Festive Ornament

thingiverse

Here is my revised entry for the Instructables ornament contest: it works great and I'm pretty sure you can print it without any issues if you download the STL file and SketchUp files. The ornaments are basically made with involute gears and the pattern tool - super simple stuff. Here's how to make an amazing looking ornament: Step 1: Design a unique involute gear in SketchUp Pro, I recommend making sure you're using the pro version or it just won't work! Now this part is important, select whatever gear ratio works for you. If you don't mind making an extra one for this design to actually fit with other ones, then you might as well stick to something more complex like 12 teeth. Step 2: Blow your involute gear into fragments using the Explode tool - now you should have a new window in SketchUp to change it up! To make a very interesting pattern on top of this cool involute, use a tiny little bit of push/pull on some points that really bring it all together. Step 3: Add even more detail with the offset tool, it'll turn your points into an entirely different pattern - like flowers or other beautiful things. The real trick to this is experimenting until you're happy. Don't just copy my design. Try to think of new stuff. Who knows, you could be next up here on instructables! Step 4: The best way to do a paint bucket is with one dot for each layer so they all stack evenly. I tried another method by painting two or three and moving the object in sketchup around. Then if there are some points touching or missing areas where a circle wasn't quite painted it still came out nice, as can be seen below! You don't have to fill them up with just white or black colors though - whatever you want is fair game. Step 5: Upload the model you've made in sketchup into Thingiverse for anyone else looking to get this very fun ornament made! It could end up on a whole wall if you'd like it, but personally I just wanted something sitting nice and quietly. Add that last touch with some nice thread on one corner and hang this masterpiece from your tree! These ornaments would be perfect presents because of all the customization you can do - each and every person's gift will turn out uniquely made in a way no other thing could.