Captain Nemo!  We’ve got a stowaway aboard!   What shall we do with him, sir?

Hmm…actually that’s the wrong Nautilus, isn’t it?  This one is a model of the namesake for the Jules Verne vessel, a cephalopod with a chambered shell that allows it to float underwater and move using jet propulsion — a living submarine.  Its chambered shell is also a beautiful logarithmic spiral, a fascinating geometric phenomenon which occurs in many places throughout nature from romanesco cauliflower to hurricanes.

This nautilus shell is a classic form and we’re glad to have it on Thingiverse — well done once again, tc_fea!

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Castle Block Playset by tc_fea

I love all of the modular playsets on Thingiverse.  Right now you have your choice of dungeons, cathedrals, cubical farms, and stone houses from an imaginary land.   Well, now you have even more options – Thingiverse citizen tc_fea has done it again with this very cool modular castle play set.  I am pretty sure I could lose an entire day to printing and playing with such a set.  How cool would it be to have a sack full of these pieces to build a giant sprawling castle?

And, once built, you are basically obligated to print a few siege weapons…¹ … or maybe a few dragons?

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1. Though, seriously, where the heck are all the trebuchets?! [↩]

Zomboe's print of tc_fea's Minature Castle

About ten months ago there was an amazing bunch of modular sets uploaded to Thingiverse:

1. Dungeon Tiles for Miniatures Gaming by Telvin_3d
2. Improved Dungeon Parts by TheRooster¹
3. Dungeon tiles by scottmac
4. Modular Dungeon Walls by zxqueb
5. And, last, but certainly not least the ever popular Gothic Cathedral Play Set by Skimbal

I was reminded of these awesome sets when I saw the “Miniature Castle” by tc_fea and the “Mew Mew Modular Desk Tidy System” by brendandawes a week ago.  Each of these models is pretty awesome in its own right, but as soon as I saw these two models I started wishing for a mashup. ^2 3  Back in October I wondered at the lack of more modular playsets, specifically castle themed ones.

I think it would be pretty easy to chop up the various wall sections, towers, turrets, gate entrance, and living areas of this castle into separate sections.  Brendandawes’ connection system for his desk tidy system almost seem tailor made for connecting a modular building set such as tc_fea’s nifty design.  Add to this that both designs were uploaded to Thingiverse on the same weekend?

Can you imagine how cool it would be to set up a sprawling medieval city across your coffee table?!⁴

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1. A self-described improvement over the Modular Dungeon Walls by TheRooster [↩]
2. In fact, this would be a pretty cool recurring challenge – to mashup any two models uploaded in a single day. [↩]
3. Who doesn’t love a good mashup challenge? [↩]
4. Pardon my drool. [↩]

More Pine Trees by tc_fea

Welcome to the second installment of Super Sweet Printing Tech.

Tc_fea’s work on printing with unsupported overhangs shows a progression from a stringy “Pine Tree” to an almost Lego-tree like Pine Tree 4.  What I find interesting about the last tree is just how straight and horizontal those “branches” are.  The “Pine Tree 2″ has branches with 5mm vertical clearance and the “Pine Tree 4″ has 2.5mm vertical clearance between branches/layers.  In any case, I think that this opens up new design possibilities – such as being able to create textured furry and/or hairy printed models. ¹²³⁴  Or cacti.  Or porcupines.

Also, tc_fea?  Dude, I’ve played with Sketchup.  Those trees would be about 100 times easier to design in OpenSCAD.   ⁵

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1. Or, a plastic chia pet. [↩]
2. I’m not sure if a plastic chia pet is actually any better or worse than a real chia pet. [↩]
3. On the one hand, the real deal is an actual plant.  On the other hand, a printed chia pet could be recycled as soon as you tire of it. [↩]
4. And, really chia pets are rather useless – so having one that could be recycled seems like a real bonus to me. [↩]
5. All you would need to do is design one vertical layer of branches, make that into a module, and then rotate multiples of that module as needed. [↩]

Pine Tree by tc_fea

Even with some amazing developments in DIY 3D printing, there are still some limitations.  Some have managed to print in two colors at the same time or with a secondary material for support purposes.  MakerBot even launched a water soluable filament that may help with this even more.

However, tc_fea’s experiment in extreme overhangs literally turns the problem of support material for overhangs on it’s head.  By designing a model with ridiculously unsupported overhangs he was able to design a printable pine tree – that incorporates the way in which a filament will droop when it is unsupported!  The finished product is pretty amazing.

What other DIY 3D printing limitations can be exploited?  How about the striated nature of a printed model?

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Simple fix for ABP gear slip by tc_fea

Tony Cervantes brings us this tiny timely tale of tragedy and triumph on Thingiverse:¹²

I ruined the snap fit slot on my MakerBot Automated Build Platform while I was learning to use the ABP. (Tranlated to English: I had to replace the belt several times due to my screw-ups.)

The wooden snap fit slot holding the geared roller loosened to point where the motor gear would force the roller gear out of the slot and slip.

Tony’s fix involves cutting a two inch section off of a standard paperclip and bending it around the metal motor and the metal for the conveyor belt.  Apparently his hack has lasted through at least 14 builds.

If this has happened to your Automated Build Platform, you might want to try off a new side panel using Chooch’s Printable ABP.

1. Today’s post has been brought to you by the letter “T” and the number “5″ [↩]
2. There’s no particular reason for the alliteration – I just started typing and got carried away. [↩]