3D Printing Custom Made TNT Block

The Minecraft (tm) theme seemed like a good one to start with when looking for fun things to print.

The short story

I created a model of a TNT block which my printer could handle (see longer story below to see why) - printed it - and posted it on Thingiverse as "TNT Block". It has 84 downloads in 10 days - so not too bad.

The longer story

I first found a TNT block on Thingiverse created by someone else and it looked really cool.

FAILED print - stopped part way.
Notice the strands which fell.

I tried to print that one - but there were problems. As you understand how a Fused Deposit Modeling (FDM) printer works - like mine and most of those you see today in the retail space - you can see why "overhangs" might not work too well. Each layer needs something under it to support it. You can have angles, but not 90 degree overhangs.
The TNT labels on the side of this model I found were definitely not friendly to my printer - and as soon as the TNT labels on the 4 sides started to print, the problem was clear - the extrusion was falling off the sides rather than sticking to the model, because there was nothing under it to hold it up.

So - in my model - I created a subtle slant to every overhand - so it still stuck out the side, but with enough of a gradual slant to support the material as it was extruded.
Summary - it takes some time to create a model which will print on an FDM printer and some problem solving during the modeling process to get the results you want.