3D Printing A Fossil


Earlier this week I tried my hand at printing fossils. The print didn't perfectly, but it was quite encouraging.

Museum Victoria - an Australian institution - has released a 3D scanned trilobite on Thingiverse.

I trimmed the model - to make the bed shallower and the sides neater - and hit print. I'm pretty impressed with the results:

3D trilobite 1 3D trilobite 2 3D trilobite 3 3D trilobite 4

My remixed model is also available on Thingiverse if you'd like to have a go at printing your very own fossil.

I'm impressed with the fidelity of the print. It came out much better than I expected. You can really see a lot of the detail. I think it could be an excellent way to introduce people to fossils, to really give them a chance to examin them and feel them - even if they can't get to a museum.


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