Well. Here we go.
If you’ve spent any time around makers, you’ll know that at some point, the line between “wouldn’t that be cool” and “I’m actually doing this” gets crossed — usually quietly, usually at 11pm, usually with a browser tab open that you probably shouldn’t have opened.
For me, that tab was Project Dalek.
I’ve been a Doctor Who fan since I was a kid, and the Dalek has always been the one prop that sits in that strange zone between terrifying and achingly beautiful. Whoever designed the original — Raymond Cusick, working from Terry Nation’s description back in 1963 — created something so geometrically satisfying that it’s barely aged. And then in 2005, when the show came back with Christopher Eccleston, the design team updated it just enough. Same soul. More menace. Better proportions.
That’s the one I’m building. The full thing. Full size. Entirely 3D printed.
Why the 2005 New Series Dalek?
There are plenty of Dalek variants to choose from — Project Dalek alone has plans for over a dozen, from the original Shawcraft Mk1 all the way through to the New Paradigm (controversial) and the Special Weapons Dalek (ridiculous, in the best possible way).
The 2005 New Series Dalek hits the sweet spot for a few reasons:
The plans are exceptional. The Project Dalek community has done something remarkable — hundreds of hours of research, access to original screen-used props, and multiple revisions to nail the dimensions. The 2005 booklet also includes expanded detail on the gun, eyestalk, and plunger. If you’re working from someone’s plans, these are the ones.
It’s the reference everyone knows. The worn gold dome, the bronze-grey skirt, that ridiculous yet somehow elegant plunger arm. If this ends up at an event or maker fair, people will clock it immediately.
The geometry suits 3D printing well. The faceted skirt panels, the repeating hemisphere pattern, the geometric shoulder slats — these are shapes that 3D printing handles beautifully. This isn’t a smooth organic sculpture that will fight you at every layer. It’s a machine. It wants to be printed.
Why 3D print the whole thing?
Most Dalek builders go traditional — MDF for the main structure, fibreglass or resin for curved sections, turned or cast parts for the hemispheres. That’s a proven approach and there are fantastic builds documented using it.
But I have a Creality K1 Max sitting in the workshop, and I want to use it for something that actually pushes what it can do. A full-size Dalek is that project.
The honest advantages of going all-printed:
No specialist tools required. No router, no vacuum former, no gel coat. Just the printer, filament, and time. The barrier to entry for someone wanting to replicate this build is as low as it can get for a project this size.
Everything comes from the model. Because I’m designing the whole thing in OnShape first, every printed part is derived directly from the parametric model. No measuring twice and cutting once — the file is the thing. If something doesn’t fit, I fix the model and reprint that part. The iteration loop is clean.
It’s shareable. When this is done, the STL files can go on the Open Maker Labs community for anyone to use. A traditional build doesn’t leave behind files. This one does.
The obvious challenge is scale. A full-size 2005 Dalek stands around 1730mm tall. My printer bed is 300×300mm. That means almost every part of this build needs to be designed for splitting, printed in sections, and assembled. That challenge — how you think about a large object in terms of printable chunks — is going to be a major thread through this whole series.
Where the model is at right now
I’ve been working in OnShape to convert the Project Dalek plans into a fully parametric 3D model. You can view the live model here — it’s a public link so you can orbit it, zoom in, and see the detail.
At this stage the model has the shoulder section, neck rings, dome and appendages well developed, and the skirt geometry is taking shape with the hemisphere positions laid out. One of the things I’m most pleased with at this point is the base ring — I’ve colour-coded each individual segment in the model to represent how it splits into discrete printable pieces. That might sound like an odd thing to be excited about, but when you’re looking at a part that wraps 360 degrees around the bottom of a 660mm-diameter object, working out those splits in CAD before you touch the slicer saves an enormous amount of pain.
More on that in upcoming posts.
What’s coming in this series?
The full journey, documented properly:
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The complete CAD process in OnShape, section by section
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The part splitting strategy — how to think about a large prop in terms of print beds
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Printer settings, orientation decisions, and support strategy for each section
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Joining and assembling printed parts at scale
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Surface finishing PLA to look like a screen prop
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Paint and colour matching
I’ll keep the live OnShape model linked in every post so you can follow along with the CAD as it develops. And when the model is complete and tested, the files will be shared here on Open Maker Labs.
This is going to be a long build. Let’s get into it.