Elk Spirit

Elk are one of my favorite animals. They are majestic creatures and their spirits walk the forest floors of the mountains. This sculpture tries to capture their spirit.

Please "Like" this file, if you collect or download it.

Buffalo Spirit: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2977073

Print Settings

Printer Brand:

MakerBot

Printer:

Rafts:

Yes

Supports:

Resolution:

hires

Infill:

Notes:

It is best to make this print the maximum size of your print volume so that the details come out and those are strong enough to survive having the supports removed. Even when I printed on the Makerbot Rep2 at the max size, the ribs broke and I had to glue those back on so be very gentle removing the supports. With patience and work, it can look good.

I note most of the slicing programs I have tried (Makerware and Simplify 3D) on close inspection, leave the ribs unsupported with auto supports - I had to manually create supports in Simplify 3D. The print was successful once I added extra supports to the rib areas and few extra supports to the antlers (don't forget the front ribs).

This is a difficult file to print and have it look good. This is one of the few models I have created for Thingiverse where I didn't create the file specifically for deposition type printers. I can't wait till printers catch up with the designs and I don't need to worry about supports.

I have included the Simplify 3D file for the Makerbot Rep 2 that has the extra supports. Along with the exported gcode file for the Makerbot as well.

If you want to test the ability to print with supports this is an excellent test file.