Realistic Pine Tree - Christmas Ornament

thingiverse

I had an idea to take advantage of one of 3D printing's greatest hurdles, air-printing, to create a realistic looking Christmas pine tree. By creating arrays of thin perimeters for the branches, I was able to get something that looks almost like blown-glass. It took me three iterations of branch shape, radial spacing, and vertical spacing to finally get a result I'm happy with. Please note my suggested print settings to ensure a successful print. I recommend printing in something a bit hot and oozy like PETg or TPU for the best results. Note that if you print a plate of them, like I did, you may end up with odd branches where perimeters start on the end of branches instead of at the core. I had to do a little bit of clean-up before taking the photo of the 'forest.' Edit 10/11/2019 - Added v4 with roots and a more realistic trunk. Use single-extrusion walls to achieve the fine details. Print Settings Printer: Makerfarm Pegasus 10 Rafts: No Supports: No Resolution: 0.25mm Infill: 20% Notes: Perimeter Speed = 15mm/s, any faster and your branches may blob or not attach to the core. Slowing XY acceleration to 250 helped me quite a bit, too. Layer Height = 0.25mm Perimeter width = 0.5mm Supports - Definitely not! Cooling - Not until you get to layer 350 to make sure the hanging 'loop' prints without overheating. Cooling during the branch printing will prevent the branches from sagging enough. I printed in eSun PETg @ 247c.