What do you do with it?

Hi Everyone,
I had a coworker who is clued out about 3D printing ask "so what does one do with a 3D printer? What do you print?"

Well, I know what I do, but it struck me as a pretty good question. So, I'd like to pose it to the community here. How would you answer


"whadaya do with a 3D printer?"


Looking forward to hearing


- a -

Dream it, Design it, Print it...

As the above stated.
What do you do with your hands? A 3D printer isn't built for a specific purpose, just a specific process [or a few for those who go that far]. A simple carve tool in the hands of a woodworker can do many things. Build houses, make sculptures, make household items, etc. A 3D printer makes 3D plastic objects and there are so many things you can do with that that listing them will be a never ending process.
Beyond all that; I use mine for hobby/business. People need something [NES chassis modding, shower head, bracelet, decor, laptop repair, license plate, business card holder, etc] that they can't get elsewhere or can only get overpriced, they come to me and I make it for them.

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Realizer- One who realizes dreams by making them a reality either by possibility or by completion. Also creating or renewing hopes of dreams.
"keep in mind, even the best printer can not print with the best filament if the user is the problem." -Ohmarinus

I have printed mostly printer parts so far.

Last weekend, the plastic mounting tabs that hold the hood onto my garden tractor broke. Five minutes in Sketchup designed a sturdy replacement, and the hood is now firmly attached again.

A year ago, I replaced every CFL light bulb in my house with Cree 60W-equivalent LED bulbs. They need air circulation for cooling, and do not last long in a sealed housing. My kitchen ceiling fan has a spherical glass globe, which I have not been able to put back on. Somebody else already solved the problem, and posted the files on Thingiverse:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:49533

Next time that I have white ABS loaded into the printer, this is on my list of things to print.

A batch of cable organizer clips just finished printing, so I've got work to do.....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/2014 06:32AM by vreihen.

Quote
AjaxOfTheRockies

"whadaya do with a 3D printer?"

Printer parts, of course (mostly fan mounts and small modification parts). Custom designed toys & novelties. Digital microscope tripod mount. Artsy-Fartsy vases. Spindle mount for ShapeOko CNC. Small tool & parts organizers. PVC pipe construction system. Connectors for aluminum extrusions. Whatever...

Next up: custom airboxes for motorcycle intake system.

Kids have lots of little things scattered around shelves; like owls, dragons, pen holders, cybermen, usb cable tidies (very handy!).
I've fixed a few domestic appliances like fans, fridges, shower heads. I printed a dyson-to-dyson adapter so we could use the old tools with the new model.
A set of rather cool transparent shelf brackets. Cthulu christmas tree decorations and some snowflakes. Soap dishes, a few of those, and they all fit perfectly because they're designed that way
A gutter/downpipe filter to catch leaves and crud before they clog up the water but.
A flexible nylon thingy that sits in the shower and stops stuff falling down the plug hole.
In the garden we have; two sets of 3d printed bird table supports plus some feeding perches, a 'washing line post cover', some hooks in the shed and six super sized hidges for the gates on front of the compost box.
I've make project boxes to house electronic gizmos. A full sized helmet for a Borderlands cosplay. Errm... some vased and assorted utensil holders.

Rob

[forums.reprap.org]

I manage and maintain all the injection molding articles in my company (More than 200.000 pieces a year come in)
And also design new ones now and then.

So I do allot of rapid prototyping. Sometimes my printer is on 24/7 for a whole month in a row.

Instead of assembling from small pieces lego-like in hardware, you now assemble in software and print the finished result.

---

Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

I don't know what I would do without a 3D printer now, I use it for so many things.
Designed and made MANY different printer with the first ones, and they just keep coming, all a bit different because there are so many new ideas to try out.
Designing new types of machine too now, like a laser printer, small tools, brackets and items for the workshop, car parts, accessories for all my gadgets, the list goes on and on....
As for things around the home, it is endless. Got into the habit now of thinking about something that I can make with the printer, there seems to be something new to make several times a day.

Strange, I had a neighbor ask me exactly the same question, "What can you use it for?" I was dumbfounded, there are so many things it can do.
Same person was very negative when I was building my very first machine, "It will never work!, you are wasting your time!" But now he is telling everyone all about 3D printers and how wonderful they are.
Guess we all got a win out of that one.,

---

[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

Create functional objects, functional designs, applied arts, fixing stuff, improving my surroundings, and sometimes, rarely, I design a statuette for a friend or a logo for a friends' party.

I once printed out VIP coins for a party, these would give entrance to a select group of people to a party, there were 50 coins of which I could fit 13 on one print so four prints later I had all the coins needed

Right now I'm designing a connector for a dome I'm building. This will be an example for a mold, I will make a mold with it and cast the eventual item in this mold with molten aluminium

Pffff what else? Three printers are designed/printed by me so far

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http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/

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Ohmarinus
Create functional objects, functional designs, applied arts, fixing stuff, improving my surroundings, and sometimes, rarely, I design a statuette for a friend or a logo for a friends' party.

I once printed out VIP coins for a party, these would give entrance to a select group of people to a party, there were 50 coins of which I could fit 13 on one print so four prints later I had all the coins needed

Right now I'm designing a connector for a dome I'm building. This will be an example for a mold, I will make a mold with it and cast the eventual item in this mold with molten aluminium

Pffff what else? Three printers are designed/printed by me so far

Oh! I forgot that I use mine also for making patterns for vacuum forming, in my case, formers for vacuum forming my hotend postal packaging.
Very easy to do and produces a quality product very fast.

Here is how I did it.

Printed out the shapes needed first.
Then placed on the vacuum box.

Heated up the plastic sheet in a small electric oven until the plastic became very soft.

Turned on the vacuum cleaner and sucked the air out of the box as I placed the soft plastic over the shapes and pressed down hard for a few seconds.
The results after trimming with scissors.


These could be a model aircraft canopy, a body for a slot car, or just about anything that needs to be made quickly and good.

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[regpye.com.au]
"Experience is the mother of all knowledge." --Leonardo da Vinci

Awesome example Regpye!

This is how I see a printer, not just to print random crap from Thingiverse, but to produce objects that don't serve as an end-product immediately, but rather as a part used in a process of creating something else.

And exactly as you say, making modelcraft parts like canopy's, or a tool to create a miniature ship-hull, 3D-printed parts can serve you very well

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http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/

Random crap on Thingiverse?

Hey! I try to make my crap on Thingiverse as specific as possible!

prototyping/making a plug so that I can make a fiberglass mold, so that I can make a carbon fiber part for my composites business.

I 3D scan my family and friends faces, print them out using my 3D printer and give it to them as a gift

at the moment printing all sorts of parts for my newly built corexy,

did this yesterday at a 0.075mm layer height:

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-=( blog )=- -=( thingiverse )=- -=( 3Dindustries )=- -=( Aluhotend - mostly metal hotend)=--=( Facebook )=-

Quote
thejollygrimreaper
at the moment printing all sorts of parts for my newly built corexy,

did this yesterday at a 0.075mm layer height:

Dang, Jolly. Calm down. Any better and I'll have to sue you for infringing on my dreams of quality.

---

Realizer- One who realizes dreams by making them a reality either by possibility or by completion. Also creating or renewing hopes of dreams.
"keep in mind, even the best printer can not print with the best filament if the user is the problem." -Ohmarinus

Quote
thejollygrimreaper

did this yesterday at a 0.075mm layer height:

Nice layers, but looking at the skirt loops (those *are* the skirt, right?) it looks like you are using a fat nozzle. What size is it?

Did you stop the job, or is that a real horrible top layer? Apologies if it was intentional...

Quote
DonaldJ

Quote
thejollygrimreaper

did this yesterday at a 0.075mm layer height:

Nice layers, but looking at the skirt loops (those *are* the skirt, right?) it looks like you are using a fat nozzle. What size is it?

Did you stop the job, or is that a real horrible top layer? Apologies if it was intentional...

it was on a 0.4mm nozzle , the first actual layer that gets printed is done at 0.2mm otherwise i'd have a terrible time getting the first layer right due to the glass being uneven,

the top layer is just where i haven't increased the number of top layers, i'm going to do it again on another object but it's getting to the point where slic3r has to be told the nozzle size in greater resolution that just "0.4" i'll try dropping itto 0.375 and such

bear in mine this filament im using as well is also the cheapest chinese stuff i can get my hands on, if i used something with a little more i would probably get a better result again

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-=( blog )=- -=( thingiverse )=- -=( 3Dindustries )=- -=( Aluhotend - mostly metal hotend)=--=( Facebook )=-

Quote
MrDoctorDIV

Quote
thejollygrimreaper
at the moment printing all sorts of parts for my newly built corexy,

did this yesterday at a 0.075mm layer height:

Dang, Jolly. Calm down. Any better and I'll have to sue you for infringing on my dreams of quality.

i did a 0.05mm layer height cube and the infill still didn't fall apart , it came out ok except for the top layer, i'm getting into the fine ridiculous area of tuning now

---

-=( blog )=- -=( thingiverse )=- -=( 3Dindustries )=- -=( Aluhotend - mostly metal hotend)=--=( Facebook )=-

I make machines for the engraving and jewelry industry and I use my printer for making jigs, and even parts like stand offs and lamp holders. The parts I make are ones I can't buy off the shelf anywhere.

Now I also make some items (specialty tools) that I sell as well and my first printer paid for itself in 2 years just off of that alone.

I am always designing and making things for friends and family as well, both decorative and needed parts. I just can't imagine not having a 3D printer anymore, it would be like going back to dial up internet.

I've been wrestling with my Mendel (MakerFarm model from last year) and FINALLY got it to print... MY concept? As stated above; if you can imagine something, you can design it and prototype it in a day. A LOT easier than sending it out to be injection molded and come back to you wrong...

List of things I have to print:
i3 parts (I'm thinking bigger bed...)
fan adapters
motorcycle hand grips (I heard a podcast from 3d printing today the Whittney guy was talking about electro-forming, I'd love to give that a go!)
robotic parts (I've always fancied robots and robotics, now I have the capability to design ANYTHING I want and make it. My cnc machine can make parts but only in 2 / 2.5D......)

I'm sure the list will grow as the coffee kicks in....

Fixed my lawnmower:





Simple to measure and code up in OpenSCAD:

    difference()
    {
    union()
    {
    cube([75,18,9]);
    translate([0,9,0])
       cylinder(h=14,r=11);
    translate([6,5,6.5])
       rotate([0,30,0])
       cube(8.25);
    }
    translate([0,9,4])
       cylinder(h=11,r=7);
    translate([65,9,-1])
       cylinder(h=12,r=4.5);
    translate([60.5,4.5,4.5])
    cube([9,9,9]);
    };

Further details here: [www.shapeoko.com]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2014 10:48PM by WillAdams.

Simple. Tell your co-worker what you are doing in 3D printing. Also, tell that 3D printing is replicating an object according to your imagination.