Turtle

Oona Mckay

The object was originally modeled using Tinkercad; I was interested in making something from scratch that would be able to be printed with the 3D printing technology we have available, so I chose to model an object that had a sturdy base, making sure its feet were resting firmly on the ground and that it had wide, solid legs. I also chose to add some texture to the top of the back, in attempt to evoke the texture of a real turtle’s shell. Because of the limitations and simplicity of the software, there is no way to apply a texture over your object, so instead I embedded a textured block into the block that serves as the turtle’s shell. Each aspect was made out of altered and manipulated shape blocks, with the exceptions of the texture black and shell, which each come as they are in Tinkercad’s shape finder.

Because I was thinking about the printability of this object, I extended that block down to the same place as the base of the turtle’s feet, hoping that this would make the final print more sturdy and avoid its needing too much support in order to start building up the shell.

The scan was then loaded into Ultimaker Cura for printing, and supports were added. Two attempts were made to print the object, the first smaller and sturdier than the second. The first print sustained damage when taken off the printer bed; it was too adhered and portions of its feet and the texture block base came off, meaning the print cannot stand on its own.

The second attempt kept the feet intact, though one came loose when removed from the bed and had to be glued back on. This print was ultimately mich cleaner than the first, although nether print was able to preserve the turtle’s tail, which may just stick out too much from the body and be too fragile and thin to print properly. If I were to print again, I would first attempt to modify it and create a tail that could hold up better and wouldn’t be in danger of coming away with the supports.