3D Print Cat Toy

Hello! I created a 3D printed dodecahedron shaped cat toy in Fusion 360. In this Instructable, I will go through the steps to make it yourself, but I also included the STL file in step 12.

Fusion 360

Cura

3D Printer

A bell or a few beads

Epoxy

Start by creating the basic shape for one side of the toy. I used the circumscribed polygon tool under sketch to get a perfect pentagon. A good radius would be around 9mm. Next we need to give the shape depth, so finish the sketch then go to SURFACE and select PATCH. Notice it fills the shape.

Select Move/Copy for the pentagon and set the Move Type to Rotate. IMPORTANT: Use the Move/Copy from right clicking on the body under the tab Bodies on the right, otherwise you will not have an option to create a copy. Next select an edge of the pentagon as the axis to rotate, and set the Angle to 116.6. This angle is important because it is the dihedral angle (angle between the sides) of a dodecahedron. Select Create Copy and hit OK.

Under CREATE select PATTERN -->CIRCULAR PATTERN. Select the new side to copy and select the center axis to rotate around. Type a quantity of 5 and hit OK. Now you have half of the dodecahedron.

Select all the bodies and click on the Move/Copy option. Change the Move Type back to free move and select the Create Copy. Then we can flip the new body 180 degrees. Before you hit OK on the Move/Copy, change the Move Type to Point to Point and click on a point on the new body and the corresponding point on the other half to align and finish the dodecahedron shape.

Lets use the Stitch command to make a solid body. Select the whole shape and hit OK to stitch them together.

Once we have a solid body, go back to the Surface tab and select Fillet to create rounded edges. Select the entire shape and change the fillet size to 2mm.

Use the Shell tool to hollow out the inside of the shape. Change the inside thickness to 1-2mm thick.

Next make a new sketch of a pentagon on the face of one of the sides of the dodecahedron. Make this sketch a few mm smaller than the sides of the dodecahedron. Then extrude the new pentagon through the face to make a hole.

Now create another pentagon on the same side, and make it the same size as the side. Then extrude the pentagon 2mm in to create a ledge.

Off to the side, create a new pentagon to fit into the ledge, 1 mm smaller than the regular sides. This will make sure it will fit in the ledge and you have room to epoxy it in.

Use the Hole feature to create holes in all the sides. The size you make the holes depend on what size beads/bells you are using to fill the toy. Create the hole 1 mm smaller than the size of the beads, or however big/small you want for bells. I would not recommend using small beads, only medium to large size.

Export your shape and lid for 3D printing. Use Cura (or your preferred slicer) to prepare the design for printing. DO NOT USE SUPPORTS. Instead, align the toy as shown in the picture.

My STL files are attached. If you use these STL files, you'll have to scale them to 50% size.

The bell was more popular with the cats than beads. If you are using beads, do not use too many or else the toy will get too heavy. I only put 4 beads in mine and it works great. Use a small amount of epoxy to attach the lid to the ledge on the open side. Once the epoxy is dry, it's ready for the cats to play with! This toy works best on carpet.