EZ Print Tree Made Easier

thingiverse

I decided to take control of the design process after several failed attempts. The tree stands 288 mm tall and was printed from the 80 mm main .stl file only, which I had scaled up 200% in both the x and y directions and 360% in the Z direction. I used three perimeters with no infill and added as many bottom layers as desired. Two layers were sufficient for my needs. Scaling the xy by a factor of two causes the slicer to create a tighter loop by placing the loop's return path outside the trunk. Retraction can be left on if preferred, and I chose to use PETG for this print. Scaling the Z direction creates more branches vertically, allowing me to create taller, thinner trees. I opted to keep the Z scaling the same as the XY scaling, but you can adjust it to your liking. You can scale the xy to any desired ratio as long as you increase the layer width accordingly (220% equals 0.48 mm). However, you will need to adjust the layer thickness to maintain a 1:2 ratio. Printing in this manner solves several problems. I printed the tree on an Ultimaker clone with a 400x400x300 build volume and equipped it with an E3D V6 hot end and a Bondtech BMG extruder. Currently, I am printing the 120 mm version of the design in vase mode after scaling all axes by 200%. The results appear promising so far, and I will add more images as I experiment with different variations. Update: The second tree was printed from the 120 mm main .stl file after scaling all axes by 200% using vase mode. No cooling was employed, and the perimeter speed was set to 60 mm/sec. The print time came in at four hours and thirty minutes, consuming a total of 34,000 mm of filament. Update: Once the xy scaling reaches at least 200%, these designs will print successfully in vase mode. Simply remember that the 80 mm version has the branches of a tree 320 mm tall when scaled up 200% in both the x and y directions.