My personal Katana - Maker style

Summary One year ago, I printed and exposed in our Lab in Milan one Katana, using a one piece 3D model made by Gungn1r: www.thingiverse.com/thing:351917 I spitted his model in parts and then assembled, it was a long job but the result was estetically great... You can see some picture on our website www.italymaker.com The thing I didn't like was that the printed katana was a lot fragile, impossibile just to play with it or handle for fun. The polymers are completely different from metal, and the weight and feeling wasn't the best. So recently I decided to project my own katana, adding an interior 6 mm threaded rod from the bottom to top to increase robustness and stiffness, to create a real "Maker Style" katana, expecially designed for 3d printing. At the same time, I had fun to design a new concept of blade, respecting the traditional shapes but introducing a "Maker look" with holes that show the rod inside. I personally designed the Kashira and the Tsuba, and I made a realistic samegawa. As you can see, the theme of my work is the cherry flowers, you can see them in the Hamon, in the Kashira and Tsuba. After that, I printed all the parts in a new, very strong ABS material, assembled with acetone glue. All you need is the 6 mm rod and... a lot of patience! :) All the best! If you need, I'm ready to print it for you, just ask. Post-Printing You have to print all the parts, basically in vertical adding supports. I choosed ABS to be able to assemble all the parts with acetone ABS glue (very strong). If your printer worked well, the rod will enter easily inside each part. See the assembly exploded. Finish all the stuff as you like, I decided for a dry brush with metal paint but feel free to make it as you want!