These massage balls offer a unique and effective massage experience by using an icosahedral shape instead of a sphere. The points can be used to target specific muscle groups and the multifaceted design offers better grip and control during use. The points and edges are rounded over, allowing the ball to roll easily over sore muscles, but still stay put on a flat surface.
Varieties Standalone Ball: Available in soft, medium, and hard options.
Peanut: Composed of two icosahedral balls connected side-by-side, also available in soft, medium, and hard options. Perfect for rolling on either side of your spine.
Soft has a similar consistency to a stress ball, hard has just a little bit of give and would probably only hurt a little bit if you threw it at someone, and medium is somewhere in between. See recommended print settings for each below and feel free to experiment. Hardness will vary based on your specific filament (I tested with MatterHackers MH Build Series Clear TPU).
What's an icosahedron though? I will refer you to Wikipedia for a formal definition of icosahedron. It's one of the Platonic solids and Plato associated it with the element of water, so maybe you can contrive some deeper meaning for its use in a massage ball.
Recommended print settings
- TPU
- 2 walls
- 3D Honeycomb infill
- Normal supports (minimal and easy to remove)
Hardness is determined by your slicer settings (3mfs for each variety are included for Bambu users).
Infill percentage:
- Soft: 5%
- Medium: 10%
- Hard: 15%
I did have some limited success printing without supports, but TPU made the overhangs wobbly and affected the surface finish).