Started playing with 3d printer. Started with a set of dominos now looking for new ideas. Anything yall have printed yall want to share?

You ought to see if you can make those keys they put in a pool return vent. The ones that fit in the slots of the 1.5" pvc so you can rotate the fitting in and out. A new key runs $14.99, id imagine you could make one and do them for $9.99 and maybe make a few bucks?

I have a business printing inserts for organizing boardgames. It's great fun to want something to exist to make life better and then see it happen.

If you have the time and patience, they're great for fabricating plastic parts. I designed a part for my dish washer rack. Took a few attempts at the design but I got it working. I printed vacuum nozzles too.

The problem I run into though is design software. There's nothing out there that's cheap. Luckily I'm working at TAMUG temporarily and getting student licenses for modeling software.

Pman17 said:

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The problem I run into though is design software. There's nothing out there that's cheap. Luckily I'm working at TAMUG temporarily and getting student licenses for modeling software.

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Most people use Autodesk Fusion 360. It's free for personal/hobby use.

I print a lot of Lithophanes as gifts. That's what we did for our kids' teachers this past year. I did lithophane nightlights and puck lights. They were a big hit. I do a lot of random stuff as the need arises and I'm always surfing Thangs, Printables and Thingiverse looking for inspiration.

Pman17 said:

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If you have the time and patience, they're great for fabricating plastic parts. I designed a part for my dish washer rack. Took a few attempts at the design but I got it working. I printed vacuum nozzles too.

The problem I run into though is design software. There's nothing out there that's cheap. Luckily I'm working at TAMUG temporarily and getting student licenses for modeling software.

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I use Sketchup some to design models with. Not as flexible as Fusion360 but it works for certain things and is free and easy to use and webbased so not cpu intensive.

ctrl pew

Pman17 said:

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The problem I run into though is design software. There's nothing out there that's cheap. Luckily I'm working at TAMUG temporarily and getting student licenses for modeling software.

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OnShape is completely free and very powerful.

Azariah said:

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Pman17 said:

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The problem I run into though is design software. There's nothing out there that's cheap. Luckily I'm working at TAMUG temporarily and getting student licenses for modeling software.

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OnShape is completely free and very powerful.

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It's super basic, but TinkerCAD is surprisingly good.

BackwardsInBoots said:

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Azariah said:

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Pman17 said:

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The problem I run into though is design software. There's nothing out there that's cheap. Luckily I'm working at TAMUG temporarily and getting student licenses for modeling software.

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OnShape is completely free and very powerful.

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It's super basic, but TinkerCAD is surprisingly good.

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I use TinkerCAD probably more than anything else. It's great if you're not doing anything super complex.

BackwardsInBoots said:

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Azariah said:

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Pman17 said:

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The problem I run into though is design software. There's nothing out there that's cheap. Luckily I'm working at TAMUG temporarily and getting student licenses for modeling software.

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OnShape is completely free and very powerful.

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It's super basic, but TinkerCAD is surprisingly good.

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I started with TinkerCAD and was able to design many nice things in it. Its model for how to build objects is more intuitive but far less flexible.

For example, if I build a complex structure to hold a deck of cards, print it, and discover that I need to change it slightly, I simply edit a variable in OnShape. In TinkerCAD I have to rip apart the entire model and update every measurement manually. Hopefully, I won't make a mistake.

It was definitely a completely different thought process to learn OnShape (or Fusion360 or any of the others that work the same way), but it was totally worth it. A few sessions with youtube tutorials later, and I'm building things more robustly and in a shorter time.

The lack of fillets in TinkerCAD does infuriate me.

I use Freecad. Is OnShape better?

I agree with you on parametric modeling. It's so nice to be able to design a part then update the length or height, etc. in a table and reuse the same design for a new project.

Lets see some pics of yalls work.

Here are some test prints I made of an electrical outlet cover plate for an outlet that got covered after I installed a cabinet over it. I could have cut a massive hole in the cabinet or printed an offset cover plate. Obvious which route I chose.

I wanted to add a brush blade to my EGO trimmer so I printed a couple of adapter pieces. I don't have any finish pics. Just pics of me taking measurements with test prints. The white piece replaces the green piece in the third pic then another piece slides over the shaft.

I needed to mount my Starlink dish on top of my RV's flagpole so I purchased a pipe adapter but didn't like how it would damage my flagpole so I made a cup to set on top of the pole. I made the diameter of the inside of the cup about .2 mm larger than the pole and the outside about the same smaller than the pipe adapter. It's got a 4mm taper from top to bottom to match the adapter so it's fairly snug.

The last pic is a bracket to hold my router printed off Thingiverse.

lb3 said:

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I use Freecad. Is OnShape better?

I agree with you on parametric modeling. It's so nice to be able to design a part then update the length or height, etc. in a table and reuse the same design for a new project.

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I've never used FreeCAD, so I couldn't tell you. OnShape is also free, though, so if you're interested in giving it a try it won't cost you anything but the time you put into it.

lb3 said:

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I wanted to add a brush blade to my EGO trimmer so I printed a couple of adapter pieces. I don't have any finish pics. Just pics of me taking measurements with test prints. The white piece replaces the green piece in the third pic then another piece slides over the shaft.

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Are you running a high-speed spinning metal blade on something you printed out of plastic? You're a braver man than me.

I have a building link with my neighbor for.. reasons. I didn't want to put holes in my siding to mount it, so I made the gray mount to work with the same mount my Ring camera uses.



My most recent boardgame insert is a multi-piece item for the game Behext. There are a lot of fun and interesting parts to this one. The box on the top left has a fun hinge part for pulling out different stacks of cards. The top middle is a stack of token holders that are all held together with magnets that are embedded into the part so that it just sticks together without seeing the magnets. The bottom left are player boards for keeping score. The printed base under that card has a layer of ferrous material in it so the magnetized pawns (gold pieces) stick to the scorecard.



For the game Azul I made these overlays that snap onto the main board. Without this overlay, you have to just not bump the board because there is nothing holding the slick tiles in place. I added guides to keep everything from falling apart.

Azariah said:

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Are you running a high-speed spinning metal blade on something you printed out of plastic? You're a braver man than me.

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I purchased a conversion kits online for another brand but it obviously wouldn't fit so the parts I printed are basically adapters.

The 3d printed parts just elevate the blade above the rest of the housing and keep the blade centered. A large metal cap and nut keep it on the shaft. If the printed plastic fails it would become uncentered and out of balance but not come off the head. I did print the centering part with 100% infill however to try to improve the safety a bit.

As I noted, I'm not much for taking pictures of stuff so I don't have the finished pics available. I only have most of those pics because it's easier to take pics of my rulers and micrometer than it is to remember or write down the measurements.

How large is your print bed? You either have a large printer or you're hiding your seams well.

I've found it to be an invaluable tool to supplement some processes I use in metal-working and wood-working. As others have mentioned, Fusion360 or some other CAD package is essential to getting the value out of your machine.

First, the ability to print a model, to help my wife and I come to terms with what she's asking for is great. Here's an area she wanted to look at some built-ins.


Was able to design to exact dimensions in CAD:


And then - print a scale model!! I don't think the pics quite translate the wow factor.


We are going to do the above project eventually, but it'll come behind another one she's asked for below (under-stairs shelving):


I've had a few follow-up tweaks since this print, but the physical print was invaluable for evaluating our design.


Since working on this project, I had the need for a dado throat insert for a spare table saw. Overall, the new one was too big for my printer, and needed to be made in two pieces. Compared to the old one:


Gluing together:


Perfect fit. This plate is made with PETG. I did go back and print a second iteration with less clearance on the dado blade. You can buy zero clearance inserts for big-time money, btw.


Great results (no blow of the veneer):


And finally, here's a jig I made to help me set the angle and elevation on the top plate for this set of shelving. I also used Fusion to help me figure out where to measure and set the jig.



Great results (really tight joints):

lb3 said:

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How large is your print bed? You either have a large printer or you're hiding your seams well.

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I do have a large printer (CR-10 Max), but the only thing printed on that in these is the black part of the behext box. Everything else is printed on a Bambu X1CC.

It looks like everyone is using filament printers. Anyone have a resin printer they are using? Any good prints (aside of miniatures/game pieces) for a resin printer?

Resin is pretty brittle.

zip04 said:

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It looks like everyone is using filament printers. Anyone have a resin printer they are using? Any good prints (aside of miniatures/game pieces) for a resin printer?

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I have a resin printer also, but it's just not something that comes up that often for what I need to print. If I had more of a market for minis I would use it more.

It's much more tedious to do the finishing with a resin printer.

I was wanting to put a clear coat over the dominos and then paint dots and line white. What do yall think is best for the clear coating?

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157991601087706&set=a.10151730304142706&type=3&mibextid=cr9u03

Prusa Mk3 filament printer. Stands around 17" tall

Aggie Hunter said:

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I was wanting to put a clear coat over the dominos and then paint dots and line white. What do yall think is best for the clear coating?

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I would put the paint under the clear coat so that it doesn't wear off. I'm not sure what to use for a clear coat, though. Check with the 3D printing subreddits.

I just got the AnkerMake M5C printer. It is stupid simple. Find STL files on Thangs is and printing away with AnkerMake's slicer (pruser fork) If you just want to start printing cool things, I suggest the M5C. Sure there are better printers out there, but for $350 I think the M5C is a winner.

Now if I could ever find the time to learn CAD design. But in the meantime, I will just search through the millions of ready to print files on thangs.

BTW...if anyone is in the DFW area I have an Anycubic I3 Mega for sale with upgraded extruder (to do soft filaments) for sale. $50 includes extras parts. Works but it is more "android" and I am more "apple!"