Crested Beaut

Work in Progress

Some projects start with a plan. Sometimes, there's just a sort-of idea. This one began with an idea for a beak.

Then came the attempt at a crest feather, then the tail and wings.

There is no attempt to do parametric programming, and the design does not sit on top of the x/y axis. The sphere of the head is where the whole design began, so things are centered there. When I import the STL file into Cura, the base of the bird's body automatically sits on the print surface. The wings and beak probably are going to need support supplied by Cura. I have not printed this yet. My daughter has begun working from home in the same room where the printer sits. Weekends or over night are now print times.

Using the beginner settings, and adding Cura's support structures produced very satisfactory results. The support lattice is easy to remove, leaving only a few stray strands of filament to pare away.

The only "complicated" components turn out to be the crest, wings and tail which share common design. The individual crest feather is effectively a tiny slice of a stretched and sqashed sphere.

// initial feather centered around origin of axes
difference(){
    scale([.5,2,1])
    sphere(5);
translate([-2.5,0,-5])
    scale([1,3,1])
%cylinder(10,4,4);
}

The original crest feather works out okay, centered, as it is on the origin of all the axis lines. To convert it into a wing, it was necessary to re-orient the curved feather "slice" so that one end of the feather was at the origin.

// arrange the feather so that one end is at the origin
module crestfeather2(){
    translate([0,10,0])
    rotate([0,-90,0])
    difference(){
    scale([.5,2,1])
    sphere(5);
translate([-2.5,0,-5])
    scale([1,3,1])
cylinder(10,4,4);
}
}
// wing or tail
module wing(){
for( k=[-30:10:50]){
rotate([0,0,k])
crestfeather2();
}
}
//rotate([0,0,-30])
//wing();
rotate([0,0,0])
wing();

Available Files:

SCAD files for study/modification and STL files for quick prints