Surprise Egg - Lock and Key

IMPORTANT UPDATE: I took this idea and redesigned it from scratch to improve the form and function. I highly recommend printing The Egg Vault instead of this model. Please go collect that one, as I plan to take this one down soon.

Oh no, it's locked! Add a layer of fun to your egg hunt by putting Easter surprises under lock and key. Kids (and the young at heart) will delight at these extra special Easter eggs. It's a surprise egg that will get used year-round as a container for keepsakes and treasures. 

PLEASE make sure your bed adhesion is on point, as contact with the plate is limited. For me that means using textured PEI and giving it a good clean with warm water and dish soap.

 

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Eggs measure 86 mm in height, 66 mm in diameter. The opening is 41 mm in diameter. The eggs were designed to have a premium look and feel, with no visible printing seam, and a hidden seam between the parts at the bottom. And yet they are lightweight (20 g), sturdy, and print fast with no supports. Every element of the model and print profile has been tweaked thoughtfully over an extensive process of prototyping and iteration — with unique print settings for the egg, base and key. Eggs, it turns out, are not the simplest object to print! I hope they turn out perfect for you, but if they don't, please let me know in the comments and I can try to help troubleshoot. 
 

NOTE: The fit between the parts will depend on the materials you choose, how your printer is calibrated and other factors. The fit is designed to err on the side of being too tight, because it's easy to make it looser and hard to make it tighter. Use the key's oval handle as a tool to open and close the lock several times, loosing the fit until the key works as intended. If this is really hard to do, try a tiny bit of gentle filing/sanding on the locking nubs, on the side towards the bottom of the egg. 

 

NOTE ALSO: The key is not required to open the egg — the lock and key are a fun and kid-friendly design element, not an actual security measure. The key fits inside the egg for convenient storage.