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A 130 mm honeycomb leaf dish for keys and trinkets. Print it flat, warm it, press it into shape.

About this design

A leaf shaped dish, 130 mm long with its stem, 59 mm wide and 16 mm deep, with a honeycomb net and a solid rim. The tip curves a little to one side, the way a real leaf does, and the short stem is solid, so you can pick the dish up by it. It holds keys, rings, hair ties or sweets on a hall table or a bedside.

Made with our mesh former. The net prints flat in about 55 minutes, with no supports. Warm it with a heat gun or a hair dryer, lay it in the printed cavity and push the plug down on it, and it keeps the dish shape once it cools. The press is printed once, so a second leaf in another colour costs one more 7 g net.

The zip has the net, the plug, the cavity, a print sheet and the leaf outline as an SVG, which you can drop on the mesh former to change the size, the depth or the net pattern.

Shown as a 3D render of the formed dish in front of the two press halves, not a photo.

Made with Meshcast

Meshcast is a free toolkit for makers that runs in your browser: turn any 3D model into a candle, soap, concrete or silicone mold, or make your own cookie cutters, texture rollers, stamps and keychains. Nothing to install, and you can try every tool without an account.

• Mesh Former: meshcast.app/mesh-former
• Guide and print facts for this design: meshcast.app/3d-models/mesh-leaf-dish
• 400+ ready-made molds and models: meshcast.app/3d-models
• Meshcast: https://meshcast.app/
• Instagram: @meshcast.app

How this was made

The model is parametric: it is generated by Meshcast's own code, not made by an AI. The pictures are rendered in Blender. We use AI to assist our work (ideas, writing and checking), so this design carries Thingiverse's AI label to be on the safe side.

Selling what you make?

Free for personal use under CC BY-NC. Selling what you cast or print from this design needs a Meshcast commercial licence (Pro or Founder): meshcast.app/licenses

Print settings

Sliced with PrusaSlicer 2.7.2 at MK3S speeds: 0.4 mm nozzle, 0.2 mm layers, 2 walls, 10% infill. Net 55 min and 7 g, in PETG or PLA. Plug and cavity 3 h 40 min and 57 g together, in PLA, printed once. Size is the finished dish. No supports.

What you need

• About 7 g of PETG or PLA for the net, and 57 g of PLA once for the press
• A heat gun, or a hair dryer on its hottest setting
• Heat resistant gloves, or a folded towel to press the plug with

Steps

1. Print the net, the plug and the cavity flat on the bed.
2. Lay the net in the cavity's pocket, flat face down, so the small pins go through the holes in its rim.
3. Warm the net with the heat gun kept moving 15 to 20 cm away, until it goes limp. Keep the heat off the rim and the stem.
4. Turn the plug over side to side, like the page of a book (its left edge goes to the right, its top stays at the top), so its flange matches the block. Push it straight down into the cavity and hold it for about a minute while the net cools.
5. Lift the plug and take the leaf out.