“I had been wanting to test for myself just how strong and flexible Shapeways’ material ‘White Strong and Flexible’ (WSF) could be,” Bissell tells 3DPrint.com. “The design for Crawly Ball came up in my sketch book one day as I was thinking of ways that I could stress the material. I wanted to test the impact resistance and flexibility I could achieve with WSF with a small print. The parts of Crawly work together to do that in a small, fun, and interesting way.”
So what exactly is the purpose of the Crawly Ball, other than its cool appearance?
“Crawly Ball has so much personality that it even looks a little sad when you leave it alone,” Bissell explains. “And while I think that personality is Crawly Ball’s greatest trait, playing with it is also great for relieving stress or boredom while stuck at a desk or feeling sick,” he says. “It’s a shock absorbing, indoor safe, flexible plastic ball of fun.”
If he finds that the Crawly Ball sells well enough on Shapeways, he may next launch a crowdfunding campaign for it on Kickstarter in order to make the overall production more affordable and allow for the creation of larger sized models.
“It would be great to make one the size of a basketball, but for the time being that’s out of the budget,” Bissell explains.
The Crawly Ball can be purchased from Shapeways starting at $35, and it is now available in several different colors, including purple, blue, red, pink, yellow, green, orange, black and white.
What do you think? Does this have the potential to be the next Rubik’s Cube or Hula Hoop? Discuss in the 3D Printed Crawly Ball forum thread on 3DPB.com. Check out the video of the ball in action below.