The Dial the Gate set is largely composed of custom-made Stargate items submitted by our viewers, including an Atlantis city model and full-size Replicator! Kevin Szabo of 3dTech.Pro created these items with his 3D printer. Now he comes on the show to discuss his burgeoning company and his love of Stargate!

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Timecodes
00:00 – Opening Credits
00:26 – Welcome and Episode Outline
02:10 – Welcoming Kevin
03:26 – Kevin’s Stargate Story & Creating Content
07:03 – First Stargate Item, Process of Creating Content, & the Stargate Community
11:43 – Printer Costs, Material Types, and the Printing Process
17:06 – The Most Common Item Printed, and Shipping Process
20:25 – Destiny Model
21:41 – Website & Services, and Business Plan for 3DTech.pro
26:05 – Wrapping up with Kevin
27:49 – Post interview housekeeping
29:09 – End Credits

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read
Hello, and welcome to Dial the Gate. My name is David Read, I really appreciate you tuning in. This episode is going to explore another one of our content creators and the fans who make my set possible; the Atlantis model and this replicator model here. Is it all that he’s done? I think that’s it. Kevin Szabo of 3dtech.pro is going to be joining us for a pre-recorded episode. Before we really get into this one, if you like Stargate and you want to see more content like this show on YouTube, it would mean a great deal to me if you click that like button. It makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm and will help the show continue to grow its audience. Please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend and if you want to get notified about future episodes click the Subscribe icon. Giving the bell icon a click will notify you the moment a new video drops and you’ll get my notifications of any last minute guests changes. This is key if you plan on watching the show live for live episodes because our actors are very busy and sometimes they get called away for another project or things come up. Clips from the show will be released over the course of the next few weeks on the Dial the Gate YouTube channel as we move into summer. This is a pre-recorded episode so the moderators will not be taking any questions from the community. I hope you enjoy it though because Kevin is one of the more amazing people that I’ve encountered in Stargate fandom. He is extremely exceptionally talented in creating pieces like this. Actually, that’s almost exactly like that. So let’s bring on Kevin and chat about 3d models. Kevin Szabo, 3dTechPro owner, how’re you doing Kevin?

Kevin Szabo
Doing okay, how about yourself?

David Read
I’m all right. Where are you in the world?

Kevin Szabo
I currently reside in Hungary, in a small town, actually pretty small town, so it’s nothing too major, nothing big. Chill, I guess.

David Read
Is this the kind of town that produces tech heads like us? Or is it more of like producing more more classic things like is it an oil town? What’s your upbringing like?

Kevin Szabo
Well I used to live in the UK for 13 years actually, so I quite recently moved back to Hungary. In the UK it was really different, there was a lot of big cities, a lot of people around me, I guess. Here it’s just much more chill I guess. It’s a really small town, friendly neighbors, neighbors because everyone knows everyone. Back there, it was quite different.

David Read
I grew up in a town of 5500 people and everybody knows everybody. Everybody’s skeletons are in full view. Everybody talks. How did you fall in love with Stargate? Tell us your Stargate story.

Kevin Szabo
Actually, that was probably due to my dad, he used to watch it quite a lot back in the day. I think he watched it like three times, the whole thing. Every time he watched it when I was like the age of 5, 6, 7, I was always there watching it with him. When I grew a bit older I wanted to watch the whole thing, when I actually remember stuff, I started to watch it and then I actually enjoyed it a lot. I guess a lot of people my age don’t actually find anything intriguing about it but it just kind of hits different for me I guess.

David Read
How old are you?

Kevin Szabo
I am 23, just turned 23.

David Read
Okay, so Universe was finishing up just about the time that you were turning into a teenager.

Kevin Szabo
Yep, basically, so compared to me, big difference.

David Read
So have you gone back and watched the whole franchise from beginning to end? How have you approached the content and which of the series are your favorite?

Kevin Szabo
I’ve watched the whole thing I think two times, SG-1, Atlantis and Universe as well. I would say Atlantis is probably my go-to to watch. I enjoyed that a lot. There was a lot of good storylines in there, I think that was the best in my opinion.

David Read
How did this translate from a love of Stargate Atlantis to creating content like this? [holds up model of Atlantis] It’s quite the leap!

Kevin Szabo
I kind of found a hobby in 3d printing and the technical side of things. I started to actually 3d model a lot of things before Star Stargate so I did have pretty good experience a couple of years beforehand. I kind of translated it into Stargate because there wasn’t many files around a year ago or two ago when I started this whole thing. I kind of enjoyed having some models on my desk or something around the house and that’s why I started to print it. It was a long process to actually get there, finish it, model it and then actually seeing it on my desk. It turned out to be great at the end.

David Read
What software do you use to design these 3d renders?

Kevin Szabo
I actually use Blender and I use Fusion 360. A bit of both helps, I guess not just one,

David Read
Blender and Fusion 360?

Kevin Szabo
Yep, those are the ones.

David Read
Are these free or do you have to pay for them?

Kevin Szabo
Blender is free for anyone to use and learn, there’s a lot of guides as well. Fusion 360 has a monthly subscription, it’s like 20 euros or so per month, so it’s not that bad.

David Read
What are the benefits of using Fusion 360 that your money gets you over Blender?

Kevin Szabo
Blender is really complicated I guess. It’s free but it covers a lot of things from rendering, animation, 3d models. Basically it gives you the whole get together of a lot of paid things but it’s really hard to learn and master to use. With Fusion 360 you get a lot of things that are ready to go, free and quick basically,

David Read
What’s the first Stargate item that you created?

Kevin Szabo
That is a really good question. I think it was a Stargate Atlantis keychain FOB. I think that was the first one I created. I think I created that with one of my school friends back in the day and we uploaded it to a random site. After, I kind of lost it and then after I found that I was like, “I’m gonna make this again.” I re-made the whole thing and it actually looked much better than the first one.

David Read
How long does it take to 3d render something like this? [Puddle Jumper] Did you 3d render this one?

Kevin Szabo
There was a file uploaded so there was a base of this basically. I added the details, some of the insides, it was kind of like a 70/30 work. Most of it was done, I just added a lot to this one basically. It was a free to use file as well.

David Read
Okay, because this one actually has a semi complete interior if you look in it.

Kevin Szabo
Yes, it does.

David Read
It’s one of the cool things about it because it’s like inside and out, it’s the Puddle Jumper, it’s so nifty. Has this always been a passion for you regardless of whether or not you were making anything off of it?

Kevin Szabo
Oh, of course, yeah. I used to model. I think I had over 1000 hours in Blender before I actually started to make some money out of it, I suppose. This was a long passion for me even before the whole shop and everything else put together.

David Read
What do you think of the competence of the 3d modeling community? Do you think that it’s kind of all over the place or do you think that most of the people out there who are figuring this stuff out are pretty proficient or just making random crap with it? What is the base out there?

Kevin Szabo
Well, that’s a really good question because there are two communities to this. There the guys that model and the guys that actually print. Most people that print don’t really know how to model and they just kind of talk about everyone else being bad or worse or whatever. They don’t actually put the effort and energy in to doing something good I guess, that’s the issue. The guys that actually model can actually understand what’s going on and how it should be made up and how it’s printed. The guys that model everything understand how it’s going to print, how it’s going to work, what it’s going to do, what the end result will be. They actually have a lot more to say, information wise, that is actually beneficial than someone who just prints I guess.

David Read
As someone who has a printer and models at the same time, what are the pitfalls that you can anticipate in building a model to save yourself time on the printing end that someone who doesn’t print would not even think of when designing a model? Is there an example or two that you can think of? I’m curious. The printers have limitations.

Kevin Szabo
Yes, they do exactly, like size wise. Everything we print has supports, most of them. The way we try to print is adding less supports to make the model look clean. What most modelers tend to do as a mistake is they tend to make these overlapping 90 degree bends which therefore results in you adding supports which therefore results in a lesser quality print. Sometimes you have just got to consider “is it worth having that edge there or can we round it off to make it smoother?” for instance. That would be one of the main things, I think.

David Read
The supports that you’re talking about are parts of the model that are built into the printing process that you then cut off I’m guessing?

Kevin Szabo
Yeah, they just hold the model up basically until the printer finishes printing it. The printer can’t print into thin air so that’s why we use the support. Every time there’s a support there’s always a cleanup work to do, that’s the downfall of it I guess.

David Read
So the trick is always probably a balance between accuracy in the model and making it so that the most minimal amounts of cleanup work is done?

Kevin Szabo
Yes, exactly. Exactly.

David Read
How much does a typical 3d printer cost nowadays?

Kevin Szabo
There’s the budget ones, there’s the intermediate and there’s the more expensive ones. The budget ones can go for around 100 bucks if you just want them on your desk.

David Read
That’s cheaper than a paper printer!

Kevin Szabo
Those do actually require a lot of maintenance and work so that’s something to keep in mind.

David Read
These things have been around as long as you’ve been a teenager, in common use. I remember being at the Phoenix Science Center, it had to have been 13/14 years ago and they were demoing one. That was when they were just beginning to be a thing. That couldn’t have been 14 years ago, it had to be more like 10, but I imagine that model had cost $10,000. They’ve come down in price so substantially, it’s like watching the flat screen TV market over the years. It’s just been extraordinary watching that transform as I’m sure you have as a consumer for these devices.

Kevin Szabo
Oh yeah, back when I started the printers weren’t actually as cheap as they are now. The cheapest one I found was 300/400 bucks back then, that was like an okayish quality one. But now you can actually get a really good quality one for around 350 and you can actually buy some extra parts to make it a better upgraded version I suppose.

David Read
What’s the model number of the 3d printer that you use most commonly? I’m curious, I want to take a look at it.

Kevin Szabo
We have actually eight printers. If you count the resin ones we have 10 because we have two resin printers.

David Read
Okay, give me an example of…

Kevin Szabo
The issue is with ours we have ours upgraded so it doesn’t even look like the stock one that you buy. It’s completely different with a new hotend, new PSU, new screen, different motors, drivers and everything so it doesn’t even look like the base stock model I guess.

David Read
You do enough business to warrant eight devices?

Kevin Szabo
Yes, currently we do have a lot of printing to do.

David Read
Are you printing something at the moment?

Kevin Szabo
Most likely yeah.

David Read
That’s crazy.

Kevin Szabo
Most of the time we have about four to six on and working constantly. We usually have one or two so if something just slips in we can just make sure to get it on demand. Most of our stuff ships out in at most five working days so we usually ship in two to three days of a purchase. We actually keep a good stock of the things we have so it’s not actually made on the spot every time.

David Read
Not only are we talking the printers but we’re talking the stuff that makes them. You’re not using resin are you, for items like this?

Kevin Szabo
Items like that, no. We actually have a small resin version of that one. I think this big, around a couple of centimeters, like an inch or two, that’s resin printed. Most of our stuff is printed with plastic.

David Read
Okay. How does that plastic appear? Is it in a spool? How does it appear?

Kevin Szabo
Yeah it’s a spool, it’s basically a round spool. It usually comes in a one kilogram package but we usually buy two and a half just to make it last longer and it’s much more price efficient as well. We use a couple of different kinds, sometimes we use PLA+, PETG, or ABS as well, which we currently are actually stopping the use of because it’s not too environmentally friendly. We actually want to give back to the environment because we do work with a lot of plastic.

David Read
Or at least not take away from it as much as you can.

Kevin Szabo
Exactly, exactly.

David Read
So what happens in the chamber? It’s a pressurized chamber on the inside and I imagine this plastic gets heated? What’s occurring when these things are created?

Kevin Szabo
Basically we have the hot end which refers to the heated part of the printer and that squeezes the plastic through it, that heats up to a certain temperature. Most plastics melt at 190 Celsius but we usually do around 210 because that gives us a really nice smooth layering finish on the outer edges of the plastic.

David Read
392 degrees [Fahrenheit] so you’re basically cooking a pizza in there?

Kevin Szabo
Basically, yeah, if you’re cool with that, yeah basically. That gets pushed through and then the rest is the printers job to find the coordinates and where to go.

David Read
Wow. So just a little bit more sophisticated than a hot glue gun?

Kevin Szabo
Maybe, I’m not too sure.

David Read
The glue sticks are hard and they go into the glue gun and they come out the other side liquid. What is the most common item that you guys are producing these days?

Kevin Szabo
Common? Wow, that’s a really good question. Common would probably be I think Atlantis, that’s the most that gets sold, the smaller versions I think. Around 21 centimeters to 31, those are the most bought items I guess.

David Read
This one over here came from you guys as well. Is this the bigger one that you guys make?

Kevin Szabo
Yeah, that’s the big version. We have a simple one which is super thin and that one is the thicker one I guess.

David Read
Okay, it’s my favorite in the collection for sure along with the standard replicator here as well. I never thought, I never dreamed in all my years of watching the show that I would own one. When that came in…I was really…I’m still over the moon that I have it. The frame that you built for it to be delivered, it came with its own wooden struts and supports and everything else, it was a whole process. Shipping is a completely other dimension of this business that you have to consider.

Kevin Szabo
Yeah. For the replicator you can thank my dad for that one. It was his idea, it was his shipping, everything he made, that was completely his.

David Read
How often do you have issues in transport where something breaks?

Kevin Szabo
It’s not so much if something breaks, we do have issues like that. It’s more so of actually getting the item delivered I guess. Most shipping companies don’t even let you know they sent you a package and they just get sent back to us. It happens quite a bit that it just gets sent back and they don’t get a notification that they actually have something to get.

David Read
So it’s at the other end and the customer is never notified?

Kevin Szabo
Exactly and then they come to us saying it’s never delivered and they get the tracking information. So yeah, that’s the major battle.

David Read
The thing that frustrates me about the modern age, in addition to e-cheques taking three to five business days to clear from one end to the other, is shipping networks. The tracking numbers don’t carry completely when you cross from one border into another in many cases, they just stop working. It’s like “can we not all get a universal barcode to scan from one end to the other so that we can see what’s going on there?”

Kevin Szabo
We have a lot of issues with that as well. It never tracks when it leaves for instance to USA or Australia or somewhere far away. In Europe, most of the time it works, but when it goes outside it’s just a complete chaotic mess.

David Read
You would think that we as a species would have solved that by now? I mean, it’s been, what, 50 years since we’ve been to the moon. We’ve got the internet, we’ve clearly got the infrastructure. It’s like, what’s what’s going on? Anyway, that’s so weird. Tell me about that enormous Destiny model that I’ve seen photos of that you created.

Kevin Szabo
Oh, wow, that’s a long store story. That was, I think, my second print I actually ever made. I kind of got the file and it was from a phishy site back in the day because that was about two years ago when they started this whole thing. It wasn’t even a completely made file at that stage. I actually had to split it up into eight parts and then had to add some modeling into it as well. It kind of looked a little plain, especially at that size, it was like one meter long. It was a really big module to do, I guess.

David Read
Wow. How much would something like that go for if someone were to request that of you?

Kevin Szabo
Currently, we can actually make it in four parts instead of eight. I had one printer back in the day so now it looks much cleaner, much better. It kind of depends on where you are located with the shipping prices as well.

David Read
It all varies.

Kevin Szabo
Yeah and if you want it half assembled or fully assembled, painted or not painted, so it’s all a different question.

David Read
Okay. Tell me about your website, 3dtech.pro. What services do you offer and what can people see? I went there today and it takes you to the Facebook page.

Kevin Szabo
Yeah, we currently have a little bit of a maintenance issue with the site.

David Read
Oh, I see. Okay.

Kevin Szabo
It should be getting fixed soon. We are updating it now, I think it should last a couple of days and then it should be up and going again.

David Read
Okay. So by the time this airs 3dtech.pro will be fully functional?

Kevin Szabo
Basically, yes, it should be. So what we offer is print on demand. I think everyone offers that I guess. It’s not something we personally, I say advertise, because you can get that basically around the corner of where you live right now, everyone does that. We do some business works as well. For companies we usually do key chain fobs with their logos or for instance, something links to your car logo. I would say car dealerships, we get a couple of those sometimes and they actually ask for their branding. Every time they sell a car they give that to the customer so we sometimes do a lot of those. Of course, modeling work, that’s basically everything we offer as a company.

David Read
Wow. Did you see this becoming as big a deal as it is? Did you see it becoming as huge as it has become? I mean, your whole family works on this thing, I can’t imagine my dad working with me. Oh my gosh, that’s a whole trip.

Kevin Szabo
Well, not really. When I first started this was kind of like a hobby to me. When I looked at a couple of web pages, shared it on Facebook, everyone was like, “damn, these are really good. Can I buy some?” I was like, “sure thing.” I only had one printer back then so I was actually booked up for two or three weeks straight, that’s how much printing I had to do back then with one printer. After that it just grew exponentially, I suppose.

David Read
What do you want to create that you haven’t yet? From a Stargate perspective, if there is anything? Or outside of Stargate? I’m curious.

Kevin Szabo
Well, that’s a good question. Currently, we are moving into the gaming section as well for gamers, I guess. Weapon models, printed models and stuff like that. I’m kind of looking to create a few different guns from Apex, I currently have a few made and printed already.

David Read
So you’re referring to Apex Legends?

Kevin Szabo
Yeah, Apex. Yes, exactly. I currently have a few and I’m planning to make a couple more. They sell pretty well I guess, that’s what I’m trying to say. From a Stargate perspective, I am currently working on a, how do you call that, the Jaffa wear the big metal helmet things like the snake ones?

David Read
Oh, you’re talking the Serpent Guard helmets.

Kevin Szabo
The Serpent Guard helmet, yeah. I’m currently working on a unique version of one of those. I’ve actually put a lot of time into that one so it should be ready I think in a couple of months of printing and designing and testing and all the flaws. So that’s currently in production.

David Read
So you’re not looking to make a screen accurate one, you’re looking to make a unique style all of your own?

Kevin Szabo
Exactly, we’ll refer to the screen accuracy somewhat, but there is a couple of twists in it as well.

David Read
Ah, I’m looking forward to seeing that, that’s going to be cool. Any Stargate weapons?

Kevin Szabo
There are a lot of Stargate weapon models up already so that’s why I didn’t really bother with those, I guess. The only one I made was the sarcophagus because I had found the files related for that one. We are currently working on opening it up as well because right now it is just a solid print and we are planning to make it functional.

David Read
Wow. So it does this? [opens at the top]

Kevin Szabo
Yeah, exactly.

David Read
Okay. That’s really cool, man. Well, I am really tremendously excited about all this stuff that you have created. I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with next. I wanted to go ahead and announce this. What do you call this? The secondary replicator look? What’s the explanation for this compared to the other guy?

Kevin Szabo
I think you’re accurate with that one. I think we’ll go for that one. The other appearance, I guess. Appearance two.

David Read
Yeah, appearance two. This one started appearing I think in Enemies and season five of Stargate SG-1. Kevin and I wanted to announce that this little dude right here, this is a half scale replicator, is going to be given away at the Gatecon 2022 auction in September. If you are planning on going to Gatecon or planning on having someone who’s going to Gatecon, this little tootsie will be available for sale in the Gatecon auction this year, provided by Dial the Gate and more specifically 3dtechdot.pro. I appreciate you making that possible.

Kevin Szabo
Of course, yeah. It’s amazing to have the opportunity to do something like this.

David Read
Absolutely. Kevin, I really appreciate you taking the time to come on. I’m just in awe of your talent and continually impressed by everything that you produce. Just thank you so much for for making my set happen and being a part of this journey with me.

Kevin Szabo
Yes, same to you. It’s amazing to be here.

David Read
Thanks so much to Kevin Szabo of 3dtechdot.pro for his time and sharing his his process. It’s amazing to learn about this burgeoning industry and where it’s going to be going next, I think the sky’s the limit. If you like what you’ve seen in this episode, I appreciate you clicking the like button. If you want to support the show further by yourself some of our themed swag. We’re now offering t-shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts and hoodies for all ages, as well as cups and other accessories in a variety of sizes and colors at dialthegate.com/merch. You can go down the list, click on a design that you like and then you go in and see what merchandise is being offered based on that design. Checkout is fast and easy and you can use your credit card or PayPal, just visit dialthegate.com/merch and thanks so much for your support. The show would not be possible without my production team; my Producer Linda “GateGabber” Furey as well as my moderating staff Sommer, Tracy, Keith, Jeremy, Rhys and Antony, they make the show possible week after week. Big thanks to Frederick Marcoux at ConceptsWeb, our web developer, who keeps Dial the Gate up and running and Jeremy Heiner who keeps the site up to date as well. Thank you so much for tuning in, I really appreciate you helping to make the show continue to be possible. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate and we’ll see you on the other side.