Work/Print-in-place // Parametric CAD // Free download

Ten joints. Two colors.
Zero assembly.

Wiggle Toys are print-in-place desk buddies for the shop, the office or the kids. Every joint prints already assembled, the arms ball-joint, the base takes a magnet, and the face is its own part so it prints in any color. One body, 85 toys, all free.

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Three wiggle toys with different faces and colors

3D render

Toys: 85 across 10 collections
Print profiles: 18, one toy per plate
Joints: 10 body joints, about 22 deg each
Assembly: None. Prints in place, flat, no supports
Colors: 2 filaments, face is its own part
Status: Test prints running, MakerWorld listing in draft

Case study

A toy is a good place to show your joints

The idea

A desk toy that shows what print-in-place can do. Ten stacked joints that swing about 22 degrees each, ball-joint arms, a magnet base, and a face that prints in its own color. One file, no assembly, no supports.

The engineering

Every joint is a pin in a hole with a swept socket, so the post never binds and the pin sits in double shear. Clearances were set for a 0.4 mm nozzle and checked on the mesh, not guessed.

The result

85 toys built from one parametric body: faces, characters, 21 textures, lattice and topo structures, 15 holiday versions and four sampler display pieces. All free, with print profiles ready to go.

The joint

Three features that do the work

Cross section drawing of the print-in-place body joint showing the pin, swept socket and relief — Section through the body joint. Pin in double shear, socket swept around it, relief at the post root so the segment can lean

Arm link footprint on the print bed before and after the flat foot was added — Arm links on the bed, before and after the flat foot. More than eight times the contact area, same swing

Stacked swept-socket joints

Each segment carries a pin that prints inside the next segment's socket. The socket is swept around the pin so the toy can lean a full 22 degrees per joint without the post hitting a wall.

Ball-joint arms that print standing up

Each arm link is a ball in a socket with a 50 degree mouth. The first version had only 62 mm² of arm touching the bed. A flat foot on every link took that to 521 mm² with no loss of swing.

The face is a separate body

Faces, hat trim and accents are their own part in the file. On a dual-nozzle printer the whole toy prints in two colors with no filament swaps. Single nozzle gets a filament change at one layer.

Articulation

About 220 degrees of lean, straight off the bed

Three wiggle toys standing straight, leaning and curled over — Straight, a lean and a full curl. Ten joints at about 22 degrees each. 3D render

A wiggle toy body curled to its maximum articulation — The body at the stops. The swing was measured on the mesh, not estimated. 3D render

One body, 85 toys

Faces, textures, structures and seasons

Grid of wiggle toy faces and characters — Face kits and characters. The face is a separate body, so it prints in its own color. 3D render

Twelve surface textures on the same toy body — 21 textures cut into the segments as height fields. Yes, one is a pickle. 3D render

A topology-style segment with a curved strut from the joint to the rim — Topo segments: a curved strut from the joint to the rim, stop faces and joint core left solid. 3D render

Four sampler display toys with a different finish on every segment — Sampler display pieces, a different finish on every segment, for the counter or the booth. 3D render

Print it

Flat on its back, no supports, add a magnet

A wiggle toy laid flat on the print bed with its arms out — Every toy prints flat on its back, one toy per plate. 3D render

Print notes

Size: 170 mm tall, about 174 mm across the arms
Material: PLA for the desk, PETG or ASA outside
Supports: None. No brim either
Magnet: 20 mm disc glued into the base

Flex every joint once after printing to break the skin. Then it moves for good.

The magnet pocket in the base of a wiggle toy — 20 mm magnet pocket in the base. Fridge, toolbox, filing cabinet. 3D render

Process

How 85 toys came out of one model

01
Parametric body
One Inventor body with named parameters for segment count, joint clearances, rim and post. The variants are inputs, not remodels.
02
Rule-driven builds
An iLogic builder reads a recipe file and writes the part, STEP and STL for each toy. Three Inventor sessions built a batch of 12 in about six minutes.
03
Mesh checks
Every STL checked for closed shells, non-manifold edges, floating parts and volume against the CAD before it went in a print file.
04
Textures as math
Groove and relief skins are height fields cut 0.6 mm into the segments, so a texture can never reach a joint or change the swing.
05
Rendered, not photographed yet
A WebGL renderer in headless Chromium turned out the gallery in nine colorways. Real print photos replace the renders as the test prints finish.
06
Packaged for MakerWorld
18 sliced profiles, one toy per plate, a print and play guide, and a license that keeps the files free but not for resale.

Next up: test prints of the slim, lattice, textured and two-color toys, then real photos, then the whole package goes up on MakerWorld as a free download.

Your product

What this means for your project

Print-in-place and moving parts

Clearances that print, not clearances that look right.

Hinges, snaps, ball joints and captive pins all come down to a few tenths of a millimeter and the right orientation. I design them for the printer you have and check the mesh before it ships.

Branded giveaways and product families

One parametric model, as many variants as you need.

Your logo, your colors, your mascot. A rule-driven CAD model turns a family of variants into a list of inputs, with print files and renders that come out of the same pipeline.

Want a toy, a giveaway or a product family of your own?

Tell me what it needs to do and who it is for. I reply within 2 business days.

Start a project→

Ten joints. Two colors.Zero assembly.