Summary

Quick disclaimer, every part can be 3d printed except for the "glass" tube, and the parts are all meant to be glued together. I used gauge 5 plastic cover (usually used for protecting books), which is quite thin and more flexible than I'd like, but is very clear and produces a hardly visible seam.

After my original Astral Pulse design got pretty popular for what it is, I thought I'd design a V2 to solve the two main issues I had with the first, which were:

• It simply isn't durable enough to be used as a keychain or decor on a bag, the paper spirals do not hold in place and are easily dislodged even with the ends secured. (Working on a cap with a keychain mount, haven't gotten a design I'm 100% satisfied with yet)
• It was just a touch too far from game-appearance for me to be satisfied with, the paper spirals never could look quite right and the base itself had inaccuracies to make it easier to print (most notably the lack of domed ends). With this new version, to my knowledge this is the most game-accurate model out there.

So, I started experimenting with FDM printing the spirals. I initially thought that it would be far too unstable to successfully print, but with some key setting tweaks which I'll get into, it turns out to be repeatable and consistent to print with good quality. Not what I'd consider an easy print, but it should be doable by any well-tuned printer. OK, intro over, here's my recommendations for printing, painting, and assembly of the V2 Astral Pulse!

Print two of each part, the internal base is the easiest to print, just a standard print, no supports or brim required. The end caps are harder to print now and require a bit of support in the center, but I think this tradeoff is worth it for the domed ends and it's still a relatively straightforward print.

Now the spirals, from my experience they print best standing up on end using a brim and NO SUPPORTS, running at a third of the speed of my normal pla profile. I recommend cutting your normal PLA speed down to 30-40%. Really the key for the best quality is to print it slowly, but if you're a maverick like I am you can save roughly 10 minutes by letting the first 50-60% print at normal speed then manually crank the printer down to 33% speed after that. You could also place manual supports to support the print as it gets towards the top, which is where it gets the most unstable.

To make the spirals really pop, I used blue nail polish instead of acrylic paint, which fills in the layer lines and almost gives the appearance of resin. All of the blue glowing parts I substituted with nail polish, with the rest being acrylic paint.

After painting the spirals and the internal base parts you can cut four pieces of filament to length (I just eyeballed it), then glued them into place. The length of the core has to be reasonably precise to fit the spirals unlike the first, but there's a good amount of leeway. If you can, try to make the internal space of the core slightly undersized so it "pinches" the spirals in place, this makes it easier to glue them into place.