Hello fellow Catan enthusiasts! As you have probably seen there are many custom versions of 3D Catan. All the designs that I have come across inspired me to do my own take on it. Since many Catan designers are willing to share their designs I wanted to as well. I will show you what DigiKey can provide to help you make your own board.
The Lulzbot is the 3D printer I chose to use between all the ones DigiKey carries . This project was done to see how the Lulzbot and the filament printed. I wanted to see how accurate it would print my pieces as there are very specific measurements for the game board to work.
This 3D printer (Lulzbot) has several features such as different head sizes and a pause feature. This feature lets you stop a print to change out filament so you can use several colors in one print . I was able to use this on my desert tile and it turned out great as the colors came together very nicely. The tile piece is a wood color and the dinosaur skull is white. PLA filament is what I used on all my prints. I chose that because of how nice it prints and something I am familiar with. DigiKey sells many different kinds, colors, and sizes of filaments , but I chose to stay with the 2.85mm PLA type so my prints would stay uniform.The Lulzbot was very friendly to use , as the instructions were easy to understand .
In order to make this Catan magnetic I had to do several trials of what size , strength , and how many to use on each tile. The end result was 12 magnets per tile. The polarity is switched every other space so when you put the board together it doesn’t matter which side you match up , they will stay together. There are 6 “north” and 6 “south” magnets on each tile .
The CAD software I used is Onshape. I have only done a few projects so I am always learning new techniques. After everything was printed I painted most of the tiles and pieces.I used an acrylic base paint on all the pieces as it easier to cover or clean up if I made a mistake. Please see the linked DigiKey parts below for what was used to make the board. The linked CAD files will be listed at the bottom of the page so you can create your own.
Lulzbot- 3D Printer
Magnets- For the tiles
Super Glue - For the magnets
1942-1064-ND- Wheat and wood tiles, port chips
1942-1065-ND- Water tiles and Game pieces
473-1362-ND- Brick tile
473-1344-ND- Ore tile
473-1456-ND- Sheep and Desert tile, Game pieces
473-1306-ND- Desert tile and Number chips
473-1349-ND- Game pieces
473-1352-ND- Game pieces
CAD software : Onshape
CAD file: Water Port tile and Wood Port chip
CAD file: Beach tile
CAD file: Wood tile
CAD file: Sheep tile
CAD file: Wheat tile
CAD file: Brick tile
CAD file: Ore tile
CAD file: Desert tile
CAD file: Brick port chip
CAD file: Sheep port chip
CAD file: Ore port chip
CAD file: Wheat port chip
CAD file: 3:1 port chip
CAD file: Number chips
CAD file: Road
CAD file: Settlement
CAD file: City
Special thanks to my DigiKey Technical co-workers : Aaron Rollens, Dan Kiviaho, and Nathan Raatz.