Easy as 1 2 3 Sand Castle/Mold

thingiverse

##We've hit 500 downloads!## ##It's easy as one... two... three! **All you need to know:** The Easy as 1 2 3 Sand Castle and Mold is a castle and mold that were designed to be as EASY to use as possible. Unlike other mold designs you don't have to print a bunch of pieces to make one castle, this mold is one piece. Just one print and you're ready to have fun. (1) First, you download the mold, which is print ready. (2) Second, you print the mold, which is already scaled. (3) And third, you fill it with sand and place it down. If you don't feel like getting sand in your shorts or don't have a beach nearby you can print the castle by itself. (1) Download (2) Print (3) Play! To get a more in-depth explanation of my castle keep reading, otherwise you are ready to start printing and playing. This is my entry for the **#BuildACastle** challenge. If you like it please support it with a **like**, **collect**, and **comment**! **Connection to mathematics:** While you read this you may wonder how my castle relates to math. As you probably know by now the number _three_ appears a lot in this description and the reason for that is because the number _three_ is used in so many different mathematical ways. • In architecture every structural element is composed of a _triangle_, and a _triangle_ has _three_ corners and _three_ sides. The reason why architects use _triangles_ is because they are strong due to the fact that they distribute the weight effectively. • Another way how the number three relates to mathematics is because it is the simplest shape. And simple is another way of saying EASY. An example of why it is the simplest shape is because a _triangle_ has the least amount of sides that a shape, closed polygon, can have. • And finally the _THIRD_ and final way my castle is related to the number three and mathematics is because it's an .stl file. You may not know this but every surface in an **.stl** file is a _triangle_. This is so the program can read it easily, because a _triangle_ is simple and EASY to comprehend. **Who am I:** Hi, My name is **Wyatt** and I am **14** years old. I learned about 3D printers when I was 12 years old and immediately was interested. I started looking for printers online and the price of them crushed my dreams. I didn't give up and started researching the technology and science behind 3d printers and narrowed down what I wanted and what I didn't need. I found the [SoliDoodle](http://www.solidoodle.com) 2 Base and because it was only 499 at the time I was ready to tackle the complicity of the rugged printer. I asked for this printer on my 13th birthday, but I didn't get it... I got the SoliDoodle 2 Pro! Due to the fact that this printer was relatively inexpensive there had to be a lot of calibrating and fixing done. After half a year of trial and error due to printer malfunctions and software malfunction. I could print some pretty complex things such as the [Cityscape](http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:31104) and the [Supreme Court Building](http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:464195). Then I was looking at YouTube and saw that you could print in wood! So I found the [wood filament](http://www.amazon.com/SainSmart-Printer-Filament-1-75mm-Brown/dp/B00L0ZTNSO) on amazon and ordered it. I tested it out in my printer and printed the [MakerBot Gnome](http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:138642). It was so amazing I turned off my printer to show my family that I had printed wood! That was a big mistake because if you let the wood filament cool in your extruder it will get clogged. Long story short I had to take apart the extruder and drill and hole though the clogged part. Then I was back on track to being a maker. From then to now I have explored different design softwares and I did most of my designing in Sketchup make until I transitioned into junior high school where I took an exploring technology course and learned about Rhinoceros. At the time Rhino for mac was still in the WIP stage which meant I could get a $1000 dollar software for free! From then to now I've been using mostly Rhino for designing in 3D. My castle and mold were designed more than 90% in Rhino. **Motivation:** I was inspired to enter in this challenge because when I looked at all the current entries I saw that either the designs were **flawed**, it **wasn't** even a **sand castle**, you had to print **multiple pieces** to construct a mold, or the designs were being **held back** because they were trying **too hard** to relate to math. Instead of doing those things I made my files **scaled**, **print ready**, and **support free**. I also included a file of **just my castle**, not the mold, so if you don't like sand you can still have **fun**! My castle does not tessellate because tessellating holds back your imagination. However it is composed of geometrical shapes such as _cylinders_, _quadrilateral pyramids_, _cones_, _rings_, and even simple _cubes_. I made every element of this entry without any help. This castle should **win** the challenge because it relates to **math**, includes a **castle** and **mold**, is **EASY** to use, and it looks **awesome**. **Behind the scenes:** All elements of the castle and mold were created in **free** software’s. The castle and mold were mostly constructed in [Rhino 5](https://www.rhino3d.com) (WIP which is why it was free). I also used [Sketchup Make](http://www.sketchup.com/products/sketchup-make). Editing and finalizing was done in [meshlab](http://meshlab.sourceforge.net), [netfabb basic](http://www.netfabb.com/basic.php), and [Repetier](http://www.repetier.com) for sizing. For the different photos of the castle I used rendering films in Rhino. For the colorful castle and diagram castle I used [Photoshop Elements](http://www.photoshop.com) (free trial). I learned how to use all of these programs by Dan Sander's tech class, messing around with buttons, or [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com). [Time-lapse of my castle and mold being printed](https://youtu.be/QjjG6CMcqbE) **Special thanks to:** Brigitta Suwandana, Les Nielsen, and Dan Sander.