The Moon Ball (Custom Poke Ball)

Wait–that’s not what a moon ball looks like!

I edited a 3D model of the moon into a functional Poke Ball! Showcase and instructional video found below, and a pdf instruction file is also included. If you would like to make a ball of your own, check out the remixed file, and if you want to print other balls, check out the collections below!

I printed it in glow-in-the-dark filament, but feel free to use any color you want. I used 3 walls in order to hide the pattern of the infill from being visible on the outside via the semi-translucent filament, but that’s not necessary if you’re printing with anything opaque.

If it’s a bit stiff and doesn’t want to open naturally with the rubber band, try opening it and closing it a few times to break it in. The tolerances are pretty tight in order to make a ball that can open but doesn’t have a big crack in the middle.

The STEP file is also pretty big, so your computer may or may not be able to handle opening it. Mine took a while.

I’ve included the NASA moon .stl model as well, but of course you don’t need to print that.

Fusion pooped out when I tried to make the accompanying stands moon-shaped, so they won’t really hold the ball perfectly.

P.S. There’s a weird divot on the bottom that is an artifact of how the 3D model was created by NASA, so I apologize for that!

Official Ball Designs Collection: https://www.printables.com/@CarlThePumpkinMan/collections/1673709

Custom Ball Designs Collection: https://www.printables.com/@CarlThePumpkinMan/collections/1673950

Showcase: 

Informational Vid: 

(3D Model authored by Dr. Carol Christian, HST Outreach Project Scientist and 3D Astronomy@STScI Team Lead at https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/moon-model ; Info on Nasa’s Copyright policy can be found here https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/ )