Even though there are already a lot of different Collapsable Katana's out there, most of them either didn't work, needed a lot of gluing or they did not appeal to my daughter. So that's why I have re-created our own replica of Shinobu's Katana from Demon Slayer including a fitting Katana Stand.
Features of this Katana:
Multi-color does not require AMS (the parts are separated on different plates so you can print them in different colors easily). There is just one part that has 1 color change at a specific height for use in AMS which give it a nice look if you want.
Replaceable blades (the Pommel at the end of the handle is removable, so you can easily change blades)
The handle has multi-color without any gluing → just print the 18 inlays in another color and then insert them into the handle. This way you get the wonderful looking Katana handle without the need of any glue.
There is a stencil template for putting the cool Chinese letter's from Shinobu on this blade with ease. I have used a simple black EDDING spray to put them on. This is surely not required but gives a really cool look.
A fitting Katana Stand is also included.
Assembly Guide:
The print profile includes all the plates (B) by using 3 colors → PLA Silver, PLA Black and PLA Galaxy (Purple) - my daughter loved those colors, but surely you can adapt as you like. The Katana from the cover image was printed with this exact colors/profile. NOTE: Do not use Silk PLA if you want to play with it (it looks great but does have a very bad Layer Adhesion, thus making the parts break too easily, you may also need additional support when printing).
All parts should be printed as is, they have been perfectly tested and printed with this profile.
Especially the blade requires a well calibrated printer. I know many of the easy prints here just work, but they usually use a very simple blade profile with a bigger gap, which may not look realistic. Anyway the 4 blades should print fine together and if they are sticking together slightly, either use some force to push them apart one by one or print them separate. Once you have them separated you can put them in from the back of the handle so they come out one by one at the front of the handle without being too loose so that they don't fall out - be sure to insert them in the right direction. If the 4 blades should not fit well together you can easily adapt the individual settings for each blade (Objects → Blade 1 to Blade 4) in order to increase or decrease the X-Y hole and/or contour compensation for your printer in order to get them fit together (the settings from this print profile should work well with BambuLab printers - tested on X1C).
The only part requiring support is the Tsuba with the "butterfly" design. Removing the support might be tedious, but it's not a problem because the surface doesn't need to be perfect. You'll be gluing the 8 Butterfly inlays over those spots, so the surface won't be visible anyway. 🤗
Glue is required for connecting the Tsuba with the handle and the front and for putting the “butterfly” inlays into the Tsuba → So all green parts from the below explosion view (C) need to get glued together. I used normal super glue.
The back (Pommel) must not be glued and should be a pretty tight fit, so you don't need to glue it and you are able to replace the blade from the back if it should ever break.
The diamond inlays for the handle can be bend together slightly (be careful to not bend them too much so they don't break) so you can snap them into the handle slots one by one - no glue required (A).
A great looking Katana. Had to manually add tree support to handle (about 5 diamonds up) as 3 x failures of it coming off plate.
Blade printed R3D Magic Silk Gold-Copper PLA
Handle printed with Amolen Silk Shiny Red Gold PLA and Jayo Silk Black PLA
Diamond inserts printed on a Holographic PEI Sheet to give a little sparkle!
Thanks 😍 and that looks great 👍!!
The issue with the support is most probably because you have been using silk PLA. You have to be very careful when using the sword with Silk PLA (I put that in the notes), because silk has a very poor layer adhesion and things break pretty quick. My daughter wanted it in Silk PLA too but we gave up on it because the handle broke all the time when playing with it 🙈! But if printed in PLA with Bambulab Stick on the Cold Plate it should print fine 👍
Oh and I just saw that you may have forgotten to remove the support from the Tsuba part 🤔 - the 4 butterfly inlays should be inside the Tsuba, I guess you just glued it on the support?
the end piece that keeps the blades in keeps popping off so maybe a better solution for that would be perfect but it's still an absolutely amazing print.
Looks great 😍! Normally the back/pommel is a really tight fit and won't come off easily. Did you print the handle with a silk like PLA, because then this could be the issue. Silk is not recommended because it has a very weak layer adhesion and breaks very easily - it's just great for the looks but not if you would like to use it :)
ah you are right! it's a silk with glitter.
I just glued the end piece on with something that will hold but come off with a lot of force when needed to change the blades. might be ok for now 😄
Yeah I can i imagine, I printed the handle in Dual Color Silk first but when I was removing the pommel, the whole handle broke off. Silk PLA can be very brittle - that was the reason why we changed to Galaxy PLA, because this is a normal PLA and has a much better layer adhesion, now the sword feels really sturdy 👍.
Great, but not for playing, better just for display, you must glue the part between the handle and the butterfly... and the stencil kinda mess things up when I tried to spray paint it, at the end I just hand painted it 😅, it's a long time print, but worth it. Very cool for my display!!! THX by the way 😍
Hey there and glad you like it 🙏 love the colors - with superglue it's pretty sturdy. But you are right, it's not really for play, even though my daughter plays a lot with it, but she is careful and I used good PLA which has a pretty good layer adhesion :) !
Hello, I wanted to say that this is an awesome make. Thanks for sharing. I was curious, how did you ever get the butterflies parts to use a different color on the raised parts? I can't seem to find a way to change it from the black. I don't see any kind of modifiers or anything in the object tab. If you can share with me the process used, that would be awesome, or at least let me know how I can select it to change it. Thanks again.
Hey there and glad you like it 🤗. You need to do this in the "Preview" part. If you have more than 1 color added you can select a specific layer height (by using the right side bar) and then right click and simply select change filament - there you can specify the colors from the added filaments in this project👍. This way you can also add a pause for manual stuff (like inserting magnets etc.) or whatever else.
OMG! Thank you so much. I didn't know how you did that and I learned something. I didn't realize you could change color like that, but makes sense. Thank you thank you. I'm printing the handle rn. This is for a friend who loves Katanas.