To promote their personal computing revolution, Linux PC maker System76 celebrated this year’s Fourth of July with a Guy Tux 3D printed mask.

System76 are manufacturers of high-end GNU/Linux computers. For a recent Fourth of July promotion, they used LulzBot 3D Printers to make a “Guy Tux” 3D printed mask. The campaign pays tribute to the V for Vendetta graphic novel and film, with a message about the power of user freedom.

In total, the company 3D modeled and printed 26 Guy Tux masks. Naturally, System76 used a full suite of Free Software programs for the project, including Blender and Cura LulzBot Edition. According to Jason DeRose, chief of research and development at System76:

“This was the first time we used our LulzBot TAZ 3D Printer for this level of mass production. I was extremely impressed with its reliability. The first two masks were used as props in the video shoot and each took roughly 30 hours to print.”

The remaining masks used a tweaked model to reduce print time; this batch is sent to media outlets, System76 SuperFan winners, and other friends of the company.

Guy Tux To Lead an Open Source Revolution?

To fabricate the remaining masks, the LulzBot TAZ 3D Printer was in continuous operation for almost a month. Each took approximately 21 hours to make using Colorfabb nGen filament.

“We’ve been very happy with nGen filament and now use it as our go-to filament for most projects,” says DeRose.

After the 3D printing was complete, the team at System76 would apply paint to the Guy Tux masks by hand. Fans would then receive the finished mask in the post. The lucky recipients could also share their love for Linux with the hashtag #Revolutionist76 on social media.

In the aftermath of the promotion, System76 is very happy with how they were able to use 3D printing to enhance their marketing efforts. Moreover, there’s been a positive impact on other parts of their organization.

“Our LulzBot TAZ 3D Printer has helped us prototype computer chassis components, explore ideas, spread the Open Source message, and even print the occasional light saber,” enthuses DeRose.

Source: Lulzbot