height to keep things smooth, I used .10mm but lower could be better.

The high detail versions of the speaker disc and microphone were the first drafts and turned out to be a little to hard to print, but you might get better results with smaller nozzle or tuned settings. Try enabling "detect thin walls" setting or equivalent in your slicer to see what effect that has.

You can also choose to print the Moire disc (speaker) on paper or transparency for better detail. For more information on the Moire disc and many other facts about the prop, check this outhttps://www.herocomm.com/BeginHere/TheBasics2.htm