Non-Spherical Dingle Balls for Inclined Floors (SCAD)

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The motivation was to make a dingle ball which will not so freely roll on a floor which is inclined for drainage, such as in a basement, a porch, or sanitary facility. This room was built for washdown, and I just got sick of all the dingle balls rolling straight towards the drain gutter and getting trapped there. Included are two designs -- one is a superellipsoidal shape, and the other is a biconic barrel shape. The superellipsoidal ball has a slightly cuboid form. It can be rolled fairly easily, but it will eventually waddle and park itself on one of its "faces". The barrel shape can roll, but it has a much higher tendency to meander, spin, or roll in circles. The cats seem to like both, though the barrel model seems to be easier for them to pick up. It also tends to roll back under their feet when batted, which they don't expect. They both eventually end up in the gutter, but it takes a few minutes instead of ~10 seconds. The downside is the possibility that dingle balls can now be left unattended anywhere other than the gutter, so I expect I'll end up stepping on one. I wish I had some more colorful filament. Both designs include an optional rattle ball which can be simply pried or knocked loose. The barrel design includes two rattle balls. There are two accomodations for installing a jingle bell instead of the printed rattle ball. The rattle ball can be optionally omitted with a flag, leaving an empty shell which can be filled by inserting a pause in the gcode. Alternatively, an exploded version can be printed with a separate lid which can be glued or welded in place. Included are STL files for each of these three styles (rattle ball, empty, exploded) in both designs. I used only a small amount of painted supports between the bed and the lower apex of the part for stability. If you want a different geometry, you can edit the SCAD files.

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