Vase-Mode Pokeball (Opens like a plastic Easter egg)

thingiverse

This is a pokeball that's body is printed in vase mode. It's quick to print, easy to assemble, and lets you put things inside of it. I've seen a bunch of really awesome pokeball designs with hinges, working buttons, etc. I've tried many, and often spend hours and hours printing - only to have my children destroy the hinge in minutes. So I decided to try and make a vase mode version that has no hinge. I've always been amazed how long those plastic Easter eggs survive my kids rough play. This tries to use that approach to get quick printing, reasonably durable, and decent looking pokeball's into my kids hands. Print the top and the bottom in vase/spiral mode at 200% scale, flat spot on the bed. I used 0.8mm line width on a 0.4mm nozzle. Other scales probably work too, but I've not tried them yet. I used 0.2mm layer height. Print the button in normal (non-vase) mode. Whatever normallish settings you use. Once you're done printing, paint the center line with black (I used acrylic paint) - but leave a clean spot for the button on the top part of the body. Superglue the button in place & you're good to go! If your printer is a little different than mine, you might have some size adjustments to make to get the top and bottom to 'snap' together perfectly. If it's too tight, use a cutting tool to remove a tiny bit from the edge of the top. (where it connects). If it's too lose, trace a tiny amount of superglue along the edge of the top and let it dry. Repeat until you get the perfect fit! Hope you and your kids get a bunch of enjoyment out of this design. Please post 'makes' if you make one - or 20 like me. :D