ONE-PIECE FLEX CATAPULT — 8m36s, No Supports

One-Piece Flex Catapult — 8m36s, No Supports

A tiny one-piece flex catapult that prints fast and works without rubber bands, hinges, screws, or assembly. The printed arm itself flexes and launches tiny soft paper balls.

This is a small silly desk toy and printer challenge, not a powerful launcher. It is designed to be quick, simple, and fun.

Features

• One-piece print
• No supports
• No rubber bands
• No hinges
• No assembly
• Uses only about 2.35 g of filament
• Prints in about 8m36s model time
• Works with tiny soft paper balls around 5 mm wide

Timing Note

The 8m36s time is the model printing time, measured from the actual print itself.

It does not include printer preparation steps such as:

• Heating
• Bed leveling
• Flow calibration
• Nozzle cleaning
• Homing
• Pre-print checks

Total printer time may be longer depending on your printer settings.

How to Use

1. Crumple a tiny soft paper ball, around 5 mm wide.
2. Place it in the cup.
3. Press the flex arm down gently.
4. Release to launch.

Use only soft paper balls or similarly soft lightweight objects.

Safety

Do not launch hard objects.
Do not use marbles, steel balls, BBs, stones, magnets, screws, or sharp objects.
Do not aim at people, animals, screens, windows, or fragile items.

Print Settings

Recommended settings:

• PLA
• 0.20 mm layer height
• Supports off
• No assembly required
• Print flat on the bed

This was tested in PLA and survived launching small paper balls.