01-30-2025 -- 3D Printed Flexible Octopus, how?

Howdy all. It is a warm Thursday winter day. 42 degrees out there. And winds under 15 mph. Maybe the snow will melt some more. I know it won’t continue, but it is a nice change.

Today I wanted to show pictures of the 3D printing of a flexible (articulated) Octopus. People have asked me how does it do it, and I really don’t know. The same print head extruder that frequently leaves strings of filament up to 10 cm long, draping from one part of a print, to another, somehow manages to print, stop, move a couple mm, print for a couple mm, stop, move and repeat, without permanently connecting the pieces. Here is an early picture in the process.

Notice how the tooth looking pieces are just sitting side by side with touching.

Look how it manages to make clear bridges like you get when you link the thumb and pointer finger of one hand with those fingers on the other hand. A perfectly clean link.

At this point, the links are pretty much complete.

The links are complete and clean. The head is now being completed.

99% done. Just the tip top of the head to complete.

Here is the completed octopus. You can see the individual links of the knuckles.

On this print, maybe a dozen joints need to be gently unlocked from possible filament bridging. Only one, a link to the body of the octopus, needed more than gentle assisting. I had to poke a sharp needle in the area where the gap was to find to free it. Never actually saw what was catching, but it slowly released. Now ever knuckle moves freely.

Not sure what I may try next. I do like the color shifting filament for items like this. I think this is called cotton candy? At least that’s what it reminds me of when I view it. Pink and blue pastel colors.

Enjoy Life