Iris Easter Egg

This is a fun print that looks like a normal Easter egg, but the bottom has a spherical iris opening. Spherical irises are pretty cool because they seem to disappear into themselves when open!  Way more fun than a normal Easter egg, and you can still hide stuff inside

This is a good one for the rainbow/gradient filaments you've been hording, or make a colorful striped egg while using up filament remnants. 

Rough dimensions of the egg are 70mm x 100 mm, and the inside is around 48mm at its widest diameter and around 95mm tall (but not constant diameter in that section. 

2025_04_03: If you're interested in a smaller egg, I've rebuilt this into a smaller version with some tweaks and changes to allow the mechanism to work at a smaller scale. Check it out here! Both are great, so I recommend you make a few of each :)

Make sure and follow the instructions, The iris part has a built in brim that needs to be separated before it will work.  These are easy to separate and without them the iris blades don't reliably sick to the buildplate, even on core-xy printers  (Credit goes to emmett's spherical iris box on thingiverse for this idea - this model is not a remix of it, but I did take inspiration from his design which I believe is the original)

A few printing tips:

• Use my print profile for settings and orientation.
  • If you have time, the 0.16mm profiles will look nicer and move smoother than the 0.2mm.
• Make sure your build plate is nice and clean!
• Silk and matte filaments aren't as strong and may struggle, I've printed this with a few of each and have had mixed results. If you print with either of these you may have to print the center clip that holds the two parts together from a different material.
  • I've uploaded a profile with just the clip in PLA or PETG for quick printing if you need!

Assembly:

1. Break tabs on iris (this is quick and easy, I promise!)

   1. Don't use a knife for this! The easiest way is to shove a flexible scraper between the parts to break the connections. 

       

2. Click retainer ring into the iris side by inserting the tabs in the correct side. 

3. Align the tabs on the bottom part and press together. It works to just press them directly together, but the following is a little easier:

   1. Locate the two tabs that are not at adjacent to the open end of the ring
   2. Angle these two tabs into slots on the non-iris end of the egg.
   3. Rotate the two ends flat together to click the remaining two tabs into place
   4. With the iris open, check that all of the inner tabs are in place.