hexPin Art Bed

Here it is: a printable pin bed!

I wanted to do something like this for some time but it turned out to be quite tricky to get the design right for 3D printing. One key point is that the pins have to be printed standing up, which reduces their structural strength quite a lot. Printing the pins horizontally makes them much stronger (I tested it), but that means having to fill the bed one pin at a time, which will very quickly drive you mad (I tested it too).

To make the pins strong enough for actual use they have to be reasonably thick, which means the bed is "low resolution" (not many pixels per square inch). To compensate a bit for that I used hexagonal packing for the pins, which increases the density about 12% over a square grid pattern.

I experimented with different filament materials and the best combination I have found is PLA for the bed and PP (polypropylene) for the pins. PETG is also not bad for the pins; less tough but better looking. PLA or ABS pins are too brittle