For the six year old’s birthday, I decided to print and assemble all of the Mane Six from My Little Pony, based on the models by plenet. The models are fantastically designed, but while the body of each of the ponies is easy to print, the manes and tails are a minor nightmare. It took half a dozen test prints before I found a working solution, involving the experimental Tree Supports introduced in Cura 3.2.
The Tree Supports from Cura 3.2 made the mane’s printable, and were an interesting example of how the Tree Supports wrap around a model:
After working out the details on how to print the mane and tail, the final assembly was just in time for the six year old’s birthday, with the glue drying only a few hours before presents were unwrapped.
Completed Fluttershy:
- Source: Fluttershy – MLP:FIM
- Maker: plenet
- License: Creative Commons – Attribution – Share Alike
- Model: All Files
- Material:
- Body: Inland Dandelion PLA 1.75mm
- Mane: Inland Pink PLA 1.75mm
- Tail: Inland Pink PLA 1.75mm
- Eyes: Prusa White PLA 1.75mm
- Scale: 250%
- Print Date: 2018/02/12 – 2018/03/22
- Assembly Time: 1 hour
- Print Time: 24 hours 7 minutes
- Body: 11 hours 4 minutes
- Mane: 8 hours 45 minutes
- Tail: 3 hours 58 minutes
- Eyes: 20 minutes
- Estimated Print Time: 25 hours 48 minutes
- Body: 11 hours 51 minutes
- Mane: 9 hours 27 minutes
- Tail: 4 hours 10 minutes
- Eyes: 23 minutes
- Estimated Filament: 24.8 meters
- Body: 11.6 meters
- Mane: 8.7 meters
- Tail: 4.3 meters
- Eyes: 0.2 meters
- Slicer: Cura 3
- Slicer Settings:
- 0.06mm layers
- 20% infill
- Supports
- Mane:
- supports from everywhere
- tree supports
- raft
- raft air gap 0.3mm
- experimental tree support