3D printing the Wikipedia logo

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Wikipedia globe 3D printed with PLA
Wikipedia globe 3D printed with PLA

Admiring and participating at the amazing community of Wikipedia made me to really want to hold the Wikipedia globe in my hands, so I started looking for the STL file of the 3D version as soon as I bought my first 3D printer almost 3 years ago.

Searching on line I found that there was a file of the 3D globe logo but that was unfortunately only for 3D rendering purposes and not suitable for 3D printing. After contacting Wikimedia Foundation and the company “Because We Can” who had made the first Wikipedia globe in 3D they published a new version which now includes the STL file in August 2016. A big thanks to the people both at Wikimedia Foundation and “Because We Can” for publishing the files!

I started immediately trying to 3D print it. The first few attempts didn’t come out well due to using support for the base of the globe which instead of improving the print caused more problems. A few attempts later, removing the support material and with slower printing speed gave much better results.

The ripples at the edges of the puzzle pieces are probably caused by acceleration differences, to reduce this we need to reduce the printing speeds more, at around 20 mm/s or even lower. The nGen seems to produce a much better result to the base of the sphere than the PLA which I guess is due to the fact that PLA is more fluid when coming out of the nozzle than nGen even with full fans on.

Wikipedia globe 3D printed with nGen

I am very glad to give you a few more photos of a 3D printed Wikimedia logo and of course to finally share it with the 3D printing community so that now everyone can print and hold the Wikimedia globe logo. Don’t forget to follow the Foundation’s trademark policy and the visual guidelines.

Printing tips

  • Print it at least at a size of X-Y:80mm
  • No support
  • Cut off base of base of object to get at least a diameter of 20mm at first layer for good adhesion.
  • Low speeds, around 20mm (inner & outer shell speeds)

 

Photos at commons.wikimedia.org

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Wikipedia globe 3D printed with PLA
Wikipedia globe 3D printed with PLA

Admiring and participating at the amazing community of Wikipedia made me to really want to hold the Wikipedia globe in my hands, so I started looking for the STL file of the 3D version as soon as I bought my first 3D printer almost 3 years ago.

Searching on line I found that there was a file of the 3D globe logo but that was unfortunately only for 3D rendering purposes and not suitable for 3D printing. After contacting Wikimedia Foundation and the company “Because We Can” who had made the first Wikipedia globe in 3D they published a new version which now includes the STL file in August 2016. A big thanks to the people both at Wikimedia Foundation and “Because We Can” for publishing the files!

I started immediately trying to 3D print it. The first few attempts didn’t come out well due to using support for the base of the globe which instead of improving the print caused more problems. A few attempts later, removing the support material and with slower printing speed gave much better results.

The ripples at the edges of the puzzle pieces are probably caused by acceleration differences, to reduce this we need to reduce the printing speeds more, at around 20 mm/s or even lower. The nGen seems to produce a better result to the base of the sphere than the PLA which I guess is due to the fact that PLA is more fluid when coming out of the nozzle than nGen even with full fans on.

Wikipedia globe 3D printed with nGen

I am very glad to give you a few more photos of a 3D printed Wikimedia logo and of course to finally share it with the 3D printing community so that now everyone can print and hold the Wikimedia globe logo. Don’t forget to follow the Foundation’s trademark policy and the visual guidelines.

Printing tips

  • Print it at least at a size of X-Y:80mm
  • No support
  • Cut off base of base of object to get at least a diameter of 20mm at first layer for good adhesion.
  • Low speeds, around 20mm (inner & outer shell speeds)

Photos at commons.wikimedia.org

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