What do you use your 3D Printer for?

General
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So I know there are quite a few people here who 3D print whether it be devices or it be accessories.

Other than just straight up printing the devices, what else do you all print?

Cause I know people print the adapters to use various sleeves across various devices, or stuff like the Stanley vice adapter for the Handy2, heck I got my Keon case cap printed back before they just sold one. But are there any other lesser known/used 3D printed accessories.

And outside of the sextoy related market are there other things you print. I see people print a lot of doodads or fidget toys or whatever, but thats kinda just printing junk that would collect dust eventually. I’ve always looked at maybe getting one but I can never really justify it because I wouldn’t even know what I’d do with it.

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It’s good that you’re thinking critically about whether you’d like to get a 3D printer or not. It can end up costing more than you think with mods and accessories and filament, take up a lot of space, fill your house with toxic fumes if you don’t build a proper ventilation system. If you need a custom part for a project you can always see if your local library has 3D printers available, or pay a commercial 3D print farm to make something for you.

I’m a tinkerer and love designing and building things so after a long time of thinking, “uh if I only had a 3D printer this would be so much easier,” I finally got one recently.

Mostly I’ve been building mods for my 3D printer so far haha. But I built a sturdy mount for my dashcam so I don’t have to re-do the suction cup every day, a center console tray for my truck, a custom soap/sponge basket for my truck camper sink.

My friend who makes sourdough really liked this bread scoring knife he saw in a video but couldn’t find it for sale, so I made one for him. Another friend in my amateur radio club wanted custom parts made for a DIY antenna project.

My mom’s rolling luggage wheel broke years ago and she’s been struggling to find a replacement but they don’t make them anymore, so I printed a replica with a TPU grippy tire and everything and it works like a dream, she’s so excited.

It always bugged me how I could never find a good iPhone stand that’s compact enough to carry all the time, so I printed one and it works awesome. I’m in the process of building a dash mount for my CarPlay screen right now because currently it’s on a CD tray mount covering up the OEM radio and I need to tilt it out of the way every time I need the reverse camera.

I plan to finish up my ham radio go-box in an ammo can project with some custom 3D printed parts, get a volt-meter and some usb charging ports in there. I’d like to build some angled antenna mounts for my roof top tent and some channel hooks for inside to attach an insulated inner-tent I plan to sew.

I’ve been having a lot of fun and think of it as a hobby. I could live without it, find other ways to solve these problems but it’s been cool to unlock my creativity in a new way and learn about how to get the best results from my prints, explore different types of materials, etc.. I do kind of regret getting an A1 because after I got it I realized it’s not meant for sturdy heat/UV resistant parts for outdoor use. I modded it with an aftermarket enclosure and heater and ventilation system but I kinda wish I’d paid more for a printer that excels at those higher melting point materials.

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After grabbing stuff like an OSR2 and the Quest2, I realize that the base thing you buy is never the end of it and you usually end up buying a bunch of extra accessories and shit. And with a 3d printer i know there’s a bunch of accessories on top of buying filament repeatedly.

Cause all of those small fixes/projects sound nice but theyd be one off things. Cause Im in a house, so I do fix things but I just go to a hardware store and get the proper part. Like I needed a peg to hold up a shelf, I could theoretically print one, or I can literally just buy one for a quarter or something at an actual hardware store.

Cause from what Ive been seeing it is a lot of, you have a 3d printer so people go looking for problems they can solve.

But at the moment outside of maybe doing something like printing an ssr1 or something similar I wouldn’t have much of a use for the 3d printer, given I dont need it for work.

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Yeah I think it makes sense for you to hold off if you can’t think of many things you want to make that aren’t easily available at the store or online. And if you did need some obscure thing to be printed, there are plenty of shops that’ll do it for you for less than the cost of a printer and all that goes with it.

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There are lots of accessories that you can print for power tools and organizers that I have found helpful. Printed a case for a soldering iron I got for build a device too.

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I build most of my furniture and print (parts of) brackets or other small things that you usually can’t get easily. Additionally I have brackets everywhere to mount stuff to stuff, for example a USB hub or Docking station, to the underside of my desk. Another project (be aware of your local laws as well as general and safety standards when working with MAINS power) was to incorporate smart switches into a power supply, or making a measurement device with smart switches, so I can quickly measure the energy consumption of devices. Or because a lamp shade was a bit too finicky, I printed a more sturdy (and stylish) one. A friend has recently asked me to help him optimize cooling air flow in his PC tower. We’ll make it a wind tunnel ^^

The other main use case are quick repairs. The head of the shower holder broke → printed another one instead of replacing the whole thing. A friend of mine has a van and some bracket broke that held a cover in place just a day before inspection → measured, designed and printed one so he could go to the inspection and it’s still holding years later. A high-speed blender had a button come loose → printed one to replace it, instead of using a knife each time… There’s a lot of examples, cuz shit breaks all the time ^^

And more generally at any interface where you need adapters, but can’t find the exact one you need. For example I needed to mount a microscope to a microphone arm. And of course they weren’t compatible. It was easy to make an adapter with the correct thread inserts on one side and the correct positive-locking mechanism on the other side.

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Just remined me, I printed a new handle for a snow shovel that broke a while back

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I actually originally bought my home one due to OSR-2, so thanks to @Tempest for starting this expensive, time consuming hobby :expressionless:

These days I use it for all sorts of things. My VR Headset (BSB2e) has a ton of 3d printed mods, I model small stuff in fusion instead of running out to buy things, etc…

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figurines, masks, custom joints, shelf brackets, molds, weapons, coasters, yo momma, tabletop models, tcg deck cases, chips and tokens, aaaaaaaand a big ol penis to sit on my shelf.

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Lately I’ve been printing some of the dumbest stuff I shouldn’t have to. Freaking manufacturers are dropping the ball all over the globe.

I printed a Step for my Truck since the rear step kit had everything in it except the actual step. It worked perfectly while I waited for the company to send me the actual part.

I had to print an adapter for a new AC unit in my basement since the included hose adapter was too small in diameter for the locking hole they designed in the supplied window vent.

“Venting” aside, I use them primarily to fabricate mock-ups and prototypes to ensure proper fitment of subassemblies on aircraft and vehicles.

A lot of my stuff around the house is 3D printed and doing their jobs very well, from organization, to simple tools and even a few of the car parts were strong enough to use in preliminary tests. These materials are getting better every year. The ability to edit/tailor existing models to fit your specific needs is pretty damned useful. Though, it’s really helpful to have at least some experience in a 3D modeling program.

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