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The Making of Sean Charlesworth's 3D-Printed Octopod

knuckle-booled

by Norman Chan

"I felt that the tentacle was the most important part to figure out or the model would be a flop. I went ahead with the rubber core/plastic knuckle design but I still needed a way to to pose the tentacle. While the rubber core would make it super-flexible, it wouldn't hold a position. I decided to insert a brass rod through the length of the tentacle much like they do for stop motion puppets. The rubber would give it flexibility while the brass rod would hold the shape."

"I used a deformer to shape the tentacle and then used the core to boole (cut-out) a hole through all the knuckles. This has to be absolutely precise in order for the rubber to fuse to the plastic. If it’s off at all, the print will fail."

Photo courtesy Sean Charlesworth