>>8380
> how Blender might play into this
I think Blender can be used to convert .STL files into .DXF, which may come in handy.
>>8381
>is that a 'dense' final-type print or the initial prototype for testing the idea out?
Those gears are the very first "low density" print I did at 25% infill. But to my surprise they were still solid. I was pressing like mad on the top one to get the servo-horn to fit over it's output shaft (had to use my plastic hammer in the end because the parts are manufactured to be very tight-fit so they don't slip or come loose).
The further up the arm you go the higher the infill density, so at the shoulder the parts are 40% triangular infill, but the fingers are only 15% for lightness.
40% infill at the top may be overkill, but I swear the amount of times I've been hammering, sawing and even wood-chiseling some of these prototype parts and said to myself "it's gonna crack soon, just wait for it" yet the part stayed fully intact...I'm glad I went high-density, especially for the shoulders. (BTW any of my hacky workshop changes have then been updated much more cleanly in the CAD model.)
>all those loose wires
I think this is going to be another design challenge. Unlike in a computer where wires can be neatly tied in place, most of my wires need to be able to move significant distances with very little friction. This means they need a lot of slack. Every time I use spiral binding to tidy the wires, I inevitably end up unwrapping and disconnecting them to make some mechanical change...plus the spiral binding doesn't allow the wires to move inside much...
I once made the mistake of using a wire that was too short during one test, and Sophie's arm yanked the connector out immediately, bending all of the pins (she also had another accident where her detached head got knocked off a table onto a hard floor and part of her faceplate cracked - but that was nothing a bit of glue and plastic milk-bottle couldn't fix LOL).
In a way I am glad she has experienced some minor accidents. It has allowed me to test her reparability.
Anyway, I am planning to use a sort of screw-on pulley/cable clip hybrid to hold bundles of her wires, but also allow them to move. Kinda like this little pulley in the photo.