My Trike

thingiverse

My son is absolutely fascinated by dinosaurs, and I wanted to hone my skills in cutting intricate designs to make them more manageable for printing. Unfortunately, I'm now about 18 hours into printing it, with a whopping 12 hours still to go - so perhaps cutting it up wasn't the most efficient approach after all! Still, I persisted, hoping that breaking it down might simplify scaling later on. Update: Assembling this model taught me some valuable lessons. For instance, a particular technique I employed during the cutting process inadvertently caused the cracks in the design to open and become extremely difficult to seal. What's more, I'm thoroughly dissatisfied with how the supports turned out in this model. Additionally, I encountered numerous print difficulties that may be attributed to cheap filament or cold weather, although poor design could also be a contributing factor. Looking back, there are several things I could have done better: * The foot pegs were oversized and poorly proportioned. * The body seams failed to close properly - a dorsal cut might have been a more effective choice. * Overreliance on the "make solid" command in Meshmixer led to parts shrinking away from each other, ruining their fit. * Feet needed to be keyed to their respective legs for better stability. * I cut the legs too close to the body, resulting in some delicate sections. Furthermore, I suspect that my print times were roughly double what they would have been if I had simply sent the model to print with supports and no modifications. On a more positive note: * The tail and head both printed remarkably well in their chosen orientation. * The solid body (20% infill) felt superior and was easier to assemble than the hollow body (3mm wall) I created for the deathclaw. I'm calling this project complete, but what's next?