Sand Castle Mold

thingiverse

I designed this mold for the "Build A Castle" challenge. My goal was to create a mold that would print upright and look about like the sand castle it creates. I also didn't want to have to rely on the slicer to generate support material. I designed all the vertical edges with a slight taper to help with release. I also designed in some easily removable supports to help the top print better. It took a few revisions to get the supports right and multiple versions are included. The R3 version prints the best, and it wastes only about 4g of PLA for support material. There aren't any beaches in the middle of these corn fields, so I had to do my testing in a bucket. The mold works as intended as long as it gets packed tight enough. Make sure you get enough sand packed into the spire before filling the rest. To release just squeeze the sides a little, then tap around the spire and other faces before gently lifting off the mold. Design files [here](http://a360.co/1JlrYQd) in multiple formats. Select your format and use the download button at the top right.