The Owl House Portal Door

This is a model of the portal door from The Owl House. A model of the key is also included. The entire model can be printed without mmu and with just black and yellow filament. The door is print-in-place and can open and fold into a suitcase.

 There are three versions:

• solid: Simple model of the frontside
• hinge: front- and backside, connected by a hinge in the middle.
• suitcase: frontside of the door and can fold up into a suitcase.

One side of the door is 83.6mm wide and 165.1mm tall. The front of the suitcase is 83.6mm wide and 55mm tall.

The print requires yellow and black filament. The different shades of brown are simulated with thin layers of yellow on top of black. Brown filament is optional.

If you prefer using just one shade of brown for all surfaces, look at this alternate version of the door.

Colors

Start with black filament, than change to yellow at the point where the first brown surfaces begin. The new filament will look like a dark brown at first, then transition more and more into yellow as it gets thicker.

The thickness of the layers depends on how opaque your yellow filament is. Print the different versions of color_test and see which works best for you. They use a thickness of 0.05mm, 0.07mm, 0.1mm, 0.15mm, 0.2mm, or 0.3mm for dark brown. Also use this thickness as the layer height for printing. (For 0.3mm thickness you might want to use 0.15mm layer height instead.)

I've used yellow filament from DasFilament with 0.05mm thickness.

This technique amplifies even the tiniest imperfections of the print. A small uneveness in a layer will be visible as a darker or lighter spot on the print.

Ironing is necessary for a smooth color, but also impacts the lightness of the color.

The pre-sliced files all start with black and have one filament change to yellow.

Optionally you can start with dark brown filament, and only use black for the final two layers before yellow. This will make the sides of the door brown. I have used this for suitcase, but not for hinge.

Simulating brown like this works well enough, but it's not perfect. Alternatively you can use the 0.3mm thickness version with five different filaments, one for every color. This would require black, yellow, light brown, medium brown, and dark brown filament.

Solid

Slicing

1. Load the model into your slicer
2. Set the layer height according to what worked best with the color test.
3. To save time, you can use a height range modifier from 0mm to 1mm and set the layer height to 0.2mm. The pattern on the front doesn't start until 1mm.
4. Use a height range modifier from 1mm to 2.2mm and enable ironing for this range only. The other layers don't need ironing.
5. Add a filament change at the first layer after 1mm.

Printing

Nothing special.

Finishing

Nothing special.

Hinge

You can print hinge_test first to test your print settings.

Slicing

1. Load the model into your slicer
2. Set the layer height according to what worked best with the color test.
3. Add a height range modifier from 0mm to 2.4mm and set the layer height to 0.2mm.
4. Add a height range modifier from 2.5mm to 3.7mm and enable ironing for this range only.
5. Add a filament change at the first layer after 2.5mm.

Printing

Nothing special.

Finishing

After the print is finished, you have to break the hinges free. The hinges have two fold-lines. Pick one of them and fold the door carefully along this line, with even pressure, until the door is at a 90° angle. Then fold it along the other line until it is fully closed. There are plenty of hinges, so it doesn't matter if some break. The hinges will become looser over time.

Suitcase

This is not an easy print. I recommend printing suitcase_test first.

This version does not have a doorknob. (To pull of a doorknob that folds into the suitcase, sitting right on a fold-line, I would need actual magic.)

Slicing

1. Load the model into your slicer
2. Set the layer height according to what worked best with the color test.
3. Enable supports on buildplate.
4. Increase elephant foot compensation (print settings → advanced → slicing → elephant foot compensation).
5. Reduce printing speed for the first layer (print settings → speed → modifiers → first layer speed).
6. Use a height range modifier from 0 to 3.4 and set the layer height to 0.2mm.
7. Use a height range modifier from 3.5 to 5 and enable ironing for this range only.
8. Add a filament-change at the first layer after 3.5mm

Printing

The first layer is very important for the hinges to work properly. Make sure your printer is properly calibrated and that the filament sticks to the printbed.

Finishing

Your final print should look like this. It has 6 segments, connected by hinges, which I have labeled A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3.

Remove it from the buildplate and flip it over to remove the supports with a small knife or screwdriver. They are marked in red on the next image. There are 45 red areas.

Then insert a small screwdriver at the green arrows to break the arms of the hinges free, so that they can move along the rails. There are 32 green arrows. Try pulling B1/A1 away from B2/A2. If it can't move, then some arm is still stuck to its rail. Try the same for B2/A2 and B3/A3.

Then fold the door-hinges (between B1 and A1, between B2 and A2, between B3 and A3) upwards. Fold it evenly so that A1/A2/A3 and B1/B2/B3 move together.

There are more than enough hinges between the segments, so it doesn't matter when some of them break. Remove any remains of broken hinges.

Finally, fold the entire thing into a suitcase.

Key

The key consists of two parts: key_top and key_bottom. You will need 2 copies of key_top.

Slicing

key_bottom

key_bottom is a straighforward print. It works well at 0.2mm layer height and requires supports everywhere.

key_top (2 copies)

1. Load the model into your slicer
2. Set the layer height according to what worked best with the color test.
3. Enable supports on buildplate.
4. Use a height range modifier from 0 to 3.2 and set the layer height to 0.2mm.
5. Use a height range modifier from 3.2 to 3.8 and enable ironing for this range only.
6. Add a filament-change at the first layer after 3.2mm

Printing

Nothing special. Just remember to print 2 copies of key_top.

Finishing

1. Remove the supports from key_bottom.
2. Slide both copies of key_top onto the pin on key_bottom. Use glue so they won't fall off.

This entire project was a lot more challenging than I thought. I probably would have abandoned it some time ago, if The Owl House wasn't such a great show.

If you want to support me, you can do so via this link: https://ko-fi.com/printingdaniel#