discworld

thingiverse

Inspired by Sir Terry Pratchett's iconic Discworld novels, this is a vibrant, 3D printable model of the discworld soaring through space and time atop four majestic elephants riding proudly on the back of an enormous turtle. It's a masterful mashup of several remarkable pieces from various sources. The mighty turtle originates from another impressive Thingiverse model of a garden turtle by Pmowes - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:421809 . I enlarged it and flattened the top to enable the elephants to stand firmly on their backs. The four magnificent elephants came from a remarkable thingiverse model by ringmaster of a parade elephant, available at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:38573 . I scaled up the elephants and combined four of them to fit snugly on top of the turtle, also flattening their tops to provide a sturdy base for bonding the disc. The disc world itself is made up of two distinct parts. The stunning rimfalls were crafted from scratch using Cheetah 3d - despite being relatively new to this software, I managed to achieve an effect remarkably close to my desired outcome. The central disc was modified from another outstanding Discworld model on thingiverse by aesedepece; http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:28509 . I aimed for greater height and definition, which this adaptation achieves wonderfully. To bring your very own Discworld to life, note that Whole_Model_do_not_print.stl is merely a visual representation, whereas there are actually four parts to print... the Rimfalls, discworld, elephants, and Atuin. The Atuin - I employed slic3r, standard settings for fine printing at 0.1mm layer thickness. Additionally, I utilized 3DFilaprint's excellent RepRappertec Christmas Green PLA. The Four_Elephants can be most effectively printed very slowly. My friend recommended inverting the elephants, which greatly improved the print quality; as such, the latest version features inverted elephants. For this piece to come together successfully, you must include supports. To optimize the print, make sure to activate the feature that lifts the print head before transitioning to a new print area. This is often concealed within advanced printer settings in software like Cura - specifically, look for “Z hop when retracting" on the Basic Tab; set this value to 0.2mm if necessary. If using Slicer, refer to its "Advanced" tab for options regarding Z-Lift. Rimfalls required me to employ a brim technique to prevent edges from lifting during printing. The choice of filament I made was 3DFilaprint’s RepRappertec Natural PLA. Lastly, when slicing the discworld, employing a brim is essential as well. In order for this discworld model to turn out right, I needed solid infill; this prevented visible layer lines and made my final print even more beautiful. Since the colour I wanted would show through with lesser layer coverage (and mine was using 3DFilaprint RepRapperTec Fluorescent Blue PLA), solid was used instead. When building it all together, my strategy of alternating filament helped immensely; switching materials three times was a part of creating something so colorful. At those points I had the following PLA in play: 0-2mm - That beautiful fluorescent blue PLA is just amazing. 2mm-4mm - My other color choice of the moment (or at that time, I could only locate this bright Green - but it will soon switch colors as we reach further along with my project!) 4mm-6mm. I must admit that I resorted to a very nice brown I had laying about when needed in an unexpected emergency – Laywood – since no other colours would serve for this situation and 8mm to finish off was - you guessed it... The perfect White. For final construction, using solvent cement proved most useful. It’s ready for your assembly now. Good Luck