Dragon Egg Boxes

thingiverse

Hi! This is one of many experimental projects based on Phyllotaxis algorithms. I'll eventually publish more interesting things related to this. You can customize the figure using the Customizer and find a nice design. Every customization produces four files: Complete sphere Upper semisphere Lower semisphere Screw to join the semispheres Print the two semispheres, the screw, and you'll get the container. The semispheres are also great for planters. Use the complete sphere as you wish. You can print a dragon inside while printing and get a real dragon egg. Wuhuu! I encourage you to download and modify the OpenScad code. The Customizer only modifies some parameters, but dealing with code gives many variations. This project uses the Poor Man's Screw Library (slightly modified) for the screw and nuts used. It also uses the nice dragon model from bs3: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1469139 in pictures. Have fun! Print Settings Printer: BQ Prusa i3 Hephestos Rafts: No Notes: Tested with PLA Supports: You may need supports for some figures with big spikes. Also, the "top" of inner sphere can cause overhanging issues and you may want some supports here. Infill not needed but recommended as "inner supports" for the figure. A 15-25% infill is enough. I print some hollow figures and small holes on roofs may appear. 3 top layers are great to avoid small holes on roofs. 2 shells and 2 bottom layers will be enough. Tested with resolutions between 0.3mms and 0.15mms (for big and smaller figures) IMPORTANT!! Scale down by 1%-2% the XY axis (not Z) of screw, and you'll get an easy and smooth screw without need of sanding. In Cura slicer software, there's an option called "Horizontal expansion." Set this to -0.2 or -0.3 and print screw at same scale than semispheres. Customizer indications Parameters Part Shows one of the 4 files generated. Use Sphere to see the complete ball. The semispheres give an error due to screws inside. ANGLE (also called phi) determines the spiral distribution of spikes and bulbs. Phyllotaxis is about patterns found in nature. Pattern 1 and Pattern 2 The algorithm alternates 2 kinds of geometry parts (spikes and bulbs). You can select which one will be #1 or #2. Every... determines when draw the second pattern. Changing this, you'll get big differences between figures generated. Spikes scale scales the length of spikes by this factor. Spikes distribution makes a slight difference as the bigger ones are near top or near equator. Spikes variation: The spikes size may change along the sphere growing and shrinking. More variation -> more grow-shrinks of the spikes. Bulb type determines the decoration of bulbs The 4 files generated: 2 semispheres, a complete sphere, and the screw Some scheme of phyllotaxis patterns and a bunch of nice angles to test. Customizer Samples Some customizer samples...