I created these octopus pins for my ultimate frisbee team (our mascot is an octopus). I took the logo that one of my teammates created and recreated it in SOLIDWORKS. Then I adapted the design for 3D printing and created a housing to capture the pin. Printing this part in two pieces allowed me to create a design with multiple colors, which my current 3D printer can’t do on a single part. The main challenge was adjusting the tolerance between the two pieces to achieve a press fit and to leave the correct amount of space for the pin backing so that it fit snugly in between and didn’t have room to rattle around.

I also designed a version where the legs of the octopus wrap around into loops to go on on shoelaces or a necklace.

I’m planning to make another version of this design where I pause the print in the middle to insert the pins. This will eliminate the need for two parts, but has the added challenge of ensuring the printer head doesn’t collide with the pins after they’ve been inserted.