This was a fun personal project. The concept was to create a stand for a Bambu Lab A1 Mini 3D printer to allow an AMS unit to mount vertically above the printer to save on limited desk space in my son’s bedroom.
During the design process, the project took on a life of its own, evolving into the mighty Printasaurus.
The original idea was to design a simple stand to be CNC machined out of plywood. Each component would be designed to slot together for registration and affixed with concealed pocket screws.
The side profile was initially sketched out to accommodate the height of the A1 Mini and the inverted AMS unit. Atop the unit, rails were designed for filament storage.
The initial sketch was strictly utilitarian, with angular lines and without concealed fasteners. The design was iterated upon, rounding features, refining the dimensions, adding additional storage. By the 3rd major iteration, a familiar shape began to form naturally. For fun, I added a big goofy eye, a wry smile and a crown of spikes and the Printasaurus was born!
The final design!
With the design complete, the next step was to set the model up for CAM and to generate the CNC toolpaths. This process is made simple when using Autodesk Fusion. The drawer box was designed separately, laser cut and glued.
Next came the CNC machining
Dry-fit assembly
Painted in white wood primer
Sprayed in gloss green
Some XXL googly eyes were affixed and the final decorative elements were printed using the Printasaurus itself!
And voila! The Printasaurus was complete! Ready to print 10,000 fidget toys.
