Tardis Cat Door - Tardic Portal

TARDIC - "Time And Relative Dimension In Cats"

You could also call this a pet filter - a small hole in a basement room door lets the cats in and out to get to their food bowl, but keeps the larger dogs out. That plain hole in the door needed some decoration though, so I printed out this frame. Note also that the TARDIC is bigger on the inside than the outside ;-)

There are 13 pieces to this project:

• oval frame front (4)
• oval frame back (4)
• side frames (2)
• threshold (1)
• sign frame and top (1)
• sign (1)

The oval frame is designed to fit an elliptical shape 6.5in wide X 8.5in high (template provided in the photos) in a door 1.36in (35mm) thick, although the design allows for some minor variation in thickness.

The sign is designed to print in two colors with filament switching.

To assemble the project, fit the four sets of oval frame pieces together loosely first, then fit them into an oval cut-out and press the front and back pieces together - they should hold together by themselves, but you can add a few drops of super-glue to be sure once the project is fully assembled.

The remaining parts are designed to glue onto the front frame. Note that there are shallow "cut-outs" in the pieces to enable them to register onto the front frame.

First glue on the threshold piece - I recommend using small clamps as shown in the photos. Allow the glue on the threshold to set, then put the side and top frame pieces together (without the sign) and glue them on together. Make sure they are registered with the oval frame, and then clamp them down. Finally, add glue to the back/bottom edge of the sign and glue it in place. Allow the glue to set, remove the clamps, done!

The OnShape 3D CAD files for this can be found here:

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/f14ebdfc60863d6d93628f3f/w/51e8e55408910af80770895e/e/e1e8435ac9f87c13a302dcbb

Print instructions

I printed everything in PLA. Use the 3mf files provided; other wise:

• oval frame front (4)

• oval frame back (4)

  Print flat side down, 0% infill, no supports. I used black PLA.

• side frames (2)

  Print "notch side" up with supports, 15% infill. I used blue PLA.

• threshold (1)

  Print flat side down, no support, 15% infill. I used blue PLA.

• sign frame and top (1)

  Print flat side down with supports, 15% infill. I used blue PLA.

• sign (1)

  Print text side up with supports, 15% infill.
  I used black PLA for the sign and white PLA for the text.