Dave Makes Stuff has become well-known for the intricacy of his 3D prints, and with his newest project, Dave has applied his expertise and attention to detail in the service of a print on a smaller scale… a much, much smaller scale.

Once a year, people around the world compete in an “art n seek” event known as the Game of Shrooms. Artists create mushroom-themed works of art and hide them throughout their communities so that other players can uncover them for themselves. It’s an annual opportunity for art lovers to add new pieces to their collections, and last year, Dave thought he’d join in on the fun. So, what shroom-themed 3D wizardry did he bring to the party? Well, tiny 3D-printed mushroom magnets, of course! Let’s take a look at these fun fungal creations and see how Dave brought them to life!

List of tools

• Elegoo Saturn 2
• Elegoo Mercury X for curing and cleaning
• BASF Ultracur3D® Resin Cleaner
• Lychee Slicer
• Phrozen Dental Study Resin
• Ntopology

Design Goals

Dave’s mushroom designs range in size from four centimeters to an extremely compact two centimeters in height. Each one is made up of a sturdy lattice design that not only looks beautiful but also ensures that the prints retain their strength. The base of each mushroom stem features a small hole with space for a neodymium magnet, which allows Dave to hide the prints in a myriad of hard-to-find places. Before this project, he hadn’t experimented much with setting tolerances for magnets, so these mushrooms presented him with a unique learning experience. Before he could send the mushrooms for print, Dave made sure that the holes at the base of the mushrooms were sized perfectly so that they would be just wide enough to insert the magnets but just snug enough to keep them from falling out.

Another measurement Dave had to consider was the size of the struts that made up the mushroom’s lattice structures. He wanted to see how small he could size the lattice, aiming to thin it out as much as possible, while still ensuring that the mesh could maintain the structural integrity of the models. After exporting the mushrooms out of Onshape, he brought them into nTopology and began designing the specifications for the mesh. After some fine-tuning, Dave got the thickness he was looking for, with the struts on the smaller mushrooms measuring under one millimeter in diameter!

After perfecting the dimensions of the lattice, Dave put a few finishing touches on his design. He thickened the density of the cells around the mushroom cap and the brim to get some solid adhesion points for the print supports, and he thickened the base to strengthen the insert point for the magnets. Once those finishing touches were administered, Dave exported the STL files to Lychee Slicer and prepared his Elegoo Saturn II for printing his army of mini-mushrooms.

The Printing Process

When it came to printing the mushrooms, Dave pushed his Elegoo Saturn II to its limits. When preparing the files for print, he decided to load up the Saturn with a whopping fifty mushrooms at once! This was by far the most that he had ever attempted to print on a single base plate, and he had no idea whether or not it would work. The supports were well-placed and the raft seemed like it would be solid, but could the Saturn really handle that many mushrooms at once?

Well, as it turns out, it certainly could! The Saturn II did its job perfectly, providing Dave with fifty nifty little mushrooms. After popping them all off the base plate, Dave washed them in BASF Ultracur3D cleaner and placed them into his Elegoo Mercury X for curing.

Once the curing process was completed, he got to work inserting the neodymium magnets into the base of the mushrooms. He did so by connecting the magnets to the channel locks of his wrench, which he would then use to apply pressure to the mushrooms, securing them in place over the magnets. The magnets should fit without the need for any CA glue, but Dave says that you can always use some if you’re experiencing a bit of a looser fit.

Reviewing the Project

After the mushroom magnets had been completed, Dave took a moment to look back on his project. He believes that every new print is a chance to expand his 3D printing knowledge, and these fun little mushrooms provided him with quite a few valuable learning opportunities. These are some of the tiniest prints he had ever attempted, and it took a lot of fine-tuning to ensure that the complex lattice mesh could support these structures at such a small scale. It also took quite a bit of finessing to ensure that the magnets would fit perfectly into the prints, but thankfully, Dave is always up to the task. Through his foray into the mushroom kingdom, Dave was able to further hone his 3D modeling skills, while also getting a chance to test the limits of his Elegoo Saturn II. The 3D printer lived up to the hype, proving entirely capable of printing fifty shrooms at once! DaveMakesStuff and the Saturn II are quite the team!

Conclusion

Dave’s done it again. Using his creativity and 3D printing expertise, he’s completed another incredible project. These funky fungi are precisely crafted works of 3D modeling, but more importantly, they’re just plain cute! I've never participated in the Game of Shrooms myself, but if doing so means I can get my hands on a DaveMakesStuff original, then sign me up!

Download the models here