I Think I Start Too Many Robot Builds

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]last week. This was just a quick experiment of building robots with wood and printed pieces. But I may be a little obsessed with building robots.

[00:00:08]Welcome to cut transform glue. Okay, so my original idea for this project was to keep it just like this. Not even painted. Just leave as an experiment with the filament colors and the MDF layers visible. I know. I kept looking at it and I'm liking this design so much with the two missile pods kind of set on the back and I don't know. I think I want to finish this little guy. I'll begin with its body. In this video, I'll focus on the body and just the body.

[00:00:39]This project is coming together pretty fast. So, I'm thinking focus on the body now, then the hip and legs later, and finally painting. Now, I think I'll begin removing some parts. this this these two and the other side as well.

[00:00:56]Just for a brief second, I want to make some changes to the front of the body.

[00:01:01]But when I tried removing some of these pieces, well, the CA did a much better job than expected.

[00:01:09]So, I had to use a bit of brute force, which of course destroyed some of these parts. Certified though, cuz I will replace some for some good looking wheels. So, I got them removed from right here, from the other side, and also the thing from the top right here.

[00:01:31]Now, these two, these are boned forever.

[00:01:34]I'm not even going to try. Now, I'm going to go ahead and grab some CA and kind of seal the MDF. Now, sealing the MDF, as I'm calling it, is totally optional. And how effective this is will only be visible once I apply the primer.

[00:01:51]So, stick to the very end of the video to check that out. But yeah, the idea here is to seal the end grain using glue and sanding. I've got this giant bottle of CA glue and I'm not afraid to use it.

[00:02:03]It is pretty toxic though, so yeah, use a respirator cuz it will burn your eyes.

[00:02:09]The next thing I did was a larger shamfer around the edge, which on styrene can be done pretty easily with a blade or any sharp metal tool.

[00:02:25]It does get pretty messy though, and the shavings will be everywhere in your shop and on your skin.

[00:02:33]Then I found a rectangular piece of acrylic to add to the front of the robot. This isn't a humanoid, of course, but the front kind of acts like its face. The first or second thing people will look at, so it needs as much detail as possible. I rounded the corners, marked where it needed to go, and glued it in place.

[00:02:56]And to make that plain piece of plastic a bit more interesting, I drilled a couple of holes into it.

[00:03:03]Then I found this really nice resin printed piece kind of lost in my collection and glued it right where the pink printed Gribbly originally was.

[00:03:13]Pink print pink print. Oh my god. Pink printed Gribly. This is hard. I'll make sure to upload that design for my patronons. Links of course below.

[00:03:28]I kept removing and replacing parts that looked a bit lost in the original design. This was supposed to be just a quick experiment. So, it's certainly fine to change things wherever needed.

[00:03:40]And this is when I found this complex shape from a broken printer, and it just looked fantastic, and it really matched the robot's design. I made a few adjustments, removing some extra bits and shapes. Then I marked exactly where I needed to go just to be extra precise and glued it in place with CA.

[00:04:01]And from there, I just kept adding smaller details to really populate that back area with more visual interest.

[00:04:17]Heat. Heat.

[00:05:06]Okay. So, here's what I did so far. On the front, I added this piece of acrylic of which I rounded the corners and added a couple of holes for extra detail. My original idea was to actually remove these two pieces and add a plate going from right here to right here. And then on top of this acrylic, add the two pink printed pieces. But yeah, the CA worked too well for these two. And I'm not risking kind of destroying the front of my robot to to do this. On the top, I added this, which is actually a resin printed piece that looks kind of like a hatch. So, there's a handle right here.

[00:05:47]So, when you look at it, you think, well, maybe someone will open it and it gives you a sense of scale and a couple of extra details on the side. This right here, I believe, is a broken key cap.

[00:06:01]And this, I have no idea. On the back, I added a couple of very good-looking gribies to add some detail to the back portion of the robot. And it has a kind of a couple of holes right here. And I'm thinking this is a good opportunity for me to put a kind of a wire going from the body of the robot to the missile pod. Now, on the sides right here where I removed the original 3D printed piece, which was this one right here, I went with a piece of acrylic, kind of like a pew-shaped piece of acrylic.

[00:06:39]And then I found something very interesting to go with it, which is this super good-looking griy right here, which kind of matches it perfectly.

[00:06:50]So, yeah, I'll put that right there. And probably add something right here like a sensor or something.

[00:06:58]Completely lost my words there. Yeah, something like a sensor or an antenna.

[00:07:03]Some kind of detector thing.

[00:07:06]But of course, it needs some changes first.

[00:07:23]The sensor came from my small detail box as a neat looking cylinder from a printer. And yeah, this is probably the sketchiest hole you'll see me drill.

[00:07:38]I definitely need a small vice.

[00:07:43]After some hard work and an absurd amount of grip force from my opposing thumb, I drilled the hole and glued the thing in place. Okay, so here they are.

[00:07:52]The two sensors, one on each side.

[00:07:57]Pretty happy with this. And I think I have a great level of detail on the top of the body. I kind of want to keep this area right here more empty, you know, to create a contrast in between this flat spot right here and the more busy spots like right here and right here. But there's one extra thing I want to add to the top, which is some wires coming out of this structure right here and kind of neatly organized going everywhere on the top of the body. And to guide the wires on the top of the body, I'll use these tiny pieces right here. Some are 3D printed and some are laser cut acrylic.

[00:08:55]Heat. Heat.

[00:09:34]Now, the secret with these wire organizers is that I print them with this little nub right here. If I made them like this with just some CA glue on the bottom, they break easily. But as you just saw, I print them with this little nub right here. I drill a hole on the surface of the model. And then with a lot of CA glue, I plug them in place.

[00:09:56]And they're pretty strong like this.

[00:10:07]>> That accident was definitely not on the script. But yeah, after plugging the cable organizers, it was time for the actual cables.

[00:10:41]Okay, I think there's enough wiring going on up here on the top. Of course, this will all have to be removed before applying the primer. But yeah, I like this chaotic vibe right here. Now, I should work on the missile pods cuz they're still pretty plain and boring.

[00:11:00]We're on the final stretch here, and my goal is to take care of those flat, uninteresting panels on the sides of the pods, and also add a way to connect a wire from the body to each one. I began by adding an outer flange, if that's even the right word, to the plug just to reinforce the attachment point, which felt a bit weak. And then came the detail panels. In this case, laser cut acrylic shapes I keep around exactly for this kind of thing.

[00:11:38]For the other side, instead of going with the same solution, I use some Apple keyboard key caps.

[00:11:56]I also added a few extra details on the top faces.

[00:12:07]And lastly, I added a plug where the wire will connect.

[00:12:35]Okay, so this is nearly finished. I really like how this is looking so far, but seeing it like this kind of hides my crimes cuz if you flip it, yeah, it's still very empty on the bottom and on the back side. So, I'm going to do a quick detail pass on the bottom and on the back. And then we'll go for the coat of primer.

[00:13:16]Nothing too crazy, just a couple of shapes. So, if anyone is looking from the bottom, there's something to see there. Now, let's go for the primer. But first, I got to remove all of the wires and separate the pieces.

[00:14:19]Okay, so here it is with the final coat of primer. And I believe this is ready for the painting process. I don't think I'll add anything else to the body. I think this looks pretty good already.

[00:14:31]Now, I was looking at my pile of shame right here, which is this box where I keep everything that needs to be sorted.

[00:14:41]Tons of cool gribbies right here. And I saw this thing right here and it got me thinking that maybe this little guy deserves a cool battery pack right here on the back. Maybe this is too big for it. But yeah, I like to add a cool battery pack for this little guy. Don't fall, please.

[00:15:06]Oh my god. It's okay. It's okay. We're okay. So yeah, in the future I'll make a cool battery pack for this little guy.

[00:15:17]Let me know in the comments what you thought of this build. Was it a good idea to keep building on it or do you guys think this deserve to be just an quick experiment? Let me know in the comments. Don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already. Leave me a comment.

[00:15:31]Please hit the like button and check my Patreon links. I really need your help.

[00:15:36]And as always, thanks for watching.