For our seventh homework assignment, we were required to 3D print an object that can only be manufactured with 3D printing. I browsed Thingiverse for inspiration and found a lot of gyroscope files, which consisted of nested spheres that were attached to each other at pivot points, which allowed each sphere to rotate on a different axis. I took the gyroscope idea and used to it make a gyroscopic Pokeball.

 

 

 

 

 

I used IronCAD to model my Pokeball. My Pokeball consists of two nested shells. The inner shell has two spikes that rest in receptacles on the inside of the outer shell, which suspends the inner shell and allows for free movement to spin along that axis. I also downloaded an .stl of of a Pokemon, CADed a vertical rod through it, and modeled it so the Pokemon spins inside the inner shell in the same way that the inner shell spins inside the outer shell. However, they are connected at different axes, so when both the Pokemon and the inner shell are spinning, the Pokemon would appear to be spinning in all directions. I also added an aesthetic button to the outer shell to make it appear more like a Pokeball.

 

Who’s that Pokemon?

It’s Squirtle! I chose Squirtle because my scooter’s name is Gyarados, and I decided to start my journey as a Pokemon trainer with water-type Pokemon. Although I applied a reflective surface to the Squirtle CAD model, the render kept coming out extremely dark. I think it has something to do with the file I downloaded or how it was converted in IronCAD. In any case, it still worked fine when I moved on to 3D printing.

 

 

I used the Dimension printer for my 3D printing, and soaked my Pokeball in an acid bath to remove the support material. After my first print, I realized that I needed to make a few modifications to my CAD model. The spikes on the inner shell were too short to fit into the receptacles in the outer shell, so the inner shell fell out of suspension and could not spin. The Squirtle had the opposite problem: it was fused to the inner shell. I spun the Squirtle a few times and was able to break the connection, but the friction was too strong for the Squirtle to rotate easily. I went back into IronCAD and lengthened and shortened the appropriate connections.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second printing was a success! The inner shell remained suspended, and the Squirtle’s rotation had a lot less friction. The material in the Dimension printer was switched to white at some point between my prints, so my second iteration was white instead of black. I prefer the white because I can more easily paint the Pokeball in the future. I also did some post-processing on my Pokeball with a tiny file to remove the frayed plastic edges left behind by the 3D printer.

In conclusion, I am one step closer on my journey to become a Pokemon Master!