Drawing on my interest in knot theory, I thought I'd try my hand at 3D printing a trefoil knot, which is the first nontrivial knot. The knot is a curve characterized by three parametric equations:

• x = sin(t) + 2sin(2t)
• y = cos(t) - 2cos(2t)
• z = -sin(3t)

I imputed these equations in Grasshopper to create the curve. I then added 3mm radius piping around the curve lines to create a 3D shape. The first time I printed the knot it didn’t work out because I hadn’t added adequate support (the adhesion to the base plate wasn’t strong because the knot only touches the base at two points). After adding support, I printed it again, and it came out really well!