When my imagination outpaces my skills, 3D printing comes to the rescue once again.
I have no idea why the idea came to mind, but the moment it was declared we were having a retirement party for one of my dearest friends Liz, I immediately wanted to make her a piñata. Liz is easily one of the best people in the world. She’s fun as hell and even though she’s retiring I though everyone deserves to have the fun of a child now and then and a piñata just seemed right. Liz’s disdain for ampersands filled in the rest of the story in my head and suddenly I was dead-set on making it happen.
I started by checking Thingiverse to see if an ampersand model was already available, and indeed, there was an STL file. I imported it into my slicing program but realized that I wouldn’t have the control I needed. Then, I thought of using the text tool in Fusion 360 to create a custom Ampersand with the exact size and control I wanted.
I created a large ampersand, drew a box around it to match the size of my 3D printer, and figured out where to split it into two separate parts. I began hollowing out the Ampersand using the shell tool, starting with 1.5 mm walls. When I checked the print time in Bamboo Slicer, it was estimated at three hours, which seemed too long. The walls might have been too thick, but I decided to proceed anyway.
1.5 mm walls turned out to be too thick. Even a 1 mm wall thickness, which was surprisingly strong for PLA and was almost impossible to break.
7.5 mm seemed to be the thinnest Bamboo Slicer would handle with a 6 mm nozzle. It was promising, so I printed a new version of the ampersand split into three sections, scaling it to 300 mm. I added little tabs to make it easier to glue together. Despite not being a 3D printing enthusiast and only using basic settings, this was a learning experience.
Once all the parts were printed, I used CA glue and accelerator to assemble them. Although it’s meant to break, I tried to make it durable enough to last until the right moment.
I then designed a 1 mm lid with a 1 mm lip and realized I needed to make the pinata bigger to fit everything I wanted to include, such as rum bottles, Earl Grey tea, mints, and Tootsie Pops.
Initially, I thought I’d glue the top on and decorate it. However, the thin walls didn’t provide enough surface for the glue. In the end, I used tape and covered the pinata in newspaper to give it a finished look. I used PVA glue to adhere the newspaper to the piñata.
On the day of the party, I was nervous, but the pinata turned out great. It was decorated with labels representing items Liz wouldn’t miss in retirement, and everyone at the party loved it. The pinata performed perfectly, breaking in a couple of hits, which was exactly what I hoped for.
If you’re planning to make a 3D-printed pinata, let me know your adjustments and improvements. This project was a fun and unique way to celebrate Liz’s retirement, and 3D printing was the perfect medium for the complex shape.
Below I’ve included screen shots of the important settings in Bambu Studio.
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