Practical uses for a reprap in the home.

I'm on a quest to build my first Reprap. I know why I MUST have one (Its obvious isn't it!),.. but my wife thinks its silly and doesn't want me to spend the money on it.

So guys, give me some ammunition to help convince her! What has your reprap done for you? What everyday items have you made/repaired or facilitated only because you had a reprap? Apart from printing off parts for child repraps, has anyone actually made money from items they've printed?

If owning a reprap has saved your life or enabled the rescuing of a child from a burning building, please tell the tale here so I can relay it to "her indoors"!

Things you can mount to the wall, like hooks, holders for toilet paper, cups, soap, and so on.
not only can you decide exactly how it is going to look you can use existing holes in the wall without the need for drilling.

Certainly nothing so that "it is worth it" but something which cannot be accomplished otherwise.
you might also wanna check out the " better living with makerbot" series, also something

I have made several key fobs with a view to selling but not good enough yet still getting to grips with Skeinforge, made 3 sets of prusa parts that I have sold as well as given a set of mendel parts away and working on another set to be given away

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Experimenting in 3D in New Zealand

As the old saying goes, a picture says more than a thousand words!

Start fiddling with a tool like FreeCAD, then you will be able to produce propaganda with both visual imagery and easily can give a custom feel to whatever "problem" you might be able to conjure up.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2011 04:21PM by danielpublic.

Go to [www.thingiverse.com] for some examples of stuff people are making.

I made some new 90 deg joints for a drawer that broke when my son stood on the drawer. fixed it without leaving the home, and saved a trip to hardware store, parts not available within 20 miles figured time to print +design time was less than the time round trip for the parts

[www.thingiverse.com]

This single thing although one of the simplest prints I’ve done or designed for, also impressed my wife to allow me to bring one of those considered 'ugly' printers into a corner of the kitchen. Actually won me a place to print inside the house, rather than the garage!

So let me put forth another thing.
Your life will be a lot better off, if you show off some useful stuff. save $ or time, and create something useful. even just for show.... Oh yeah.. print printers too!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2011 07:21PM by jamesdanielv.

Quote

If owning a reprap has saved your life or enabled the rescuing of a child from a burning building, please tell the tale here so I can relay it to "her indoors"!

Changes are that the RepRap started the fire

Obviously, the only way to win your wifes heart is to gives her
[www.wired.co.uk]
or
[www.treehugger.com]

Good luck!

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reprapworld.com
PLA, ABS, PETG multiple colors (3 and 1.75 mm) €16,49 / kg
Megatronics 3.0 €79.99 / Minitronics €37,19

Well I have just bought a new surf casting rod and need some hooks to hang it in the garage roof, we only have one car so rather than cycle to the hardware store I will just design and print some custom hooks in the morning

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Experimenting in 3D in New Zealand

I really believe a reprap is a nice way to solve everyday's little problems, to repair or replace broken stuff without having to buy a whole new expensive one :

- Clothespin half :

- broken handle for door, ...


A lot of simple, nice and useful objects to print for everyday life can be found on thingiverse - as mentioned above - that would be more expensive and require a trip to the appropriate shop to buy otherwise. Here's my little selection :

- Hasp.

- Bag clip.

- Screwdriver.

- Mini-Vice.

- Stove Knob.

- Shower Curtain Hook.

If you have kids it's an easier sell. The kids designed their own christmas ornaments on sketchup and I printed them out and we hung them on the tree. They lost the tips for their beyblades battle tops so I printed some replacements. Was making sugar cookies and they wanted a cool cookie cutter. I printed a TRex head cutter by the time the dough was done and rolled out. Sometime soon I'll print a replacement for the broken plastic bracket on the trampoline safety net. Printed a geeky chess set for my son who is currently a collector of chess sets.

My wife likes to make party favors for weddings (37 cousins), so that's one use. scrap booking types would also be able to find uses for a reprap I imagine.

I made this [www.thingiverse.com] to avoid having to get an entire new light fixture.