So far my two favourite things to print are fossils and mathematically-based models. The former because it’s almost impossible for most people to have hands-on access to fossils, and they really are fascinating. The latter because it’s the ethereal made real. There are some excellent artists out there who are not only creating mathematical models, but also sharing them.
This one is a twisted cylinder with a Veronoi surface applied to it :
Veronoi Tower
It’s printed with 0.2mm layers, and stands 3.5-inches tall. It took about 3-1/2 hours to print, if I recall correctly. From http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:23496
It’s hard to get a good picture of these 3-dimensional constructs. This is really shown by the next object :
Cellular thing
Source : http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:19104
Printed with 0.2mm layers, but could really use 0.1mm judging by how some of the thing strands turned out. It’s shape, if you can’t quite see it, is like a hollow donut with the skin formed by an open-celled membrane. It stands just shy of 4-inches tall (the limit of my printer). As you can see, it needs a bit of cleaning up … but that’s pretty normal. It took about 6 hours to print.