Design of the Week: 3D Printed Cat Armor

By on November 29th, 2015 in Design

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This week’s selection is the startling and possibly functional 3D Printed Cat Armor, by designer J Wall.

Tennessee-based J Wall describes himself as a novice 3D designer, but you wouldn’t know it after looking at this complex design for Cat Armor. It includes multiple interlocked articulated segments that should make your tabby a bit more fearsome, unless you decide to print this item in a soft pastel color. 

In this video J Wall describes how he (and cat Bobo) went about designing the armor. Note the extensive work required to complete the design in Cinema4D. 

The design is freely downloadable from Thingiverse and requires no non-printable parts to complete the work. Evidently there’s crowdsourced work happening on a helmet to accompany the armor, which we’ll be quite interested to see. 

What makes this a great design? Aside from the geometric shape, we think it’s just cool! J Wall has combined two highly unlikely elements (a rather nice looking friendly cat and deadly, dinosaur-like wartime armor); a mental and functional contrast that creates something new.

In fact, we’re wondering if “Cat Armor” could inspire similar designs for pets and result in a new 3D print design niche. 

Via Thingiverse

By Kerry Stevenson

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has written over 8,000 stories on 3D printing at Fabbaloo since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!