32-piece real-size Coffee Table

thingiverse

A coffee table, dimensions 81.5 x 56 x 37 cm. (lxwxh), made from 24 puzzle-like pieces and 4 legs (each 2 pieces), all different and fitting tightly together to create a self-supporting sturdy construction. No screws, no glue was used to made this construction possible. The idea for this design is based on pieces of a Jigsaw puzzle and aimed at printing this inside the volume 20x20x20 cm. so it can be printed with a regular desktop 3D-printer. I'm in the process of making more photos and adding these to this entry. I designed this Coffee Table completly by myself, I was inspired by a few pieces of a puzzle. You can find my prototype here also.As I slowly stumbled into 3D-printing I disliked the clumsy way support is printed (either with extra (PLA) material you break away or PLA you can wash away and I decided to make something completly self-supporting and here it is! In the overview picture (Coffee-Table-layout.PNG) you will see all the pieces of the blade as seen from above. The numbers in the layout correspond to the order of how to mount everything. Assembling should be done piece by piece in the correct order because reversing the order might bring you in stereographic problems. Taking things apart is possible, but not desirable because when done too much it could weaken the construction. At a few points I used a smal hammer will a small piece of wood to fasten some of the connections by hammering the small circles in. Be carefull to support the blade because otherwise you can seriously damage it. For the most parts it will just click in when pressing it manually. I am anxious to know if this is worth the effort of doing. If presented in a shop, would you buy a table like this it? And if so, what would you pay for it? Instructions All objects are drawn in the free version of SketchUp. In file Coffee-Table-details.pdf you will find an overview of the 32 pieces stating their number (= mounting order), the color used, the amount of cm^3 of PLA filament needed (as specified by the KISSlicer), the time needed to print it (measured by me and when I didn't record it the time specified by KISSlicer is used), the date I printed it and a list of which pieces are supported by which and which pieces it supports. The colors used are planned: not too much of each, a proper distribution of light and dark, etc.) Note the mounting order and orientation of pieces towards each other, especially the pieces 2 through 7 do have the same mounting to piece 1, don't confuse it because further on you will encounter a problem. The legs are each in two pieces, printed starting with the smallest diameter, you might want to consider printing on a lower speed when you're machine is not completly stable. I had some problems with that. Be carefull on the mounting of the lowest four leg pieces (nr.s 29 through 32), place them so the copyright text: WVD 2014 (my initials and the year) can be read when the table is seen from the bottom. Please let me know (drop me a picture with your name and location) when you did succeed in replicating it.