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May 22, 20263D printing a fidget toy is very simple and straightforward. Download the design hit print and wait. However the toy is more complex than regular printed designs. Fidget toys have moving parts and these can be more complex to print than a simple fidget toy. Issues with moving parts usually come more from the printer’s settings than the design itself.
3D printed fidget toys can help new designers find issues with their printers. Moving parts can help find mistakes with printer calibration and settings. Luckily adjusting a few settings can result in a big improvement.
The first setting you want to play with is layer height. For beginner designs a setting of 0.2 mm is good. It’s a good setting in terms of print time and quality. If you lower the layer height to 0.12 mm you get a smoother surface but at the cost of longer print times. If you increase layer height it can decrease the time to print but make moving parts feel rough.
The second is infill. For fidget toys you actually want to aim for a lower infill of around 10–20% so they stay light and allow the toy to be played with. A higher infill actually makes toys heavier and doesn’t help them at all.
Another setting that can help with quality is printing speed. A moderate speed for printing should be between 40–60 mm/s. Faster print speeds can lead to imprecise prints which is very noticeable with small mechanical designs.
As a beginner you want to keep things simple for your first few projects Here are a few examples to consider:
- Spinner Designs
- Snake Chain and Scaled Projects
- Rolling Rings
- Clickie Mechanisms
Until your printer is properly adjusted don’t attempt designs that use magnetic systems or gear mechanisms.
The most common mistakes that beginners make include: failing to calibrate bed leveling incorrect heat settings and skipping calibration. Small setup details are very important and make a substantial difference. Once you’ve properly adjusted your printer you can look forward to smoother and stronger fidget designs and arguably most important better and more satisfying user experiences.
