One of our incredible customers – Creativity by PH – have shared his workflow for designing and producing doll house furniture. Using CAD software and 3D printers, he has both designed and produced the furniture himself.
Read the article and learn how the design and creation process of doll house furniture can look like. Hopefully you will be inspired and want to try yourself! This was a project that Creativity By PH did for one of his customers. He modeled it in Fusion 360 (a CAD software that is free to use for hobbyists and small businesses) and 3D printed the furnitures with a Flashforge Adventurer 4 3D printer.
Modelling doll house furniture in Fusion 360
If you are designing furnishings for a dollhouse, it is a good idea to model it in a scale of 1:1 (natural size). If you do that, it is easier to get an idea of how big or small the furniture being modeled is in reality. It is also easier to add other products to the CAD software later on, to get a size reference. When 3D printing the furniture (or what you have designed), you can calculate how it should be scaled down to fit the dollhouse. Doll house furniture is often in a scale of 1:12 (approx.).
From drawing in CAD to finished 3D print
Below Creativity by PH describes his design process. In this case, his customer ordered small spice racks with pull-out buckets for a dollhouse.
The design below is created in the CAD software Fusion 360.
Step 1 ↑
First I started with a sketch where I drew the outer edge on top of the bucket.
Step 2 ↑
Then an Offset plane where I projected the first sketch and drew a slightly smaller base to the bottom of the bucket.
Step 3 ↑
Then I made a Loft between the top and bottom sketch. You see that there will be an angle in the tip.
Step 4 ↑
After this I rounded off the corners with the tool Fillet and then I hollowed out the solid body with the Shell command.
Step 5 ↑
After that I wanted an end piece, which would be a little bigger than the bucket itself. This step was not necessary because it should be 3D printed so small. But since the original looked like that, I still chose to make it.
Step 6 ↑
Then I made a new sketch where I wanted to attach the handle.
Step 7 ↑
With another sketch on a perpendicular plane, I made a “path” that my next command would follow. The idea here was that the Loft command could be used again and then follow the shape of the handle.
Step 8 ↑
This is what it will look like. Here I have made the bucket and the handle in two different bodies so it is possible to scale the bucket to different sizes before the handle is “mounted”.
Rendering of the design↑
When I finished drawing, I created a rendering directly inside the CAD software Fusion 360. It is a good tool that gives you the opportunity to work in all steps from idea to finished product.
This is what the 3D printing process looks like
After the files were saved from Fusion 360, and exported in .3mf or similar mesh format, I printed them on the 3D printer Flashforge Adventurer 4. The 3D printer I used was not modified in any way, but I fine-tuned some settings in the slicer (3D printing software). For example, I choose to lower the print speed and reduce the layer height to get the best possible result.
For this type of application, I prefer a high-quality PLA filament such as add:north X-PLA. X-PLA has a high impact resistance and a really nice surface finish.
Here you can see the finished, 3D printed result of the design. Although I chose to 3D print with minimal layer-height, it will be a bit of finishing work for those who are taking an extra close look. Nail files or small needle files are perfect for small details. Slightly larger details can be sanded with sandpaper with a grain size of 600-2000.
The project also consisted of designing the shelf for the glass buckets. Here you can see the result of a 3D printed shelf with the pull-out buckets. The center row of the shelf has room for a narrower bucket, and a few smaller buckets, compared to the rest.
Here you can see the result of another shelf with the glass buckets. The shelf itself is painted to get a more realistic look. The buckets were not painted to maintain the glass look. For this purpose, model paint or acrylic paint is a good choice. Since it should not be loaded or worn, you do not need to treat it with primer.
Inspiration images for the project from the customer
The pictures in this article come from Creativity by PH.
Many thanks to Creativity by PH
We at Creative Tools would like to thank Creativity by PH for sharing his design and creation process. We love to se what our customers make using their creativity and the products they buy from us. Thank you!
Products used in this customer case
