Thing9

Here is a tower-like thing. That extra support thing kind of looks like a leg. In fact, it almost looks like the whole thing is crawling through that hole in the wall.

This one gave me a lot of trouble printing, mostly in the transition area from the "trunk" to the "top". Even though the overhang is only 45 degrees, I have been getting a lot of drooping printing in PLA. I think I just need more airflow to cool it. I would expect fewer problems in ABS.

In addition to Thing9, I made Thing9Top to experiment with printing that feature. It doesn't look bad on its own, so I'm including it below.

Dimensions:
Thing9: 59.2mm x 57.6mm x 102.6mm tall
Thing9Top: 26.0mm x 26.0mm x 57.1mm tall

I did learn two interesting things about my printer (RapMan 3.0) from multiple attempts at printing this, both pretty obvious in hindsight.

Printing Thing9Top gave different results, in the same areas, than Thing9, just due to the height above the print plate. When the print head is low, the air from the fan blows down and across the plate, cooling the print well. When the head is high, like near the top of Thing9, the RapMan's fan produces much less horizontal airflow.

Also, since the fan is positioned on one side of the extruder, cooling is much greater on that side. The "spokes" on that side turned out perfect, while those on the opposite side drooped. I saw the same effect previously while printing a dodecahedron, but didn't figure out why.

These effects don't matter if you don't use a fan while printing, but I thought it would be worth mentioning them for the few that do. Also, it is easier to blame my printer than the 3D model ;).