8 ms·

A Year of 3D Printing

128 points by nindalf 9mo ago

JKCalhoun 9mo ago
Awesome. This person got way busier than I did [1] (I think I focus more on creating original designs on the printer). When I first got the Bambu in 2024 I did the whole Gridfinity thing. Very fun. As their post makes clear (even to me) there are actually a lot of things out there you can 3D print. Something I printed last year (and did not even bother to post) was a center-console "compartment" for a 1995 Mazda Miata I have. I swapped out the trashy aftermarket stereo (a previous owner has installed in the Miata) for one that is close to OEM but then I had an empty "hole" in the center console. So I printed a cubby for it. I too was like the author. Originally got into 3D printing years ago—found it frustrating. Picking up a Bambu printer a yearish ago made made all the difference in the world for me. Previously I had an Ender and it was, endlessly frustrating (pun intended). The Bambu is so next-level, the software so well integrated and polished, that I finally found that I enjoy, and I am not burdened by, 3D printing. (The only caveat about the Bambu is that people worry about vendor lock-in. I don't believe Bambu have enshittified that way yet, and people are finding workarounds in case they do, albeit by adding complexity in setting up, printing. The price of the Bambu for someone getting into 3D printing is very attractive.) [1] https://engineersneedart.com/blog/3dprinting2025/3dprinting2025.html https://engineersneedart.com/blog/3dprinting2025/3dprinting2...
- KeplerBoy 9mo ago
  Couldn't agree more. Knowing you can design a simple part in a few minutes and actually print it immediately afterwards is important. Before I got a reliable printer (bambulab a1) i put off even the smallest projects because I knew it would entail a multi-hour trial and error session with the printer.
- jacquesm 9mo ago
  Enders are for people that love the tinkering with printers aspect of 3D printing, I would not use them for production. We evaluated a couple but came away unimpressed.
- the__alchemist 9mo ago
  Hah, I hope I wasn't the previous owner! Needed an aux jack, and that seemed like the easiest way to add one!
- jagermo 9mo ago
  I have the same feelings about Bambu. I really like what Prusa is doing for the community and how they drive it forwards - but the Bambu simply works without fuzz. I also came from an Ender and its just so much fun.
IgorPartola 9mo ago
One of the most useful things that I print is Gridfinity storage boxes and holders. I try to organize as many of my tools and supplies using it. I sometimes do a little leather working for fun and have a drawer full of hardware, all in their own bins. In my garage my sockets, wrenches, etc. all has a Gridfinity holder. I design my own as much as I use pre-made ones. A while ago I even saw a shop that used it to organize most of their small wares. It’s an incredible system. Another note: PLA has gotten significantly better in the past few years. PLA+ is legitimately better while being as easy to print and the Polymaker HT-PLA and HT-PLA-GF are even better as you can meaningfully anneal them after printing to make them strong and temperature resistant enough for some very functional prints.
- tylerflick 9mo ago
  Any reason you are recommending PLA instead of PETG?
  - zihotki 9mo ago
    any reason to use PETG instead of PLA? PLA is plant based, in theory bio-degradable, while PETG is produced from crude oil.
    - brovonov 9mo ago
      That is mostly true, PLA is ONLY biodegradable in a facility that can handle that. Your run of the mill recycling center in your city probably can't or won't take your PLA prints.
      - gambiting 9mo ago
        And then only if it's pure PLA with no additives. Which most PLA has to improve speed of printing or strength or some other property. In practice, I'd wager that 90% of commercially available PLA fillament is not actually biodegradable.
    - dgroshev 9mo ago
0xb0565e486 9mo ago
Lovely 3D header animation! Fits incredibly well with the posts content :)
- brookke 9mo ago
  Glad you like it. First time properly delving into three.js - other than the page size I’m really happy with how it turned out
ConfusedDog 9mo ago
Gridfinity seems very useful. I might try it. I spent $100 on FB marketplace 2 years ago for a AnkerMake M5C with bunch of rolls of PLA. I've printed hairdryer rack, containers, Labubus as little gifts for neighborhood kids to paint over. I thought about getting a multi-color 3d printer like Anycubic Kobra S1 combo, but the wasting of plastics is holding me back. Snapmaker U1 is much better but more expensive.
- brovonov 9mo ago
  The U1, so far, is looking to be a great printer. No idea on long term, but you will not find another toolchanger at that low of a price.
  - summarity 9mo ago
    Flash forge is releasing theirs in the next few weeks.
LeafItAlone 9mo ago
All of this was on a Bambu A1 Mini? These are the types of things I want to print. My Ender 3 was so finicky, I only got a few out before I gave up.
- brookke 9mo ago
  It was indeed. Honestly, it’s been more reliable than any inkjet 2d printer I’ve owned.
- otter-in-a-suit 9mo ago
  I just got a Bambu P1S (they are / were on sale since the P2S came out) and the difference to my Ender 3 is truly night and day. I almost never used the Ender, since it always resulted endless tinkering and even then, the prints never came out well. The Bambu worked flawlessly out of the box.
  - Fomite 9mo ago
    The P1S is such a good printer.
- linsomniac 9mo ago
  I had an Ender 3 Pro, and it was also very finicky, ~18 months ago I replaced it with a Bambu P1S and that thing is just a (nearly) fire and forget machine. I've been super happy with it. In the 18 months I've had it, I've probably gone through 10-20 rolls of filament, in the 4 years I had the Ender I went through maybe 3-4 (because every time I wanted to print something I knew I'd have to spend an hour fiddling with it). A coworker has the Ender 3 though and his has been reliable, so it seems YMMV.
  - gambiting 9mo ago
    Ha, another Ender survivor here. I had the Ender 5 Pro for a few years, recently bought a Bambu H2D and it's like going from a bicycle to a car with heated steering wheel. It "just works" (it still has the classic 3D printing problems of edges of the print lifting up etc, but that's not the printer's fault). Vast majority of the time it just works.
VladVladikoff 9mo ago
I still have mixed emotions about 3D printing. I do love the idea of being able to print a part when I need it for something. But I do hate myself at the same time for creating more plastic junk. PLA is not really getting recycled, when it fails someone throws it in the trash and it goes to a landfill. Maybe some really diehard enthusiasts are ensuring all their failed prints and broken parts get properly chemically recycled, but I bet most don’t bother and just bin it.
- lm28469 9mo ago
  And that's the best case scenario, I think most people print useless junk to begin with, just look at the top downloads on printables.com, less than 30% are functional prints, most of them are short lived junk, and a lot are AI generated.
  - knowitnone3 9mo ago
    which is why I tell the shop techs to not print the benchy boat and print something useful instead.
  - AngryData 9mo ago
    While they certainly correlate, downloads don't match print rates. Unless you got a ton of printers you are mostly doing one print at a time and each requires setup and cleanup, or possibly multiple attempts if there are difficult to print features. It can be multiple hours between prints because good prints take time. But you can spend 30 minutes browsing random peoples designs online and say "cool" and press download on 20 different designs that you only print 1 or 2 of ultimately. Also some designs look cool but the second you load your model up in a slicer you can see it is too finnicky or too long or expensive to print to be worth the effort.
- malfist 9mo ago
  In the US almost all PLA comes from corn, outside the US I think it mostly comes from sugarcane. It can be composted in industrial composters, but even if you dont do that it's still pretty green
- 9mo ago
mysterydip 9mo ago
In the past I've mostly printed intersting/amusing things from places like thingiverse. But this year I had a project I needed an enclosure for, and instead of using something off the shelf I decided to print my own. Being able to design, print, test, change, print again really made the potential of 3D printing shine for me. I must have went through a couple dozen iterations as the hardware choices solidified and I saw what worked and what didn't (like "oh, I actually can't reach that screw once these two pieces are put together"). It was a really rewarding experience and I'm looking forward to the next project.
lawn 9mo ago
Nice. I mostly print parts for other 3D printers...
RicoElectrico 9mo ago
At first I assumed it's going to be this guy: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGje7toBDzsiIrHIHG-eLTvnAgACSDmDm https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGje7toBDzsiIrHIHG-eL...
- minimaltom 9mo ago
  Omg I love them!
bborud 9mo ago
I would encourage people who have never designed physical objects before to try to only print things they have designed themselves as an exercise. For perhaps a year or so. If you have never designed physical objects before it is really challenging at first. The learning curve is pretty steep and, at least in my case, I discovered that I didn't have a mental language for thinking about functional 3D and mechanical design. You also start to look more closely at the objects around you and think about what went into designing them. I started doing 3D design about a decade ago, when I got my first 3D printer. At first using free modeling in CAD and then later learning how to do constraint based and parametric designs in Fusion 360. This felt slow and perhaps limiting at first, but when you get used to it, it will save you a lot of time later and allow you to make more useful designs that are much easier to evolve and vary. I think it took something like 4-5 years before I printed something someone else had designed. Mostly because I used 3D printing to make custom parts for my own projects, but also in an effort to force myself to learn. I know the learning curve was steep, but for some reason I have forgotten how much work it was to learn. Now there are so many useful designs, designed by people who are a lot better than me available everywhere that I do print a lot of things others have designed. But I think learning to design things yourself is a really good opportunity to learn useful skills. For instance, I had never anticipated that I, a software engineer, would get paid, by an actual customer, to design parts for their projects. Or even consult on physical design for someone doing product development. I am by no means at the level where I'd put it front and center on a resume, but I can design, and to some degree, manufacture simple mechanical parts. (Along with 3D printing I've been doing some CNC at a very hobbyist level. I would still say I am very much a beginner when it comes to machining metals, but it is really fun to see that you can make reasonably precise metal parts for real applications (car parts) at home in my garage with not that much effort. This weekend I'll be doing thread milling in aluminum for the first time on a part that requires M3 screws)
- malfist 9mo ago
  I echo this sentiment. So many random annoyances around the house that I've fixed with self designed prints. Its a steep learning curve but you can start simple. First thing I designed was a spacer to go behind silverware organizers to keep them from sliding around. Still in use almost 8 years later. Horrible print quality and all. Last year I printed a peg leg for a nonstandard luggage wheel that broke off my suitcase and Samsonite won't sent a replacement for, a cleanable coil denitrifier for a saltwater aquarium, custom shadowbox drawer organizers for a toolbox, and during an aquarium emergency printed a metric to US pipe bushing. I also put the skills to use for woodworking modeling a set of couch doggie stairs and a couple years ago designing the building for my observatory. It's a really really useful skill
jagermo 9mo ago
gridfinity is really addictive. I have no idea what I want to do with it, but I want to print more.
dgroshev 9mo ago
I'd encourage people doing engineering/functional parts to also try ASA and PC(-CF). Both are pretty easy to print on enclosed printer like Prusa Core One, and they offer unique qualities that are impossible to achieve with PLA or PETG. Prusament PC Blend is insanely strong and stiff, I saw a 3mm PC bracket bending a high quality metal wood screw into an S-shape without breaking. PC-CF is much easier to print, looks great, and is stiffer still, even if a bit less strong. ASA looks great and is tougher than PC. Both creep less than PLA and PETG. Both shrug off 100C under load.
- 404mm 9mo ago
  ASA and ABS really need a good filtration. Like actual filtration, not what the enclosure has. I personally just run a duct to my window and vent outside.
  - dgroshev 9mo ago
    That's largely a myth. This review [1] cites the absolute highest amount of emitted styrene in the studies they are reviewing to be 113 μg/min. Using [2] for simplicity with styrene's molar mass (104.15 g/mol), we get to a printer creating at most 0.024 ppm of styrene per minute per m3 of unchanged air. For comparison, the "work exposure limit (WEL) for styrene is currently 100 parts per million (ppm) averaged over an 8-hour day" [4]. In other words, as long as you have some air exchange in the room, you'd be orders of magnitude away from the safe work exposure limit on styrene. It also makes sense, considering that it's a microscopic amount of molten plastic, whereas injection moulding factories work with vats of the stuff. [1]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231022005660 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135223102... [2]: https://teesing.com/en/tools/ppm-mg3-converter https://teesing.com/en/tools/ppm-mg3-converter [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrene https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrene [4]: https://www.hse.gov.uk/plastics/faqs.htm https://www.hse.gov.uk/plastics/faqs.htm
    - Joel_Mckay 9mo ago
      There are active studies on chopped CF inhalation/contact hazards, and the SEM images in the above post prove how it occurs. A lot of plastics contain wide assortments of additives to obtain mechanical properties. Outdoor ventilation is absolutely preferable to filtration or smell reduction filters that does practically nothing about carcinogens. PLA is comparatively low emission, but a slow cooking PTFE tube in many hot-ends is not something people should be around. ymmv =3
jasonblick 9mo ago
Hello, what are you using to render the models in the webpage? and what format did you export the models as to do that? It looks very nice!
- brookke 9mo ago
  Hey! It's using three.js with rapier for physics. The models are being loaded as STLs using the three.js stl loader https://threejs.org/docs/#STLLoader https://threejs.org/docs/#STLLoader. https://github.com/Brookke/brookke.github.io/blob/main/src/components/STLPileViewer.tsx https://github.com/Brookke/brookke.github.io/blob/main/src/c...
  - deleted 9mo ago
    [deleted]
SilverElfin 9mo ago
Multiple states are trying to ban 3D printing and CNCs https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46713872 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46713872
- phkahler 9mo ago
  Reminds me of when Hollywood wanted to ban A2D converters to "plug the analog hole".
coldcity_again 9mo ago
Good article, but I really really enjoyed the (non-deterministic!) falling objects with physics engine at the top of the page.
numpad0 9mo ago
Can't help but wonder looking through the gifs, am I actually insane that I MUST fillet, chamfer, or chamfer AND fillet basically every single one of those edges[1] with with tangency weight of 1.5 where possible, until the shape takes a generic apple/bauhaus/lego/ikea style? I'm aware that doing so don't necessarily improve load distribution, but I just can't stop rounding those corners. Am I really the only one? 1: http://numpad0.com/imgs/2026-01-23%20001128.png http://numpad0.com/imgs/2026-01-23%20001128.png
- _carbyau_ 9mo ago
  You are not alone. I like to round the edges and corners. I feel that it should help the strength on concave corners at least but honestly have no evidence to back this up. No idea of your "tangency weight" bit though. I use blender bevel tool.
Igor_Wiwi 9mo ago
By: motherfucker - Cults3D - I really like the 3D printing community
- herewulf 9mo ago
  It really is poor taste. Parents like me might want to spend time 3D printing with children without having to tip toe around an explanation for this username. I never really heard this word until I was 18 (in the military) and it's occasionally part of my vocabulary if I, say, drop a sturdy wrench on my foot.
dekhn 9mo ago
My favorite model of all time is this digital sundial: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1068443 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1068443 It's generated using code that knows the shapes of numbers and "punches them out" of a template object at different angles corresponding to angles of the sun/time relationships. It would be impractical to make in any method than additive printing.
- shaftway 9mo ago
  I'm a fan of this too, I think it's a very clever design. But I also think it'd be pretty trivial to make in a six axis CNC. Maybe even a 4 axis if you're clever with your mounting.
abdullahkhalids 9mo ago
What is the latest on metal 3D printing? How long before I can send off models to a shop and they can print it close to the price of the underlying metal? I imagine metal printing will never be something that happens at home.
- gpm 9mo ago
  > close to the price of the underlying metal Never? Never for plastics either. It seems like there's always going to be a lot of cost in shaping these materials through carefully controlled very high temperature environments. On the plastic side of things just the filament you feed to a printer is a multiple of the cost of the plastic feedstock that goes into making the filament. You can send off models and get them 3d printed in metal today reasonably affordably today, reasonable as in "considering the time and expertise that go into making the model making a one off part like this isn't breaking the bank" not "competes with mass manufacturing on cost".
mktk1001 9mo ago
I have not seen any discussions on the impact on PFA's from these homemade 3D plastic goods.
- gpm 9mo ago
  Is there any reason to believe there would be any? My understanding of PFAS is that they are used in the application of various coating like things (teflon originally, also since then waterproofing applications, paints, makeup, and firefighting foams)... none of which seem particularly related to making thermoplastics and pushing them through a nozzle into various shapes?
deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]

128 points by nindalf 9mo ago

Awesome. This person got way busier than I did [1] (I think I focus more on creating original designs on the printer). When I first got the Bambu in 2024 I did the whole Gridfinity thing. Very fun. As their post makes clear (even to me) there are actually a lot of things out there you can 3D print. Something I printed last year (and did not even bother to post) was a center-console "compartment" for a 1995 Mazda Miata I have. I swapped out the trashy aftermarket stereo (a previous owner has installed in the Miata) for one that is close to OEM but then I had an empty "hole" in the center console. So I printed a cubby for it. I too was like the author. Originally got into 3D printing years ago—found it frustrating. Picking up a Bambu printer a yearish ago made made all the difference in the world for me. Previously I had an Ender and it was, endlessly frustrating (pun intended). The Bambu is so next-level, the software so well integrated and polished, that I finally found that I enjoy, and I am not burdened by, 3D printing. (The only caveat about the Bambu is that people worry about vendor lock-in. I don't believe Bambu have enshittified that way yet, and people are finding workarounds in case they do, albeit by adding complexity in setting up, printing. The price of the Bambu for someone getting into 3D printing is very attractive.) [1] https://engineersneedart.com/blog/3dprinting2025/3dprinting2025.html https://engineersneedart.com/blog/3dprinting2025/3dprinting2...

KeplerBoy 9mo ago
Couldn't agree more. Knowing you can design a simple part in a few minutes and actually print it immediately afterwards is important. Before I got a reliable printer (bambulab a1) i put off even the smallest projects because I knew it would entail a multi-hour trial and error session with the printer.
jacquesm 9mo ago
Enders are for people that love the tinkering with printers aspect of 3D printing, I would not use them for production. We evaluated a couple but came away unimpressed.
the__alchemist 9mo ago
Hah, I hope I wasn't the previous owner! Needed an aux jack, and that seemed like the easiest way to add one!
jagermo 9mo ago
I have the same feelings about Bambu. I really like what Prusa is doing for the community and how they drive it forwards - but the Bambu simply works without fuzz. I also came from an Ender and its just so much fun.

IgorPartola 9mo ago

One of the most useful things that I print is Gridfinity storage boxes and holders. I try to organize as many of my tools and supplies using it. I sometimes do a little leather working for fun and have a drawer full of hardware, all in their own bins. In my garage my sockets, wrenches, etc. all has a Gridfinity holder. I design my own as much as I use pre-made ones. A while ago I even saw a shop that used it to organize most of their small wares. It’s an incredible system. Another note: PLA has gotten significantly better in the past few years. PLA+ is legitimately better while being as easy to print and the Polymaker HT-PLA and HT-PLA-GF are even better as you can meaningfully anneal them after printing to make them strong and temperature resistant enough for some very functional prints.

tylerflick 9mo ago
Any reason you are recommending PLA instead of PETG?
- zihotki 9mo ago
  any reason to use PETG instead of PLA? PLA is plant based, in theory bio-degradable, while PETG is produced from crude oil.
  - brovonov 9mo ago
    That is mostly true, PLA is ONLY biodegradable in a facility that can handle that. Your run of the mill recycling center in your city probably can't or won't take your PLA prints.
    - gambiting 9mo ago
      And then only if it's pure PLA with no additives. Which most PLA has to improve speed of printing or strength or some other property. In practice, I'd wager that 90% of commercially available PLA fillament is not actually biodegradable.
  - dgroshev 9mo ago

0xb0565e486 9mo ago

Lovely 3D header animation! Fits incredibly well with the posts content :)

brookke 9mo ago
Glad you like it. First time properly delving into three.js - other than the page size I’m really happy with how it turned out

ConfusedDog 9mo ago

Gridfinity seems very useful. I might try it. I spent $100 on FB marketplace 2 years ago for a AnkerMake M5C with bunch of rolls of PLA. I've printed hairdryer rack, containers, Labubus as little gifts for neighborhood kids to paint over. I thought about getting a multi-color 3d printer like Anycubic Kobra S1 combo, but the wasting of plastics is holding me back. Snapmaker U1 is much better but more expensive.

brovonov 9mo ago
The U1, so far, is looking to be a great printer. No idea on long term, but you will not find another toolchanger at that low of a price.
- summarity 9mo ago
  Flash forge is releasing theirs in the next few weeks.

LeafItAlone 9mo ago

All of this was on a Bambu A1 Mini? These are the types of things I want to print. My Ender 3 was so finicky, I only got a few out before I gave up.

brookke 9mo ago
It was indeed. Honestly, it’s been more reliable than any inkjet 2d printer I’ve owned.
otter-in-a-suit 9mo ago
I just got a Bambu P1S (they are / were on sale since the P2S came out) and the difference to my Ender 3 is truly night and day. I almost never used the Ender, since it always resulted endless tinkering and even then, the prints never came out well. The Bambu worked flawlessly out of the box.
- Fomite 9mo ago
  The P1S is such a good printer.
linsomniac 9mo ago
I had an Ender 3 Pro, and it was also very finicky, ~18 months ago I replaced it with a Bambu P1S and that thing is just a (nearly) fire and forget machine. I've been super happy with it. In the 18 months I've had it, I've probably gone through 10-20 rolls of filament, in the 4 years I had the Ender I went through maybe 3-4 (because every time I wanted to print something I knew I'd have to spend an hour fiddling with it). A coworker has the Ender 3 though and his has been reliable, so it seems YMMV.
- gambiting 9mo ago
  Ha, another Ender survivor here. I had the Ender 5 Pro for a few years, recently bought a Bambu H2D and it's like going from a bicycle to a car with heated steering wheel. It "just works" (it still has the classic 3D printing problems of edges of the print lifting up etc, but that's not the printer's fault). Vast majority of the time it just works.

VladVladikoff 9mo ago

I still have mixed emotions about 3D printing. I do love the idea of being able to print a part when I need it for something. But I do hate myself at the same time for creating more plastic junk. PLA is not really getting recycled, when it fails someone throws it in the trash and it goes to a landfill. Maybe some really diehard enthusiasts are ensuring all their failed prints and broken parts get properly chemically recycled, but I bet most don’t bother and just bin it.

lm28469 9mo ago
And that's the best case scenario, I think most people print useless junk to begin with, just look at the top downloads on printables.com, less than 30% are functional prints, most of them are short lived junk, and a lot are AI generated.
- knowitnone3 9mo ago
  which is why I tell the shop techs to not print the benchy boat and print something useful instead.
- AngryData 9mo ago
  While they certainly correlate, downloads don't match print rates. Unless you got a ton of printers you are mostly doing one print at a time and each requires setup and cleanup, or possibly multiple attempts if there are difficult to print features. It can be multiple hours between prints because good prints take time. But you can spend 30 minutes browsing random peoples designs online and say "cool" and press download on 20 different designs that you only print 1 or 2 of ultimately. Also some designs look cool but the second you load your model up in a slicer you can see it is too finnicky or too long or expensive to print to be worth the effort.
malfist 9mo ago
In the US almost all PLA comes from corn, outside the US I think it mostly comes from sugarcane. It can be composted in industrial composters, but even if you dont do that it's still pretty green
9mo ago

mysterydip 9mo ago

In the past I've mostly printed intersting/amusing things from places like thingiverse. But this year I had a project I needed an enclosure for, and instead of using something off the shelf I decided to print my own. Being able to design, print, test, change, print again really made the potential of 3D printing shine for me. I must have went through a couple dozen iterations as the hardware choices solidified and I saw what worked and what didn't (like "oh, I actually can't reach that screw once these two pieces are put together"). It was a really rewarding experience and I'm looking forward to the next project.

lawn 9mo ago

Nice. I mostly print parts for other 3D printers...

RicoElectrico 9mo ago

At first I assumed it's going to be this guy: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGje7toBDzsiIrHIHG-eLTvnAgACSDmDm https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGje7toBDzsiIrHIHG-eL...

minimaltom 9mo ago
Omg I love them!

bborud 9mo ago

I would encourage people who have never designed physical objects before to try to only print things they have designed themselves as an exercise. For perhaps a year or so. If you have never designed physical objects before it is really challenging at first. The learning curve is pretty steep and, at least in my case, I discovered that I didn't have a mental language for thinking about functional 3D and mechanical design. You also start to look more closely at the objects around you and think about what went into designing them. I started doing 3D design about a decade ago, when I got my first 3D printer. At first using free modeling in CAD and then later learning how to do constraint based and parametric designs in Fusion 360. This felt slow and perhaps limiting at first, but when you get used to it, it will save you a lot of time later and allow you to make more useful designs that are much easier to evolve and vary. I think it took something like 4-5 years before I printed something someone else had designed. Mostly because I used 3D printing to make custom parts for my own projects, but also in an effort to force myself to learn. I know the learning curve was steep, but for some reason I have forgotten how much work it was to learn. Now there are so many useful designs, designed by people who are a lot better than me available everywhere that I do print a lot of things others have designed. But I think learning to design things yourself is a really good opportunity to learn useful skills. For instance, I had never anticipated that I, a software engineer, would get paid, by an actual customer, to design parts for their projects. Or even consult on physical design for someone doing product development. I am by no means at the level where I'd put it front and center on a resume, but I can design, and to some degree, manufacture simple mechanical parts. (Along with 3D printing I've been doing some CNC at a very hobbyist level. I would still say I am very much a beginner when it comes to machining metals, but it is really fun to see that you can make reasonably precise metal parts for real applications (car parts) at home in my garage with not that much effort. This weekend I'll be doing thread milling in aluminum for the first time on a part that requires M3 screws)

malfist 9mo ago
I echo this sentiment. So many random annoyances around the house that I've fixed with self designed prints. Its a steep learning curve but you can start simple. First thing I designed was a spacer to go behind silverware organizers to keep them from sliding around. Still in use almost 8 years later. Horrible print quality and all. Last year I printed a peg leg for a nonstandard luggage wheel that broke off my suitcase and Samsonite won't sent a replacement for, a cleanable coil denitrifier for a saltwater aquarium, custom shadowbox drawer organizers for a toolbox, and during an aquarium emergency printed a metric to US pipe bushing. I also put the skills to use for woodworking modeling a set of couch doggie stairs and a couple years ago designing the building for my observatory. It's a really really useful skill

jagermo 9mo ago

gridfinity is really addictive. I have no idea what I want to do with it, but I want to print more.

dgroshev 9mo ago

I'd encourage people doing engineering/functional parts to also try ASA and PC(-CF). Both are pretty easy to print on enclosed printer like Prusa Core One, and they offer unique qualities that are impossible to achieve with PLA or PETG. Prusament PC Blend is insanely strong and stiff, I saw a 3mm PC bracket bending a high quality metal wood screw into an S-shape without breaking. PC-CF is much easier to print, looks great, and is stiffer still, even if a bit less strong. ASA looks great and is tougher than PC. Both creep less than PLA and PETG. Both shrug off 100C under load.

404mm 9mo ago
ASA and ABS really need a good filtration. Like actual filtration, not what the enclosure has. I personally just run a duct to my window and vent outside.
- dgroshev 9mo ago
  That's largely a myth. This review [1] cites the absolute highest amount of emitted styrene in the studies they are reviewing to be 113 μg/min. Using [2] for simplicity with styrene's molar mass (104.15 g/mol), we get to a printer creating at most 0.024 ppm of styrene per minute per m3 of unchanged air. For comparison, the "work exposure limit (WEL) for styrene is currently 100 parts per million (ppm) averaged over an 8-hour day" [4]. In other words, as long as you have some air exchange in the room, you'd be orders of magnitude away from the safe work exposure limit on styrene. It also makes sense, considering that it's a microscopic amount of molten plastic, whereas injection moulding factories work with vats of the stuff. [1]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231022005660 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135223102... [2]: https://teesing.com/en/tools/ppm-mg3-converter https://teesing.com/en/tools/ppm-mg3-converter [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrene https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styrene [4]: https://www.hse.gov.uk/plastics/faqs.htm https://www.hse.gov.uk/plastics/faqs.htm
  - Joel_Mckay 9mo ago
    There are active studies on chopped CF inhalation/contact hazards, and the SEM images in the above post prove how it occurs. A lot of plastics contain wide assortments of additives to obtain mechanical properties. Outdoor ventilation is absolutely preferable to filtration or smell reduction filters that does practically nothing about carcinogens. PLA is comparatively low emission, but a slow cooking PTFE tube in many hot-ends is not something people should be around. ymmv =3

jasonblick 9mo ago

Hello, what are you using to render the models in the webpage? and what format did you export the models as to do that? It looks very nice!

brookke 9mo ago
Hey! It's using three.js with rapier for physics. The models are being loaded as STLs using the three.js stl loader https://threejs.org/docs/#STLLoader https://threejs.org/docs/#STLLoader. https://github.com/Brookke/brookke.github.io/blob/main/src/components/STLPileViewer.tsx https://github.com/Brookke/brookke.github.io/blob/main/src/c...
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SilverElfin 9mo ago

Multiple states are trying to ban 3D printing and CNCs https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46713872 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46713872

phkahler 9mo ago
Reminds me of when Hollywood wanted to ban A2D converters to "plug the analog hole".

coldcity_again 9mo ago

Good article, but I really really enjoyed the (non-deterministic!) falling objects with physics engine at the top of the page.

numpad0 9mo ago

Can't help but wonder looking through the gifs, am I actually insane that I MUST fillet, chamfer, or chamfer AND fillet basically every single one of those edges[1] with with tangency weight of 1.5 where possible, until the shape takes a generic apple/bauhaus/lego/ikea style? I'm aware that doing so don't necessarily improve load distribution, but I just can't stop rounding those corners. Am I really the only one? 1: http://numpad0.com/imgs/2026-01-23%20001128.png http://numpad0.com/imgs/2026-01-23%20001128.png

_carbyau_ 9mo ago
You are not alone. I like to round the edges and corners. I feel that it should help the strength on concave corners at least but honestly have no evidence to back this up. No idea of your "tangency weight" bit though. I use blender bevel tool.

Igor_Wiwi 9mo ago

By: motherfucker - Cults3D - I really like the 3D printing community

herewulf 9mo ago
It really is poor taste. Parents like me might want to spend time 3D printing with children without having to tip toe around an explanation for this username. I never really heard this word until I was 18 (in the military) and it's occasionally part of my vocabulary if I, say, drop a sturdy wrench on my foot.

dekhn 9mo ago

My favorite model of all time is this digital sundial: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1068443 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1068443 It's generated using code that knows the shapes of numbers and "punches them out" of a template object at different angles corresponding to angles of the sun/time relationships. It would be impractical to make in any method than additive printing.

shaftway 9mo ago
I'm a fan of this too, I think it's a very clever design. But I also think it'd be pretty trivial to make in a six axis CNC. Maybe even a 4 axis if you're clever with your mounting.

abdullahkhalids 9mo ago

What is the latest on metal 3D printing? How long before I can send off models to a shop and they can print it close to the price of the underlying metal? I imagine metal printing will never be something that happens at home.

gpm 9mo ago
> close to the price of the underlying metal Never? Never for plastics either. It seems like there's always going to be a lot of cost in shaping these materials through carefully controlled very high temperature environments. On the plastic side of things just the filament you feed to a printer is a multiple of the cost of the plastic feedstock that goes into making the filament. You can send off models and get them 3d printed in metal today reasonably affordably today, reasonable as in "considering the time and expertise that go into making the model making a one off part like this isn't breaking the bank" not "competes with mass manufacturing on cost".

mktk1001 9mo ago

I have not seen any discussions on the impact on PFA's from these homemade 3D plastic goods.

gpm 9mo ago
Is there any reason to believe there would be any? My understanding of PFAS is that they are used in the application of various coating like things (teflon originally, also since then waterproofing applications, paints, makeup, and firefighting foams)... none of which seem particularly related to making thermoplastics and pushing them through a nozzle into various shapes?

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