Realistic Pine Tree - Christmas Ornament

thingiverse

I wanted to capitalize on one of 3D printing's biggest challenges, air-printing, to create a convincing-looking Christmas pine tree. By designing arrays of thin perimeters for the branches, I managed to achieve something that resembles blown glass perfectly. It took me three attempts at adjusting branch shape, radial spacing, and vertical spacing before I was satisfied with the result. Please take note of my suggested print settings to guarantee a successful print. I recommend printing with a material that's relatively hot and gooey like PETg or TPU for the best results. If you decide to print a plate of them like I did, you might end up with irregular branches where perimeters start on the ends of branches instead of at the core. I had to do some minor clean-up before taking the photo of my 'forest.' Edit 10/11/2019 - I've added v4 with roots and a more realistic trunk. To achieve fine details, use single-extrusion walls. Print Settings Printer: Makerfarm Pegasus 10 Rafts: No Supports: No Resolution: 0.25mm Infill: 20% Notes: Perimeter Speed = 15mm/s, any faster and your branches may blob or not attach to the core. Reducing XY acceleration to 250 helped me a lot too. Layer Height = 0.25mm Perimeter width = 0.5mm Supports - Absolutely not! Cooling - Not until you get to layer 350 to make sure the hanging 'loop' prints without overheating. Cooling during the branch printing will prevent the branches from sagging enough. I printed with eSun PETg at 247c.