A 3D Printed Furry Bear (and a cat or 2)

This is a real blast from the past – the bear pictured in the photos is actually from a Solidworks model that I created back in 2012, long before I had my own 3D printers. Today I dug it up and decided to breathe some life into the little guy using my Cocoon Create 3D printer – sometimes I almost feel like Frankenstein!

By complete accident, he’s printed out with a bit of fur down one side! This is just where a small support structure which was building to support his ear broke off (the support really wasn’t needed anyway), and therefore the small amount of plastic which was then extruding into thin air became joined when the nozzle went to the main model. But a pretty cool effect that I’m not going to clean off. I remember reading about some researchers who had perfected 3D printing hair, I wonder if this sort of happy accident inspired them?

Bear Says Grr by edditive on Sketchfab

 

The other 3D print is a simple download from Thingiverse of the Cuddling Cats by PixelMatter3D, just a fun little print when you want to give someone a gift. If you’ve followed my blog over the last year, you’ll probably notice it’s not the first time I’ve 3D printed a cat – check out this other Thingiverse cat I printed which can make a really cool lamp.

– Posted by James Novak

Low Poly Fox from Pinshape

This is a simple design downloaded from Pinshape of a low-poly fox (or cat), created by @steven_dakh. He has a whole range of different animals created in this low-poly style, and I needed something to run on a printer during one of my 3D printing workshops to both show how the printers work, and also talk a bit about resolution and STL’s. Also it’s always nice to print something new rather than my own designs, and introduce some new people to the world of 3D printing and 3D printing communities like Pinshape!

This model printed in 1:47 on an Up! Plus 2 printer using the 0.2mm layer thickness, and required no support material which is always great. I also scaled it down from the original which is quite big. There’s not much more that I can say on this one, just a simple print that can now be given as a gift to someone who loves cats (yes this relates back to a previous 3D printed cat I made!).

Note: like me, @steven_dakh is also on Thingiverse and you can download the design here if Thingiverse is your community of choice.

– Posted by James Novak

Meow… 3D Printed Cat

After the stresses of getting my new Solidoodle Press 3D printer working over the last week, it’s nice to jump back to the faithful Up! Plus 2 for a simple print. This design was downloaded from Thingiverse, you can also get one by clicking here. It’s also a bit of fun taking photos of the result!

I will admit the print didn’t come out perfectly – there was a bit of a skip about half way through, resulting in a gap just below the neck. I’m not sure what caused this error, but the small amount of support building inside the cat to support the top of the head also broke at about this time, so perhaps the nozzle collided with the print and fell out of sync? No major problem though, it’s only noticeable up close, and nothing a ribbon can’t fix. You can see what I mean in the below time-lapse photos, with the support broken and angled in the 3rd image, then removed by the 4th image. But the top of the head still printed without any problems, so the support wasn’t needed anyway.

Sure makes a good gift for someone, thanks Roman Hegglin for the design!

– Posted by James Novak