Articulated Dragon

This one started as a test of my Bambu’s flex settings and turned into a three-hour rabbit hole of iterating hinge tolerances. The final version prints flat on the bed with zero supports — every joint is tuned to 0.2mm clearance, which is the sweet spot between floppy and stiff on most FDM machines.

Printed in Bambu PLA Silk Gold at 0.2mm layer height, 15% gyroid infill. The texture picks up light in a way that makes it look almost metallic. The tail is the hardest part — thirty-two individually articulated segments that need to nest just right.

If you’re having trouble with joints fusing, drop your layer height to 0.15mm or bump the clearance to 0.25mm in your slicer. Different PLA brands have different shrinkage and it matters here. You can also print in TPU for a much softer flex, though the tolerances need tightening by 0.05mm.