To Print:
- PLA
- 0.2mm layer height (0.1 may also work but not tested), 0.4mm nozzle and line width 3 perimeters; the fob is fine at 15-20% infill
- Good bed adhesion (and take care when removing from bed)
- You may need to do some careful cleaning up and loosening to get it to spin smoothly
- If you change filament color partway through the print, you can get some fun color contrast when it spins.
- No supports; it prints in place.
About
Pi Day (March 14) is coming up and I wanted to make something for it! This is a small gyro-style spinning pi symbol print designed to be used as earrings, charm, keychain, zipper pull, etc.
The pi symbol is designed so that it faces forwards regardless of how you flip it (i.e., not a mirrored pi symbol :P) There is a version with a small connector ring, meant for more careful applications like earrings, and one with a much sturdier connecting area, that can be attached to zippers, keychains, etc. For earrings, I have included a ‘reverse’ version, which is essentially the mirrored version but fixed so none of the characters are flipped, and a file that already has a matched pair ready to go.
The earring is ~21mm (~0.8 inches) in diameter, excluding the connector ring. The challenge was keeping this small enough to be an earring. The mass of the pi symbol piece is concentrated to one side, so a bit of a tilt should be enough to get it moving. Some of the digits of pi are wrapped around the outside (basically as many as fit on either version); they are subtle but present.