Nerd Baby Mobile

thingiverse

This is a mobile I designed for my friends when their first child was on the way. The design allows for nearly any object to be hung from it so long as it generally weighs about 20 grams or less on either side of each ring. Having it slightly off-balance actually makes it move in a more interesting way. It is entirely 3D printed except for the use of .008mm diameter, 4-pound monofilament fishing line and super glue. To hang objects without hooks I drilled a small hole (~1.8mm diameter) at the approximate center of gravity of each printed object. I then tied a knot on the end of the filament, inserted it into the hole, and put a plug of the same filament used to print the object in the hole and super glued it into place. The only custom designed part is the ring that holds everything together. I printed two of them at 100% and 50%. You could easily increase the size of the mobile by adding a third ring if desired. I used the following models as things to hang on the mobile: X-Wing, Millennium Falcon, Butterfly, Sloth, Parrot, Mushrooms, Mushroom Lamp, Narwhale, Music Notes, Pirate Ship. I also added Calvin & Hobbes, which was by far the most difficult thing to print because of all the parts and how much I had to scale it down; I ended up painting the stripes, eyes, and details manually because of all the issues I had printing it.