FlexiHex bowl

I wanted to utilise a printable flexible material in a way that the mechanics of the material are integral to the end product's shape. I am no great artist, but as an engineer I recognise how nature can often sculpt things in much more beautiful ways than I can. This is an attempt to facilitate that in a fun and interesting way.

The flexible material is designed to have a smooth and mostly closed surface, while still retaining enough freedom to flex and drape relatively freely. The exact characteristics of the material will no doubt vary depending on printers, material and settings, but also how hard you “work it” after printing. Straight out of the printer it will likely be very stiff and can retain a shape under its own weight, but after enough flexing it will become very lively and flexible.

The stand is designed from the same hexagonal theme(because hexagons are the bestagons). It simply suspends the printed fabric from its corners, and gravity moulds the bowl's surface into its shape. The specific shape will no doubt be a slightly unique product of the specific printed material's characteristics, but I have also provided three versions of the stand with slightly different distances between the mounting pegs. This allows you to tune how “droopy” or deep you want the bowl to become.

I have personally found it to be a nice little bowl for knick-knacks, but the suspended nature of it also makes it a great place to deposit a key bundle, coins or similar without making much noise.

Printing

Fabric

I have only tested PLA, but any rigid filament with high enough detail quality should work. TPU might work, but kinda defeats the whole purpose of the design.

Nozzle: 0.4mm

Layer height: 0.15. (I also used "Variable layer height" tool in Prusaslicer, with Adaptive at 0.5. Helps balance detail where it is needed and speed where it is not.)

Top/Bottom fill pattern: Concentric.

Avoid crossing perimeters: On.

Infill: ~15%

Perimeters: 2

Support: No.

Brim: No.

Print time: ~7 hours on a Prusa Core One on Balanced preset.

I have included a smaller test version of the fabric, so you can experiment with settings first without printing the whole thing. 

Stand

Layer height: 0.25. 

Infill: ~15%

Perimeters: 2

Support: No.

Brim: No(not needed unless you struggle with bed adhesion).

Print time: ~1.5 hours on a Prusa Core One on Balanced preset.

Assembly

The pattern is deliberately rather rigid. But the more you flex it, the looser it will become. If you want it to be very flexible, I recommend you just play with it for an hour or two while doing something else. Repeatedly rolling it in "S-curves" is very effective. Roll it from side length to side length, and from corner to corner. You can be rather rough with it as long as you don't force it over its maximum bending radius, and after a certain point it will become more "cloth-like" and not retain its shape under its own weight. A bit of creaking while rolling it is normal.

The bending radius of the material can vary depending on sides. The material is designed to be symmetrical, but it presumably happens due to “anti-elephant foot” measures of the slicer making the very top and bottom of the hexagons slightly different size.

Once the material is satisfactorily pliable, simply press it onto the pegs on the stand. I suggest the bed-side up for the smoothest surface. If the fabric doesn't droop enough or too much, try one of the other stands. I recommend starting with the medium.

More

While testing the flexible material, I found it rather fun to play with. I have posted several different smaller versions here, for decoration or fidget purposes(that also resembles a famous space telescope): https://www.printables.com/model/1451151-jwst-flexible-ornamental-piece

If there is demand for it, and I can find a good way for the user to customise it, I might also later release the base elements of the fabric. Haven't yet figured out a good way of allowing custom patterning of the different elements without a proper CAD program.