3D print Lake Washington down to its bed
Lake Washington with the water taken away: its bed from NOAA’s CUDEM, shaded darker where it is deeper, and the land around it in relief. Open it in the generator, change the size or colors, and export a slicer-ready 3MF.
65 m of water, 4.8 mm on your shelf
The print covers 14 by 32 km. On a 160 mm print the deepest point sits 4.8 mm below the shore.
| Deepest point | Scale | |
|---|---|---|
| 160 mm default | 4.8 mm | 1:203,000 |
| 200 mm | 6 mm | 1:162,000 |
| 256 mm | 7.7 mm | 1:127,000 |
- Real depths
The bed comes from NOAA’s CUDEM, a coastal model about 3 m apart that includes the lake bed. Water depth: Sea floor drains the water away and prints the bed in its place.
- 15 times deeper than life
At true scale the deepest point would sit 0.3 mm below the water line on a 160 mm print, too little to see. The print opens with the Elevation multiplier at 3 and the Sea floor depth scale at 5, so the bed is 15 times deeper than life and the land 3 times taller.
- Shades of depth
The bed prints in four shades of the water color, lighter in the shallows and darker in the deeps, each its own filament. Change the number of shades on the Water tab.
About Lake Washington
Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake beside Seattle, the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in Washington after Lake Chelan. Seattle lies on its west shore, Bellevue and Kirkland on the east, Renton at the south end and Kenmore at the north, and it surrounds Mercer Island.
The Sammamish River feeds it at the north end and the Cedar River at the south, and since 1916 it has drained through the Lake Washington Ship Canal to Puget Sound.
Next to the others
Lake Washington next to the other lakes
Common questions
Is the Lake Washington depth map free?
Yes. The generator runs in your browser and exports a 3MF file you can open in any common slicer. There is no account or payment.
Are the depths real?
Yes. The bed is read from NOAA’s CUDEM, a coastal model about 3 m apart that includes the lake bed, when the model is made. It is not estimated from the land around the lake.
Is the lake printed at its true depth?
No. It opens 15 times deeper than life, about 4.8 mm at the deepest point on a 160 mm print, because at true scale the bed would be only 0.3 mm deep. Lower the Elevation multiplier or the Sea floor depth scale for a flatter model.
Can I get an STL instead of a 3MF?
The generator exports 3MF, which keeps each color as its own part. Any slicer can open it and save an STL if you need one.
