3 years is a long time in 3D printing. At least it seems like ages ago when I designed the Cute Mini Octopus. But I started even earlier…

From the beginning

I worked as an Electronic Engineer for 12 years, and back in 2014 we got a 3D printer at work. Mainly for quick prototyping, electronic enclosures, and brackets. And I fell in love. Just 2 months later I got my own 3D printer, a very basic Prusa-like kit with hundreds of pieces. Soon I started doing my own stuff, like keychains, medals, and I printed lots of geek things.

Some years later, I found the first articulated design I’ve ever seen: the print in place Pangolin from Amao Chan. That was mind blowing. I kept searching for articulated designs, and I found a huge octopus with very long tentacles. So I printed it… and it was a nightmare. 8 tentacles, 32 pieces each that had to be printed individually. Lots of support, cleaning. And then assemble all the pieces. Yes, the result is amazing, but it took me a full month to finish it. So I asked myself: can it be easier?

The Cute Mini Octopus

I wanted something quick and easy to print. First of all, I love challenges. Second, the Octopus is the mascot of the Valencia Roller Derby team, where I’ve been bench coach for 5 years. So if it worked, that would be awesome merchandise. But how to achieve it? Well, first of all, can I design a print in place tentacle?

I started sketching, first on paper and then in CAD software. And after some tries, I had my first tentacle design. I printed it and… it barely moved. But it printed, that was a success! Back to the sketch, adjust some tolerances, some round corners, and print again. I did this loop 3 times until I found a geometry that I really liked.

Not perfect with a lot of room for improvement, as I realized later, but it moved flawlessly!

But… now it needed a head. That would be difficult in CAD software, so I moved to Meshmixer. I’d never used modeling software before, so it took me a few hours to finish the first octopus head, which was really horrendous. I still keep that print, but I’m not going to show it because it can cause nightmares.

Again, lots of hours of trial and error, and I finally made it, 3 years ago right now: The Cute Mini Octopus (quite a self-explanatory name).

I was super happy with the design. It took a lot of work, but totally worth it. A friend suggested me to upload the design. That was not planned, because I designed it just for me and for the team. “But maybe someone like it as well, don’t you think?” Well, let’s give it a try.

To my surprise, just a few days after I uploaded the model it showed as the front page on Thingiverse. I really underestimated what was happening, and was hard to understand. The Cute Mini Octopus quickly became very popular, and tons of pictures and videos were appearing online. I started receiving lots of messages and comments. What? What’s happening? It even appeared as a miniature on the PrusaSlicer website. No way…

I’m still trying to digest how much that tiny articulated creature has changed my life. Because that was just the beginning, and a lot more was just about to happen.

Read Part 2 here.