Use Real Snow Productively This Winter by 3D Printing a Mini Snowman!

Now that the holiday season is almost over, you are probably wondering what to do with all of the time you spent shopping for gifts, baking grandma’s favorite gingerbread cookies, decorating your house, yard, and trees, and then, of course, taking it all down and packing it away until next year. Maybe one of your New Year’s resolutions should be that you want to make sure that you continue fun winter-themed projects even after the holidays are over. If that sounds good to you, then here is a simple and fun project you can do with your 3D printer. (And if you have children in your life, they will appreciate your resolution to do cool things like this more often.) Do you live in a part of the United States that receives lots of snow in the wintertime? You are in luck. For once, instead of just sighing heavily and shoveling that snow to the side, why don’t you grab some and use this 3D printed mini snowman kit instead?

James Davekos, or “jameswakefield,” is fairly new to 3D printing. Using his XYZ DaVinci 1.0/2.0 3D printer, he has already uploaded several designs, the most recent being an impressive ultraviolet germicidal sponge cleaner. But if you want to do something in winter that is snow-related to help yourself cope with the weather and possibly your own case of cabin fever, then you need something that you can do with snow, like a snowman!

Davekos hails from Hamilton, Massachusetts, in New England — a region of the country notorious for its cold and snowy winters. He went looking for a snowman mold and found one that was close to what he was looking for, except that it does not have any extra parts for the hat, arms, and face. So Davekos decided he would 3D print a snowman kit so you could make a complete traditional snowman with all accessories included. Here is how Davekos explains his idea:

“We have gotten a lot of snow this year here in New England and I saw the snowman mold by “Cloud Juan” and wanted to see if there was a whole package out in Thingiverse world to make a complete snowman. I did not see one but, I did find all the parts to put one together. I took the best snowman parts and resized and remixed and put this little kit together enjoy and thank you to the original designers.”

Since the accessories are what really turn lumps of snow into a snowman, Davekos improved greatly upon the original snowman mold. In terms of printing guidelines, Davekos reports he used supports only on the hat and the arms. Also, the kit can be customized by changing the size from 20%-40% depending on the size of your build platform. The small parts are printed with brims, which holds them together while being printed and allows them to lift off the platform more easily once they are done.

This kit has also received the honor of being one of the items featured in 3D Printing Ninja’s Top Free 3D Printed Christmas/Holiday Gift Guide for 2015, so Davekos is off to a great start in his 3D design and printing career with his mini snowman kit.  Discuss this story in the 3D Printed Snowman forum thread on 3DPB.com.