Iceland Topographical Map Puzzle 19x13

thingiverse

I got bored over the last year, so I decided to make a puzzle using a topographical map of my favorite travel location __Iceland__. This puzzle consists of 247 pieces that, when printed at default scale, will extend to a 26cm by 38cm map. I've had the Idea after watching Make Anything's video about [Making 3D Puzzles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdI1NXhAyRo). # Project Structure The puzzle pieces are ordered by their height starting at the lowest. I grouped them by the color scheme I have used in in my most recent print. I recommend starting at the lowest as this helps in reducing the number of overall color changes required for all prints. * up to 2.0 mm: 000 - 071 (Blue) * up to 3.0 mm: 072 - 091 (Blue - Green) * up to 3.9 mm: 092 - 120 (Blue - Yellow) * up to 4.8 mm: 121 - 180 (Blue - Light Brown) * up to 5.7 mm: 181 - 215 (Blue - Dark Brown) * above: 216 - 246 (Blue - White) The **puzzle_pieces.png** file displays how the pieces are then arranged. Use the **water-**parts to calibrate your settings to the desired outcome before moving on. # Configuration To get this nice topographical map, I used six different colors of the **3DJake** EcoPla material. To get a transisition in between, use the cura post-processing extension to pause the print and manually change the filament color. Therefore go to `Extensions > Post Processing Scripts` and configure `Pause at Height` depending on your desired outcome. CHEP also made a [video for that](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nBnVtOEAiY). The puzzle pieces are designed with a 0.2mm gap by default. Depending on your printer and tolerance this can be adjusted using the `Horizontal Expansion` setting in Cura. I recommend doing this [Printer Clearance Test Puzzle](https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-printer-clearance-test-puzzle-55744) by Make Anything. Especially make sure that your `Initial Layer Horizontal Expansion` is well calibrated. Setting this to a negative value removes the Elephants foot of material getting squished to the build plate on the first layer. When opening the files, cura might re-orient them on the build plate. This resulted in inconsistent directions for the top layer infill, especially for the water pieces. To automatically re-orient them, select all parts, right-click and `Merge Models` and then `Ungroup Models`. Now you can place the parts on the build plate with the correct orientation. What I liked for my puzzle was setting the `Bottom Thickness` to 0. After printing you can then see the Infill from underneath and its easy to distinguish top and bottom side of each piece. Especially for the water-only pieces this helps at little with their orientation. But bear in mind that pieces might stick less well to your printers bed. # Helpful What I've found crucial to successful prints was having a part-cooling fan setup, that cools from both sides. Octoprint Plugin __Exclude Region__: In case one part loosens during printing this usually creates a mess, when material is now extruded in the air. The Plugin allows ignoring this area and not waste material or cause more failures.