Thread: Building a Life-size OmniWrench Replica – Millennium 12

I grew up playing the Ratchet and Clank games on the Playstation so I decided to build one of the weapons from the games.

I'm already in the process of building Clank, so I figured I may as well create Ratchet's OmniWrench as well to go with the display.

To build my replica I'm using reference photos from the game to create 3D models in Autodesk Inventor.

I first started with modelling the handle and grip section as can be seen below. Since The Ratchet and Clank games are known for oversized fun weapons and gadgets, so I'm scaling my wrench to fit that category. From that, my OmniWrench will total 600mm/23.5 inches in length. 

Since it'll be a considerable size, I've designed my files to incorporate metal piping and steel tubing internally. This serves the dual purpose of reinforcing the prop as well as providing me hollow internals that I can run electronics and LED's through.

Here's the work I've completed on the jaws, complete with cavities that I can slot in my LED assemblies

The handle/grip section then transitions into this "central junction" type piece that branches off to each jaw of the wrench, each of which will be connected with steel tubing internally.

April 9th, 2021

And then here's where I'm up to currently with my 3D Model, super pleased with how it's coming along.

April 10th, 2021

With the exterior modelled, it was time to detail the interior so I could run electronics and wires.

To achieve this I sourced metal pipes/tubing and then modelled the opening to be a really nice tight friction fit.

April 15th, 2021

With the 3D model pretty well complete I was able to start 3D printing.

For starters I printed the parts for the central junction area where that connects the handle to the wrench jaws.

I designed this so that the parts were a really snug friction fit over the steel piping. Tight enough that they won't come come off by accident, but I can take parts off for sanding or painting individually prior to final assembly.

With the top junction area finished it was time to start printing the main handle/grip section. Thankfully I was able to fit this all in one print on my Zortrax M300 3D Printer. Here's some photos of it in progress:

With the handle printed I was able to sleeve it onto the metal pipe I'd be using to house the bulk of the electronics.

I needed to fit a x4 AAA battery holder inside, so I was able to find a metal table leg at Bunnings that was the perfect size for electronics whilst fitting inside the printed parts. This photo was prior to the pipe being cut to length.

April 15th, 2021

More updates! In the last few days I've printed a bunch more parts. I now have a cap for the pommel and also the jaws of the wrench printed.

Here you can see the junction point for the jaws being fitted to the handle/grip:

Next up, I was able to do a test fit with the first jaw which when really well.

As for the gaps I designed it so that I can drop in a seperate part that contains the light up section.

I also popped in the large decorative flat head bolt caps onto the sides of the handle/grip.

And then here's the wrench with both halves of the jaw fitted! It's really starting to look like the real deal now  

You can also see one of the light panels for the blue LED's. For the lens I used an transparent blue arcade button to get the look I was after.

April 17th, 2021

With nearly the entire wrench printed I was able to begin developing a prototype solution to lighting the jaws of the wrench.

Initially I was looking at LED strips, however the uneven distribution of the lighting would leave a lot to be desire for me.

So after some reach into alternatives, I settled on Electroluminescent Tape. The Electroluminescent Tape is great since it provides a nice consistent lighting source. It's really nice and flexible and I can bend it even up to 90 degrees, the only down side is it isn't as bright as LED strips.

This is the strip as it arrived:

To mount it the LED strip in the jaw area I printed a thin profile that's a nice friction fit. I then used strong double sided tape attach the Electroluminescent tape.

Here's how it looked in position within the jaw:

With the tape mounted I needed to make an addition 'lens' to further add to the look.

My low tech solution was to go to the local office supply shop and purchase an opaque blue plastic folder.

I then chopped some strips on a guillotine. Once cut, I got my heat gun and heated a section at a time and then bent it to shape.

Then the moment of truth! The first test with lighting it up!

Super stoked with how this is looking 

April 18th, 2021

With the Electronics prototype sorted I needed to make the steel piece that connected the two jaws to the handle.

To achieve this I used the square steel tube I cut from earlier. Next I marked out which sections I needed to cut with the angle grinder.

After the cutting with the grinder was complete, this was how the steel was looking.

The sections I had removed allow for my to run the electronics inside without obstruction.

With the cutting complete I used my power file to quickly remove all the burrs and removing flashing so that the wiring wouldn't snag on anything.

After a once over with the power file, this is the result:

With the steel piece completed it was time to prep the jaws with threaded inserts.

Essentially what will happen is I will have holes in the steel that I just made that line up with threaded inserts in the jaws. Then when I sleeve the jaw onto the steel I can thread a bolt through securing the two parts together. This allows for a rock solid assembly that I can still disassembly If I need for working on electronics or painting. 

When I 3D modelled the jaws I allowed for a while that I could fit some M6 coupling cuts into. The tolerances were designed such that I needed to hammer them into the hole. There's no way they're going anywhere! I also measure to bump up the infill on the 3D print to make sure that nothing buckled when hammering.

Here's the coupling nuts:

And then here's the coupling nut installed into the hole:

With the coupling nuts installed I was able to drill the corresponding holes in the steel. Here's how it looks with the jaws bolted in place to the steel and the handle:

This week I plan to get the electronics all soldered up properly and installed, so I'll have more photos to come soon!

Looks awesome, great work ! Can't wait to see the final result 

Amazing 

Wow, that is amazing! Awesome work, man. 

Hey, quick question! I've also got a 3D printed project lying around. What do you use for sanding?

Awesome work! That's hight level! I can't wait to see more.

Looks awesome, great work ! Can't wait to see the final result 

 Thanks! Will have some more updates posted shortly!

Amazing 

 Thanks so much!

Wow, that is amazing! Awesome work, man. 

Hey, quick question! I've also got a 3D printed project lying around. What do you use for sanding?

Thanks for the kind words. As for sanding I use my orbital sander for large flat surfaces. With that said 90% of the time an orbital sander doesn't suit so you just have to do it the old fashioned way with hand sanding. I also like to use filler primer spray paint, it helps to speed up the sanding process.

 

Awesome work! That's hight level! I can't wait to see more.

 Thanks a bunch! More updates coming shortly!

Last week I was able to make a huge amount of progress and pretty well knocked off all the of the electronics.

My setup consisted of 3 strips of Electroluminescent Tape, one for each jaw and then the light panel on the center junction piece. The Electroluminescent tape is powered by x4 AA batteries, which runs into an inverter which then illuminates the Electroluminescent tape.

Also branching off from the wires before the inverter are my wires for the 4 blue 10mm LEDs. These 4 LEDs are used to light the circular light panels on the sides of the jaws. Each LED is also wired to have a resistor, so the battery voltage doesn't blow the LED.

After an afternoon of soldering and problem solving I had my finalised set up completed! I've since added the other two bits of EL Tape and removed any excess wire to help it hit nicer inside of the wrench.

I'm not super experienced with electronics so I'm super stoked with how this came out. As for the switch to turn the lights on, I've got a latching switch that's recessed into the base of the pommel. This way it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb!

With the electronics all sorted I needed to create another jaw lighting rig and this time I remembered to take proper photos.

It starts with a 3D printed profile which I then run a strip of Tesa double sided tape along. After peeling the protective film I carefully stuck the EL Tape down along the centre line.

The profile was designed so it was thin enough that it could flex, which was very helpful for fit it into the jaw as the printed part is a nice snug fiction fit. This way I can insert the lighting setup into the jaw and then move the sides of the profile up flush to the jaw to eliminate any gaps that spoil the look of the EL tape.

With all the electronics soldered and assembled I was just about ready for the first full assembly.

First however, I needed to glue the two halves together. For this I'm using Z Poxy, which is a two part epoxy adhesive that goes off in 5 minutes.

I used my grinder to quickly cut some channels/grooves into the 3D print. These grooves allow the glue to seep inside and help increase the reliability of the bond between the two parts as the Z Poxy as it has more to grip onto. 

I then taped up the areas that would be affected by excess Z Poxy oozing out when the two parts are glued and fitted.

I then mixed and applied the Z Poxy to each piece. Following which I pressed them together, and once the excess glue stopped oozing from the join I wiped excess with a rag. Then after a minute of letting it settle I peeled the tape off while the Z Poxy was still green so could get a clean join.

With the two halves glued together, it was time to start the process of creating my electronics setup.

First, I ran the wires fort through the central junction at the top, down through the prop to the batteries.

From there I was able to thread the LEDs and EL tape through the steel pipes into their respective jaws and neatly tuck everything inside.

I'll have some more WIP photos soon with the LEDs all going!

To light the circular windows, I’m using 10mm blue LEDs that are friction fit into the opening in the rear of the bezel. This sub assembly can then be inserted into the side of the jaw with, yet another friction fit.

The blue lens seen inside the bezel are cheap Arcade style buttons that I gutted for the lens and diffuser.

I also printed out the fake bolt/rivet heads that are seen on the prop in the game. I designed these so that I could fit them after the fact to help make the sanding and painting process easier.

I also needed to install the EL Tape in the top window that sits between the two jaws.

The central junction piece on the prop has a lip that I incorporated into the design that helps fit another little 3D printed mounting plate that has the EL Tape. The plate is inserted into the gap and the lip prevents the plate from going too far.

Once the 3D print plate and EL tape were in place, I was able to insert the blue diffuser.

Again I used Tesa tape to mount the EL tape.

Once the 3D printed plate and EL tape were in place I was able to insert the blue diffuser.

And then the final part I needed were the fake bolt/rivet heads that are seen on the prop in the game.

I designed these so that I could fit them after the fact to help make the sanding and painting process easier.

I didn't know about electroluminescent Tape, that's look great!

I didn't know about electroluminescent Tape, that's look great!

 Thanks! And yes I discovered it while researching lighting options. I've been very impressed with the result!

And here it is! The prop has all the parts assembled and the electronics are all working as they should 

I'm seriously stoked with how this has come out and it's beyond satisfying seeing it light up properly for the first time.

Obviously there's still more to do with plenty of sanding, filling and painting, which is all next on the list.

I also plan to get some different diffusers for the side mounted round LED's to try bring the shade of blue more in line with the EL Tape lighting.

Speaking of the Omni-Wrench prop, I've already 3D modelled another version seen in one of the other games. So I'll be sure to document the 3D modelling and build progress here.

Amazing work: it looks stunning! Especially the emissive lighting there, it's almost exactly like what you see in-game. Can't wait to see this painted and ready.

And thank you for the sanding tip!

absolutely stunning work, cannot wait to see the final product!

Amazing work: it looks stunning! Especially the emissive lighting there, it's almost exactly like what you see in-game. Can't wait to see this painted and ready.

And thank you for the sanding tip!

Thanks so much! And no worries, always happy to try help folks where I can.

If you have any other questions, just let me know  

absolutely stunning work, cannot wait to see the final product!

 Thanks! Really appreciate the kind words  

More pics coming shortly!

With the test fit completed I was able to start the process of preparing the parts for paint.

The most time-consuming aspect was sanding, filling, and applying a coat of primer to all the 3D printed parts. This process is one that is repeated multiple times for each part with the goal of sanding/smoothing out all the 3D print lines to produce a consistently smooth surface.

To help with this I used ‘filler primer,’ which is spray paint primer that has a filler additive mixed in. This quick drying filler primer helps with applying consistent coats to sand.

Here's some photos I took during the priming process.

I also knocked off the bolt plant ons that go on the sides of the handle.

These were nice and easy to do quickly with filler primer.

With the parts sanded and primed I could commence with applying the topcoats using acrylic based spray paints from Montana. These are paints typical used by graffiti artists however, they provide nice finishes considering they’re still spray paint. As I’m building this as a personal project in my home workshop, this is the only method of painting I have access to.

With the larger multicoloured pieces I applied a base coat of the main colour (for example the silver seen here) and once dry I masked up the bits which remain silver so I could apply the blue coats. You can also see how my plant on fake rivets can be inserted after the blue has been applied.

I also designed my prop to be able to break down into smaller pieces to make the snading, priming and painting process simpler. Here you can see some examples of that in action.

The final part requiring paint was the central handle/body of the prop. Painting occurred in a separate stages to help accommodate the three separate colours required.

First the dark grey base was applied for the grip and rim of the top central window. This was followed by masking off the grey and applying the dark blue seen on the top junction area.

Finally, the blue and grey areas were masked up and the final coat of the matte silver was applied. Once a consistent coating was applied the part was left to dry, after which the masking tape was removed.