Upgraded Catan Board with Interlocking Grid - Single Extruder, Colorblind Friendly Design

After seeking some feedback, I've decided to lower the price of the model significantly.  I know having 10 different filaments is a significant barrier to entry, so if there is interest in selling filament packs meant specifically for this model, please DM me.

Overview

This model contains everything needed for an upgraded Catan experience:

• There is an interlocking grid that keeps the pieces of the board together.
• All parts are labeled to make the game color-blind friendly.
• The board is smaller – easier to play on a smaller table.
• A set of holders for all the parts is included in the model.
• The design is printable on a single extruder machine.

To see more, watch this 2 minute overview:
 

Setup Instructions:

Watch the detailed walk-through instructional video (15 min).  It covers how to unpack the pieces, set up the board, set up the player pieces, and pack everything up when the game is finished.

Materials Needed

• Filaments - each color is listed with the material used in the demo video.  
  • White - Overture Matte White PLA
  • Black - Overture Matte Black PLA
  • Blue - Overture Matte Blue PLA
  • Red - Overture Matte Brick Red PLA
  • Orange - Overture Matte Orange PLA
  • Light Green - Overture Matte Green PLA
    • Tried the Overture Matte Light green for the light green, but it was too light - more like toothpaste.
  • Dark Green - Polymaker Pro Blue Green PLA
    • This filament was not that easy to work with.  If anyone knows of a good dark green filament, please DM me or leave a comment.
  • Tan - Overture Matte Light Brown PLA
  • Yellow - Overture Matte Yellow PLA
  • Gray - Overture Matte Light Gray PLA
  • Other filament notes: Overture has an Overture Matte Filament Bundle that contains six of the needed filaments
  • You can, of course, use any filament colors you want, especially for the grids and holders.  The player piece colors are also somewhat arbitrary, but lighter filament colors seem to provide better contrast against the board.
• The parts holders are designed to fit in an 8"x8"x4" self-sealing box such as these plain boxes or these boxes with a black finish. Note that many filament boxes are 8"x8"x3".  I tried but could not make the pieces fit in a filament box.
• For the holder hinges, I recommend using 1.75mm nylon filament, but PLA or PETG can be used.
• From the Catan game
  • The five resource cards and development cards
  • Two dice that are different colors

Filament Breakdown

Approximate Filament breakdown by color, parts, and weight.  

Printing Instructions

The following sections describe how to print a complete set of parts.  Anything that references the extended set means pieces that are using in the 5-6 player expansion but not the regular game.

Pieces for the extended game are marked in some way so that they can easily be told apart when separating them out, but they are otherwise functionally identical to the standard game parts:

• Terrain tiles and port tokens are marked with an “E” on the bottom.
• The extended number tokens have a small circular cutout on one side.  The standard parts are a complete disc.
• The grid pieces for the extended game are printed in a different color.

Print parameters

Most of the models are designed to be printed with an 0.6 mm nozzle, but can be printed with an 0.4mm nozzle.  An 0.4 mm nozzle is recommended to get cleaner detail on the number tokens and player pieces, but is not required.

Recommended print parameters are listed here.  These have already been set in the easy mode plates.

• Lower the first layer speed on small parts to 12mm/s or 15mm/s
• Lower the infill to 10% gyroid
• Lower the infill to 10% lightning for a few of the holder pieces, except those that have hinges.

Easy Mode - Printing from plates

The easiest way to get everything printed is to use the 3MF files in the printable plates folder.  These files are PrusaSlicer 3MF project files.  Each plate is organized to be a single color and nozzle diameter.  They use the default profiles for 0.4 and 0.6 nozzles and generic PLA, but this can be changed after you open them in PrusaSlicer 

All the plate files have adaptive layer heights set already, so if you change the nozzle diameter, you may want to reset the layer heights for the models.  For the few models that need a single color change, the color change layer is already set.

Here is a checklist / description of each plate file that needs to be printed:

Hard Mode - Plating your own prints

If you don't want to use the plates, you can use the part files instead and organize them into colors yourself.  Each part is provided in STEP and 3MF format.  If possible, you should use the STEP format as the curves come out cleaner when slicing.  The plate 3MFs for easy mode were made using the STEP models.

The part files and quantities needed are listed below with the part filenames in bold.  

• Game pieces - found in the game_pieces_v5 folder 
  • Tokens
    • number_tokens - print one of each of the 18 tokens for a complete set.  
      • Optionally do a single color change at the layers where the letters start.
      • Optionally split the print into two groups, and color change to red for the 6 and 8 tokens and black for all the rest.
    • extended_number_tokens - print one of each of the 28 tokens for a complete set.  
      • Optionally do a single color change at the layers where the letters start.
      • Optionally split the print into two groups, and color change to red for the 6 and 8 tokens and black for all the rest.
    • largest_X_tokens - print one of each of the two tokens in the set
      • Optionally do a single color change at the layers where the letters start.
  • Tiles and ports
    • blue_pieces
      • 9 water tiles with port spots
      • 9 water tiles without port spots
      • 2 extended water tiles with port spots
      • 2 extended water tiles without port spots
    • dark_green_pieces - print the following quantities of the parts in this model
      • 4 lumber tiles
      • 2 extended lumber tiles
      • 1 lumber port token
    • light_green_pieces - print the following quantities of the parts in this model
      • 4 wool tiles
      • 2 extended wool tiles
      • 1 wool port token
      • 1 extended wool port token
    • gray_pieces - print the following quantities of the parts in this model
      • 3 ore tiles
      • 2 extended ore tiles
      • 1 ore port token
    • red_pieces - print the following quantities of the parts in this model
      • 3 brick tiles
      • 2 extended brick tiles
      • 1 brick port token
    • tan_pieces - print the following quantities of the parts in this model
      • 1 desert token
      • 1 extended desert token
      • 1 robber (top hat)
      • 4 3:1 port tokens
      • 1 3:1 extended port token
    • yellow_pieces - print the following quantities of the parts in this model
      • 4 grain tiles
      • 2 extended grain tiles
      • 1 grain port token
  • Player pieces
    • all_player_pieces - this set includes a road part, a settlement part, and a city part for each of six players.  Each piece has the player number on top.  
      • For each of the six players, print these pieces in a different color:
        • 15 roads
        • 5 settlements
        • 4 cities
      • Nominal color assignments are:
        • player 1 - white
        • player 2 - blue
        • player 3 - red
        • player 4 - orange
        • player 5 - light green
        • player 6 - tan
  • board_grid_1x
    • print 37 grid pieces in black for the standard set
    • print 15 grid pieces in grey for the extended set
  • Misc
    • robber_hat - this is also in the tan_pieces set, but if you didn't print it there, print it here.
• Game Piece Holders - found in the enclosure_v4 folder
  • card_holder - print two holders for the five resource cards plus the development cards
  • grid_holder - print the cradle and both parts of the cylinder
  • piece_holder - there is a top and bottom part.  Print 6 top and bottom sets in the same six colors used for the player pieces above. See the assembly section below for assembly instructions
  • terrain_holder - print one copy of the holder
  • token_holder - print one top and one bottom.  See the assembly section below for assembly instructions

Assembly Instructions

To assemble the player piece and token holders, put the two halves together so that the hinges align and push a length of filament into the hole to form the hinge pin.  Nylon filament is the most robust option, but PLA or PETG filament will work.

Support

If you find a problem with the models, I am happy to help you troubleshoot or fix any errors or omissions in the design.  Please DM me if you need support.

Commercial License

If you would like to purchase a commercial license (to resell the prints), please DM me.