Anna I were looking for a good starter project to try out on the new laser cutter at the public library. I found this wand holder on Thingiverse, but I wanted a wood base instead of plastic. I isolated the griffins using FormIt and 3D printed them along with the crest in gold filament. We then used the laser cutter to ensure everyone knows who owns this wand! Final remix on Thingiverse.
I wanted to create a unique, customizable and flexible case for my brand new iPhone 8. I used Dynamo, the open-source visual programming system from Autodesk and its experimental system for creating generative designs: Project Fractal. The result is this cool Voronoi pattern that simulates the nightmare of every iPhone user: a cracked screen. If you want to play around with the design and download your own STL, see the “customizer” here. I used SainSmart TPU – which has a nice balance of flexibility and strength. The next step is to add some more sizes and experiment with how to smooth out the rough edges on the final print.
My favorite kinds of 3D printing projects are the somewhat mundane ones that are born out of necessity: a lost or broken part that needs to be replaced. This tripod at work has been missing its mount for months, maybe even years! I assume it walked off on someone’s camera. I fired up my trusty FormIt 360 and knocked out the model in an hour or so. Here is the Thing.
I received my new iPad Pro back in November when it came out – and the Apple Pencil soon after. While I love this new stylus, there is no where on the iPad to store it. Considering its $99 cost (and my penchant to lose things) I really wanted a way to store it in transit. I realize that there a number of cases coming on the market with stylus holders, but what fun is that? So here is my very quick 3D printed solution on Thingiverse with a small strip of flexible magnet glued on the inside to hold it in place. It works wherever there is magnet within the iPad Pro bezel. I may modify this design to incorporate stronger magnets in the future.
I printed a bunch of small gifts for my extended family this year. The one piece I designed myself was this Philadelphia Folk Fest inspired ornament for my sister and her husband. They have attended the Folk Fest religiously every year for the past 25 years!
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:607297
Smart phone cases and accessories are one of the most common categories on Thingiverse. Probably due to the fact that everyone has a smart phone and the fit even the smallest 3D printer bed. I had grand ideas of starting an entire line of architecturally inspired cases. This is as far as I got. So far, this is the most popular item I have posted on Thingiverse! http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:607343
Of course I had to print some accessories for costumes this year! we had a “little devil” and a cyborg. For the devil trident, I designed it in Fusion 360 in two halves with a channel in the middle. This allowed me to wire some LEDs so the tips look they are glowing. For the cyborg eye, I made it out of a Phantom of the Opera mask with half of a cherry tomato container glued over one eye. I then spray painted the whole thing silver. I created a red “bolt” with a single LED powered by a watch battery to go over the eye.
I posted my first “remix” on Thingiverse today. A cigar box ukulele based on two similar ukes that I found. The neck on this one is too big to fit on my Replicator2 bed. So, I redesigned the geared head so that it slots into the neck in this Soprano Ukulele. I had to completely remodel the neck and head in Fusion 360. However, I was able to reuse the geared tuners and bridge from one and the fretboard from another. If you would like to remix further, you can download the head, neck and sound hole files from my Autodesk 360 site. Although the action is a bit high and the scale length is a bit off – It still sounds pretty sweet! Check out the video below.
