Barbie Pommel Horse

My daughter asked for a Barbie Gymnastics set from Target for her birthday. After purchasing the one she wanted (https://www.target.com/p/barbie-174-careers-gymnastic-coach-dolls-playset/-/A-52607245#lnk=sametab) and realizing how lack-luster it was, I decided I could do better. The result is this Pommel Horse, a Spring Board and a Balance Beam to make a nice DIY playset.

Balance Beam: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2574795
Spring Board: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2576832

This is a nice, fairly scale size pommel horse that requires a print bed large enough for the 180mm long body. The legs and feet are identical to the ones used in my Balance Beam design.

The body requires supports to keep the leg pockets from sagging in. The interior has built in ribs to allow for a hollow interior while still supporting the top curve of the body. Note the body took over 10 hours to print but is light weight and didn't waste a ton of filament.

Print Settings

Printer Brand:

Prusa

Printer:

i3 MK2S

Rafts:

No

Supports:

Yes

Resolution:

.2

Infill:

20%

Notes:

The body is a 10 hour print but is also self supporting internally. Supports only needed to keep the leg pockets open on the bottom. Slic3r added these end supports for who knows what reason. Who am I to complain though I guess as the print came out absolutely perfectly.

Post-Printing

Body with minimal supports needed.

Use 3mm brim on legs

The contact area of the cross piece is so small, the part will curl off the print bed and ruin your print if you don't add a brimm. I used 3mm and it worked perfectly!

These were the initial prints, decided to add the cross bracing for strength later as you see in the final STL's

Feet added just for looks. They print quickly and can be snapped or glued on.

Handles and alignment pegs

Glue optional

While the handles are designed to be CA glued together, I found that with the alignment pins installed, they friction fit perfectly into the body so no glue was needed to hold the halves together nor was it necessary to glue the handles into the body. While I'll probably glue the handle assembly together, I think I'll leave them friction fit into the body and thus removable. That way if I can figure out a few other handle configurations that allow for posing the dolls and locking their arms into the handles, then you can freely swap out as needed. Watch this space for potential future updates.

Pommel Horse Body Test

As noted, the body is a 10 hour print! Use this smaller test piece for any experimentation you may need prior to the final print. This piece took about 3hrs and 43min on my Prusa.

Note that body is largely hollow so you aren't wasting tons of filament on infill. I added a series of internal ribs that print without support and give the top something to bridge across without needing infill.

Inspirational pic from Google search

My finished design in a similar orientation and rendered in Fusion 360.

How I Designed This

Fusion 360