Hiding Inside a Giant 3D-Printed Pokeball

Carlos from Carlos 3D Worlds wondered what happens inside a Pokeball, and his response came in the form of a 2 meter tall spherical that took weeks of experimentation to perfect. Big enough for some unfortunate soul to squeeze in, play some games, and become utterly disconnected from the outer world.

The design process began simply, with him firing up SolidWorks and blowing up the classic Pokéball to the size it would be if you were inside it. Then, with a wooden compass, he drew a large circle on the floor to see if a human could fit. He understood right away that it would be difficult because you couldn’t stand up inside. He wanted a comfortable spot for one adult to sit, with no standing.

The first thing he made was a plywood skeleton, bent into a banana-shaped circular and fitted it all onto a central ring. It was held together with glue and stainless steel screws. But then he found a significant stumbling block, as the wood started shifting and going out of whack when he glued it all together, so he had to create a special jig to keep everything nice and even. This device actually worked extremely well and added a lot of strength to the overall thing without taking up too much space inside. All that remained was to cover it with some sort of material, which was a problem because the MDF kept snapping as he tried to bend it around the bends. The infill that went between the walls was also all over the place; Carlos abandoned both of these concepts. On a whim, he decided to use printers to create the entire thing instead. He chopped the sphere into nearly 400 little blocks and printed them out one by one. The sphere is eight layers high, with each of its 26 sections made up of eight blocks. First, he printed the entire thing with 3mm layers, but then he switched to an 8mm nozzle and increased the speed significantly. He utilized Prusa filament.

He enlisted the assistance of a friend, Thomas, in the construction of the structure; they worked level by level, putting the blocks together in a particular jig that compelled the entire structure to be a perfect sphere. I stapled the joints together, then poured some resin to seal everything up, and lastly wrapped it in fiberglass fabric to make it nice and rigid. He then used some putty to fill in the gaps, and then it was time for some heavy sanding to remove all of the bumpiness from the print lines to the wood’s edges.

Designing the door was a bit of a challenge, since he initially thought four hinges would suffice, but splitting it in half meant you’d drop approximately a meter as you went inside. So that notion was scrapped. Carlos ended up printing the door himself, and it swings open perfectly low to the ground. Even has some cords running via a socket so you can quickly plug and unplug it.

It took him a long time to get the red on top, white on the bottom, and black on the center to match. But in the end, it was worthwhile. There are also wheels buried underneath on a green mat, allowing the ball to roll about.

Inside, however, it has been transformed into a classic gaming den, complete with an old Nintendo 64 connected to an old CRT television. There’s also a unique plywood table that doubles as a seat. To complete the look, there’s a Poké Rug on the floor, framed Pokémon cards on the wall, some artificial plants, lights in the corner, and a Bulbasaur printer that pays homage to how the item was actually created.

Given the time he spent reworking areas, it took him around two weeks just to print and put everything together. Sanding things down took much longer. The whole length of time stretched out over months. But the good news is that it costs almost nothing, just wood, filament, glue, and some basic tools. Fortunately, the plans fell through, so he didn’t get to utilize a pricey CNC machine.
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