Game Pieces · Muffin

(Product · Person)

Concept

A co-worker at a makerspace was preparing for a maker-fare by showing off a game board she had created using all in-house tools. She wanted to print the pieces in the shop but needed help with the actual design.

Other than that they needed to be visually distinct and inspired by New Orleans, the specific pieces were up for discussion. We ultimately landed on:

the Superdome
a solar panel
a nutria (a lovely local rodent)
grass

Audience

Single Person

Production

One-off

Price Point

$10/ea

Timeline

2 weeks

Process

It’s the easy ones that get you. Though small and seemingly simple, these 4 pieces were some of my greatest CAD challenges. Their complex curvature required extensive knowledge of Fusion 360’s sculpting environment. Their intended use required they be flat on bottom and reasonably balanced.

Further, because of their small scale and the desire to keep costs down by using an FDM printer, they had to be designed in such a manner to allow sturdy printing and clean post-processing (acetate smoothing).

Nutria model

Superdome model

Solar Panel model

Grass model

Software

Fusion 360 · MakerBot

Hardware

3D Printer

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