Making the DEF CON Safe Mode “badge” a badge
When DEF CON 28 went virtual I saw the badges and other swag and thought that I really didn’t need such a thing. But then my sense of future nostalgia kicked in and I thought “but won’t you want to remember this year and events along with all of the badges from in person cons?” and I placed an order for two badges.
When they came in I thought they’re the usual level of cool factor, but the lanyard and the tape don’t really work together at this point. However I have been playing with 3d printing for a couple years now and have recently improved at 3d modeling using Shapr3d on the iPad and this seemed like a project that I could dive into.
Initially I took some measurements off of the tape and transferred them into the app so I can start building. I also added a second border outside of the tape for the retention frame, some holes in the back of the case so you can poke the tape to get it out of there, a loop so we can attach the lanyard, and eventually I put the pandemic version of Jack in the back of the case under the tape so you know this is for Safe Mode and for a little cool Easter egg.
After this I exported the .stl file to my laptop so I could import and slice the file up in Cura. One thing I found was that Cura seems to only do measurements in Metric and I designed things in Imperial. That caused me to have a teeny tiny model which was very confusing, but once I figured it out it was really funny! I looked through Cura for a bit, but then decided that changing my units in Shapr3d and re-exporting my .stl was the easiest solution. Then things were good to go.
Unfortunately my trusty Monoprice Select v2 printer is just a bit too small to print this badge addition. Fortunately I’ve been thinking about a larger printer and Creality had some GREAT deals on printers, so I picked up a Creality 5 to expand the fleet.
Sidenote: I ordered my Ender 5 on Sunday and it was on my front porch by Tuesday at lunch. I’m impressed so far how all in Creality is on getting printers in peoples hands quickly and at a good price. The setup was fairly easy, I would recommend watching this YouTube video on setup as it helps a LOT. How to build and use a Creality Ender 5 (The Quick Start Guide) - https://youtu.be/DkBPf3-xKdY - I followed this guide from 3d Printing Canada and was up and running shortly. I printed a quick test file which looked generally good and then decided to jump back into this project.
I loaded up my initial test file and fired it off. We’ll see if my measuring and designing worked.
After two and a half hours of watching the printer do it’s thing I had a finished badge. I pulled it off the bed and tried the tape to see how it works and I had a nearly perfect friction fit! It contains the tape, the holes in the back work to get the tape back out again, and the lanyard loop seems strong and works with this year’s lanyard. I’d call that a success.
If you want to print your own, I’m hosting the stl files here if you want to grab them. You’ll need to import those into your slicing program of choice and have a large enough printer bed to print them out.
If you don’t want to deal with the hassle or don’t have a printer, drop me a note on twitter @webyeti and we can work out details. I’d charge $5 each plus shipping. If I can fit them all in a box, you pay shipping once and get as many as can fit in a box. Color selection will depend on the filament I have at the moment, but I’m willing to consider getting other colors in stock if you’re willing to wait.
