Tabletop fountain

A real valley, waterfall or fjord as a desk fountain that really flows. A small USB pump in the reservoir underneath sends the water up to a spring, and it runs down the real rivers into the lake, then drains back down to be pumped round again.

Pick a place

Drag and zoom the map to frame your landscape inside the outline. The dot is the spring.

The rivers

Tick the rivers that carry water, up to three. Each one gets its own spring, and one pump shares its water between them.

Cascades: steps and rocks where the river falls steeply Moss pockets in the mapped woods beside the river

The water follows the real rivers from the map and the way the land falls. Every channel runs downhill all the way, at least 3 mm in every 10 cm, with splash walls either side.

Shape and size

Shape

Size (longest side)

Landscape height

Channel width

Wider channels carry more water and are easier to seal; narrower ones look finer.

Pump and reservoir

Pump

Reservoir depth

Automatic: deep enough that the pump stays under water while the tube and the rivers are full, with days of evaporation to spare. A bypass in each spring sends extra water straight back down, so a strong pump never floods the river.

Colours

In the 3MF the landscape's land, water and moss are their own named parts, for a multi-colour printer. On a one-nozzle printer, print it in one colour.

Download

Build and care card

Two pages: the parts to print and to buy (the pump and the tube cut to length), how to put it together, seal it and test it, and how to look after it.

Free for personal use, and for selling up to $5,000 a year with a TerraPrinter credit. Bigger sellers need a commercial license. Keep the data credits. License

How the fountain works

The real rivers

The landscape comes from real elevation data, and the rivers from OpenStreetMap. The water is routed over the land the way it really runs, with the mapped rivers pressed in so the channels follow them. Pick which rivers carry water, or click to move the spring to a waterfall's lip.

Always downhill

Each channel is a rounded U, 8 to 12 mm wide, cut a little deeper wherever the land would make it run uphill, so it falls at least 3 mm in every 10 cm all the way. Splash walls stand either side, higher on the steep parts, and steep stretches become little cascades.

Spring, pool and drain

The pump's tube comes up inside the landscape to a small basin at the spring. The river ends in the lake or the sea, or in a round pool where it would leave the model; an overflow standpipe in the pool keeps it full and drains the rest back into the reservoir.

Never floods, never runs dry

A bypass beside each spring returns extra water straight down, so the river takes only what its channel can carry. The reservoir is deep enough that the pump stays under water while the tube and rivers are full, with marks inside for filling and topping up.

Made to print

Four parts: the landscape top, the reservoir base, a cradle that holds the pump on two pins, and a clip that stops the tube slipping down. The top lifts off to reach the pump; a lip round the reservoir's rim slots into a groove underneath it, and a notch lets the cable out.

What you need

A small 5 V USB submersible pump, some silicone tube (the card says how long), a USB adapter and something to seal the print. Print in PETG, seal the water parts with epoxy or a clear waterproof coat, and test for leaks before the pump goes in.

Elevation: Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (© DLR e.V. & Airbus) and Mapzen Terrain Tiles on AWS (SRTM, GMTED2010, ETOPO1 and others). Rivers, lakes, coastlines and woods © OpenStreetMap contributors. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors, © CARTO. More for your home: landscape planters, resin lake maps, wall maps, open the TerraPrinter app or see more 3D map gift ideas.