Custom transgender TPE insert

dotmatrix · Post by **dotmatrix** » Sun Feb 10, 2019 4:02 am

I guess it's weird, but i've been wanting a decent looking transgender insert for my doll. There's very little out there in this regard, thus i figured it'd make a good starting project. This isn't an invention per-se since these technically exist, so if this is the wrong forum please let me know.

I plan to document this journal style. Feel free to chime in and share any advice or thoughts.
This thread will be image heavy and of course contains images of simulated male genitals. Wish there was a spoiler tag.

I've already made a bit of progress, so let's start with that.

Creating the Digital Model
I began with scanning my doll using the same method MannequinFan has shown before. The captured mesh is far from perfect, but it's somewhat dimensionally accurate. I did this so that i have a reference when creating the digital model.

: Mesh capture; mesh_capture.png (739.42 KiB) Viewed 1139 times

With that to go on, and measurements from an existing insert, i sculpted up something more to my tastes. Unfortunately, i didn't account for the print volume of my printer, and ended up having to reduce the size to 60%. You can see below the intended size vs actual. Somewhat disappointing, but not the end of the world. This is, after all, a trial run to get use to working on doll parts.

: 3D sculpt; sculpt_detail.png (335.43 KiB) Viewed 1139 times

: Size difference; size_difference.png (294.86 KiB) Viewed 1139 times

Printing a Physical Part
With the digital model complete, i waited 13 hours while this thing printed. The detail this printer is capable of is incredible, but it's a pain to clean the parts.

: Freshly printed part; printer.png (476.11 KiB) Viewed 1139 times

I clean up the supports and did a test fit to see how it looked relative to the doll. The resin i'm using is tricky, and ended up creeping on the supports. This gives the area behind the testicles a plucked bird kind of look.

Also, photographing prints in this material is difficult; it's a matte-translucent finish. The detail is there, but the light diffuses into the surface making everything blurry.

: Cleaned part; print.png (1.1 MiB) Viewed 1139 times

Now i'm waiting on my second printer to finish the stem and sprue part. This is what actually inserts into the doll, as well as a funnel shape for pouring material into. Here's a look at the CAD version:

: Sprue and stem; stem_and_sprue.png (34.28 KiB) Viewed 1139 times

Upcoming Plans
The next step is to attach the two parts and create a mold. For this i'll be using fiberglass since i've never gotten good results with plaster. Plus, i've never made a fiberglass mold.

Looking over the part, it's not going to be a simple mold. If the master was soft, i could make this a 2 part mold. Since the master is a hardened resin, any undercuts will get locked in the mold making it impossible to remove. So i think, in total, it's looking like a 6 part mold (yikes). When this project is finished, i'd like to explore using high-temp silicone as a mold for TPE. That would be so much easier to work with. I'm also considering upgrading to a Formlabs printer. Those have both a larger volume and a high-temp resin, so it'd be interesting to see if i can print mold negatives directly.

Anyway, let me know what you guys think.

Siliconeman · Post by **Siliconeman** » Sun Feb 10, 2019 12:39 pm

Looks really nice. I like the form of the member, especially big hanging balls. Maybe you could have retained the original size and print it in several parts. Maybe it is an overkill to print this in resin since this form would be perfect for FDM printer as well.

Good work!

rubherkitty · Post by **rubherkitty** » Sun Feb 10, 2019 2:55 pm

Great job so far.
As Siliconeman mentioned, I would print the insert the size you want, just do it in pieces and glue together.

dotmatrix · Post by **dotmatrix** » Fri Feb 15, 2019 7:39 pm

Thanks rubherkitty and Siliconeman. I'm using the scaled down version because i didn't want to have to glue anything together for what is essentially a test run. I'll scale it up when i get the process figured out. My FDM printer is nice, but nowhere near the surface detail/finish the DLP printer has. The small wrinkles and such would be lost on it.

A small update: I tried to make a fiberglass mold. This didn't go well. It was incredibly messy and the resin wouldn't cure on the clay i used to partition the mold. It's also not ideal when using a rigid master like i am. So i've decided to move onto plan B: high-temp silicone molds. I've got the materials ordered, but it may be a week or two until it arrives.