Balancing Dragon

The dragon theme keeps coming back to me like a boomerang. This time I’m presenting a realistic balancing dragon. 

This model was a small challenge for me, as shown in the photo below with the entire flock I printed while trying to find the perfect settings.

An interesting fact is that this model slightly changes its balance point depending on the type of filament, the orientation on the build plate, and even the internal infill pattern.

In the end, the most balanced compromise turned out to be printing it vertically, head down, and using several walls that filled the model 100 percent instead of using 2 walls with 100 percent infill.
Even then, I wasn’t able to completely eliminate differences in filament distribution between the two halves of the model, which results in a very slight tilt to one side.

A potential solution to perfectly fine tune the balance every time would be adding small cavities in the wings, tail, or head for tiny counterweights such as a bit of modeling clay. However, this would affect the appearance, so for now I decided not to go with that option.

I recommend printing with PLA Basic. With some PLA Silk filaments, you may experience issues when printing the tail tip. Regardless of the filament type, make sure to ensure strong support adhesion to the build plate and good model cooling.

Have Fun :)