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Neat, but I still don't feel that I need one now, or that I'll need one in the next few years. I guess I haven't really seen what useful things can be made with

Neat, but I still don't feel that I need one now, or that I'll need one in the next few years. I guess I haven't really seen what useful things can be made with 3D printers...almost everything from them I've seen IRL is either a small statue or jewelry.

gr3yh47 12y ago
the most obvious application is replacing parts - replacement battery covers, game/toy parts, buttons, small pieces of car trim, really anything smallish and plastic that gets lost or broken could be replaced with a 3d printer. potential replacement for non plastic parts too depending on the application. also customizing parts. Custom dice for games, etc etc.
- smacktoward 12y ago
  Are any of those things really a problem in an age of cheap disposable crap, though? Battery cover gets lost? Replace the whole thing. Toy breaks? Replace the whole thing. Button comes off your jacket? Replace the whole thing. (I'm not saying this is an ideal world -- I personally would much rather live in a world where things are long-lived but cost more -- but it's the world we live in.)
  - kubiiii 12y ago
    3d printing is a way to extend a product's life. But I think it will prove useful for a repair guy/technician rather than for a hobbyist. Making small series of spares for a unsupported product is profitable vs used spares market. One example are vintage synthesizers. There is such demand for some spares that synths are being dismantled rather than repaired. Sometimes the upper C key (which is unique on a keyboard) can be sold for 50 bucks or more.
  - riskable 12y ago
    I've been keeping a list of all the things I could have 3D-printed if I had a 3D printer. Maybe some of these will pique your interest: * Mounts for my washing machine's broken shocks (shocks were fine but the plastic part that holds them to the frame broke). $80/piece for whole new shocks or I could have just printed new mounts (which really are a stupidly simple snap-on component) for less than a dollar. * The knob on one of our standing lamps broke and won't stay on anymore. I can order a new one for $1.50+$4.95 S/H or I could have just 3D-printed a really cool/custom one for $0.05. * Lost some of the pieces in your Monopoly game? Just print some new ones. Heck, any gaming figurines can be printed trivially and there's a plethora of free, already-made ones to choose from. * Missing Lego parts. * Vacuum cleaner parts... I always wanted one of those wide under-furniture attachments but can't justify the purchase. If I had a 3D printer I could just print one. * Seriously cool-looking/unique ceiling fan blades (you can print them even on a small 3D printer since you can join multiple parts together on the back of the blade where no one will see). * Seriously cool/useful wall plates and switches. Example: http://www.yankodesign.com/2007/10/28/wall-cleat/ http://www.yankodesign.com/2007/10/28/wall-cleat/ * Collar tags for my dogs. Actually, whole collars. * Children's toys. * Halloween masks. * Protractors and compasses of any size on-demand. * Centering gauges of any size on-demand. * Custom Tupperware-like containers/boxes. * Phone cases.
    - marcosdumay 12y ago
      * Support for anything that you want to place somewhere the manufacturer didn't forsee. Whant to hang something that can only go on tables? Or put on a table something that must be hanged? Fans position is a problem? * Wire organizers. Really, why nobody sells a way to organize wires in storage? I built my printer for a side project, and up to very recently, anything that I printed that wasn't related to this project had the goal of improving the printer. Besides fixing broken stuff, that's what I printed at the last couple of months.
    - ObviousScience 12y ago
      I spend a lot of time socializing with people who build and develop 3D printers at a shop that operates 3D printers as a service. Printers include delta bots, Makerbot 2X, and a CubePro. Larger parts can be problematic on consumer quality 3D printers (particularly if they aren't being constantly fussed with). Very routinely 3D printer owners seem to have to put large amounts of time in to getting the printer to work correctly, and large complex pieces can take more than one (8+ hour) attempt. Most of the things larger than a phone case (and it's the height direction that seems particularly problematic) have trouble printing in some fashion or another. This means that several of the most useful applications just aren't there yet.
      - knicholes 12y ago
        I can't reply to the parent of this, so I'll reply here. PLA is considered food safe, but it can't handle the heat of a dishwasher. I know because of all of the cookie cutters I make for people. Washing makes them warp and brittle.
        salgernon 12y ago
        From experience a pla cup with less than 100% infill will "drink" it's liquid into its interior and have to hope like hell that it hasn't been drinking milk or a substance that rots similarly.
    - smacktoward 12y ago
- delecti 12y ago
  The limitation to that logic for me is being concerned about having models for the missing parts. I've got a remote missing a battery cover that I'd love to replace, but I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to design a model for it.
zaaaaz 12y ago
This one is what started convincing me that there's a useful place for these machines: http://instagram.com/p/kpJz-5Ipcy http://instagram.com/p/kpJz-5Ipcy "Fruit basket had a couple missing feet so I whipped up some replacements in Tinkercad and printed them out."
cmsmith 12y ago
This is invariably the top comment in any thread here about 3D printing. And yes, if you're not in the habit of making things (whether for fun or professionally) without a 3D printer, then you probably won't find much use for one. Most people never interact with unique objects, objects which aren't produced by the thousands or millions. And those types of mass produced objects can be made much more easily and well using traditional manufacturing. I agree that 90% of the 3D printing going on is just for novelty items like jewelry or statues, which doesn't seem worth it to me. But if the novelty printers provide enough of a market to ensure the availability of printers for people who are using them for inventions or scientific instruments, then it's fine with me. Things I've printed in the last few months: * a bracket for installing a PID controller into my homemade sous vide cooker * brackets for clamping a shaft and pulley into a specific configuration for a tension testing rig * a tiny clamp for holding ceramic fibers in said test rig * an adapter for mounting a custom optical filter to a camera * a prototype of a new strain measuring device
- bcohen5055 12y ago
  I'm a mechanical engineer and I use 3D printing for countless things at work and occasionally in my own life but unless you are making things at home at least once a month it doesn't make sense to have your own and I think that is what the OP is saying. The idea of a "household" 3D printer doesn't appeal to him because like most consumers they don't want to make things they just want to buy them. If you think of the 3D printer more like a tablesaw and less like a microwave the market shrinks but the use case becomes much more clear.
  - Already__Taken 12y ago
    I always though this was especially weird because someone who would get that amount of use or more out of one probably wants something _really_ awesome and not something cheap. Maybe even something that could print metal? I get the super cheap novelty use. After that I thought what you want is a service to send your design to and get an awesome quality piece back.
    - 12y ago
vidarh 12y ago
A "killer app" would be one that'd be sufficiently good to do lego-style bricks of decent quality. It will require a leap in quality, though.
sliverstorm 12y ago
With Dremel, they serve dual markets. Their equipment serves both art and general-purpose handyman tools.
lallysingh 12y ago
I felt that way until I realized that 3d printing could be the lego for the next generation of kids. Hell, start with legos, then print out the parts that you wish you had, and refine until you've got something that's actually "maker worthy." Save the files, then start on your next project. Add a microcontroller! yay! I'm completely projecting on my kid, and that's my right as a father! Muahahaha!
georgemcbay 12y ago
I use mine (Prusa i3 reprap design) mostly for camera stuff. I've made a few lens adapters from old manual focus bayonet mounts to my Sony A7, printed the physical housing to get a full-sized speedlite flash mounted to the Fuji Instax 210 instant camera, etc. Pretty ideal for cameras where you are often wanting to mate this thing to that thing with some sort of adapter that may or may not exist otherwise or might cost a ridiculous amount of money for what it is due to relatively low demand for the part.
- seanp2k2 12y ago
  That's awesome! Are those parts open-source anywhere? Also, curious as to how sturdy those are and what exactly they're made from. In my (quite limited) experience handling printed parts, they didn't really seem like the type of thing I'd trust to hold something expensive + fragile like a camera lens.
  - georgemcbay 12y ago
    I've put a couple of things on Thingiverse, including a lens mount design: https://support.thingiverse.com/thing:330812 https://support.thingiverse.com/thing:330812 Someday I need to clean up a bunch of other things and figure out what the cool kids are using to share designs instead of thingiverse now that Makerbot is kind of shunned by large portions of the open 3d printer community. I print parts for my cameras in ABS which is pretty strong and has a nice side benefit in that if it ever does fail, it fails in a slow stretchy sort of way as opposed to just exploding like PLA plastic does. I'm not sure what type of plastic the pieces you've held are but there's a really wide range of available materials ranging from really brittle to really strong (also with various degrees of heat tolerance in the end part). I've used the lens adapters quite extensively and haven't had anything fail yet and some of the lenses I use with them are large old lens designs from the late 70s which tend to be quite heavy.

gr3yh47 12y ago

the most obvious application is replacing parts - replacement battery covers, game/toy parts, buttons, small pieces of car trim, really anything smallish and plastic that gets lost or broken could be replaced with a 3d printer. potential replacement for non plastic parts too depending on the application. also customizing parts. Custom dice for games, etc etc.

smacktoward 12y ago
Are any of those things really a problem in an age of cheap disposable crap, though? Battery cover gets lost? Replace the whole thing. Toy breaks? Replace the whole thing. Button comes off your jacket? Replace the whole thing. (I'm not saying this is an ideal world -- I personally would much rather live in a world where things are long-lived but cost more -- but it's the world we live in.)
- kubiiii 12y ago
  3d printing is a way to extend a product's life. But I think it will prove useful for a repair guy/technician rather than for a hobbyist. Making small series of spares for a unsupported product is profitable vs used spares market. One example are vintage synthesizers. There is such demand for some spares that synths are being dismantled rather than repaired. Sometimes the upper C key (which is unique on a keyboard) can be sold for 50 bucks or more.
- riskable 12y ago
  I've been keeping a list of all the things I could have 3D-printed if I had a 3D printer. Maybe some of these will pique your interest: * Mounts for my washing machine's broken shocks (shocks were fine but the plastic part that holds them to the frame broke). $80/piece for whole new shocks or I could have just printed new mounts (which really are a stupidly simple snap-on component) for less than a dollar. * The knob on one of our standing lamps broke and won't stay on anymore. I can order a new one for $1.50+$4.95 S/H or I could have just 3D-printed a really cool/custom one for $0.05. * Lost some of the pieces in your Monopoly game? Just print some new ones. Heck, any gaming figurines can be printed trivially and there's a plethora of free, already-made ones to choose from. * Missing Lego parts. * Vacuum cleaner parts... I always wanted one of those wide under-furniture attachments but can't justify the purchase. If I had a 3D printer I could just print one. * Seriously cool-looking/unique ceiling fan blades (you can print them even on a small 3D printer since you can join multiple parts together on the back of the blade where no one will see). * Seriously cool/useful wall plates and switches. Example: http://www.yankodesign.com/2007/10/28/wall-cleat/ http://www.yankodesign.com/2007/10/28/wall-cleat/ * Collar tags for my dogs. Actually, whole collars. * Children's toys. * Halloween masks. * Protractors and compasses of any size on-demand. * Centering gauges of any size on-demand. * Custom Tupperware-like containers/boxes. * Phone cases.
  - marcosdumay 12y ago
    * Support for anything that you want to place somewhere the manufacturer didn't forsee. Whant to hang something that can only go on tables? Or put on a table something that must be hanged? Fans position is a problem? * Wire organizers. Really, why nobody sells a way to organize wires in storage? I built my printer for a side project, and up to very recently, anything that I printed that wasn't related to this project had the goal of improving the printer. Besides fixing broken stuff, that's what I printed at the last couple of months.
  - ObviousScience 12y ago
    I spend a lot of time socializing with people who build and develop 3D printers at a shop that operates 3D printers as a service. Printers include delta bots, Makerbot 2X, and a CubePro. Larger parts can be problematic on consumer quality 3D printers (particularly if they aren't being constantly fussed with). Very routinely 3D printer owners seem to have to put large amounts of time in to getting the printer to work correctly, and large complex pieces can take more than one (8+ hour) attempt. Most of the things larger than a phone case (and it's the height direction that seems particularly problematic) have trouble printing in some fashion or another. This means that several of the most useful applications just aren't there yet.
    - knicholes 12y ago
      I can't reply to the parent of this, so I'll reply here. PLA is considered food safe, but it can't handle the heat of a dishwasher. I know because of all of the cookie cutters I make for people. Washing makes them warp and brittle.
      - salgernon 12y ago
        From experience a pla cup with less than 100% infill will "drink" it's liquid into its interior and have to hope like hell that it hasn't been drinking milk or a substance that rots similarly.
  - smacktoward 12y ago
delecti 12y ago
The limitation to that logic for me is being concerned about having models for the missing parts. I've got a remote missing a battery cover that I'd love to replace, but I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to design a model for it.

zaaaaz 12y ago

This one is what started convincing me that there's a useful place for these machines: http://instagram.com/p/kpJz-5Ipcy http://instagram.com/p/kpJz-5Ipcy "Fruit basket had a couple missing feet so I whipped up some replacements in Tinkercad and printed them out."

cmsmith 12y ago

This is invariably the top comment in any thread here about 3D printing. And yes, if you're not in the habit of making things (whether for fun or professionally) without a 3D printer, then you probably won't find much use for one. Most people never interact with unique objects, objects which aren't produced by the thousands or millions. And those types of mass produced objects can be made much more easily and well using traditional manufacturing. I agree that 90% of the 3D printing going on is just for novelty items like jewelry or statues, which doesn't seem worth it to me. But if the novelty printers provide enough of a market to ensure the availability of printers for people who are using them for inventions or scientific instruments, then it's fine with me. Things I've printed in the last few months: * a bracket for installing a PID controller into my homemade sous vide cooker * brackets for clamping a shaft and pulley into a specific configuration for a tension testing rig * a tiny clamp for holding ceramic fibers in said test rig * an adapter for mounting a custom optical filter to a camera * a prototype of a new strain measuring device

bcohen5055 12y ago
I'm a mechanical engineer and I use 3D printing for countless things at work and occasionally in my own life but unless you are making things at home at least once a month it doesn't make sense to have your own and I think that is what the OP is saying. The idea of a "household" 3D printer doesn't appeal to him because like most consumers they don't want to make things they just want to buy them. If you think of the 3D printer more like a tablesaw and less like a microwave the market shrinks but the use case becomes much more clear.
- Already__Taken 12y ago
  I always though this was especially weird because someone who would get that amount of use or more out of one probably wants something _really_ awesome and not something cheap. Maybe even something that could print metal? I get the super cheap novelty use. After that I thought what you want is a service to send your design to and get an awesome quality piece back.
  - 12y ago

vidarh 12y ago

A "killer app" would be one that'd be sufficiently good to do lego-style bricks of decent quality. It will require a leap in quality, though.

sliverstorm 12y ago

With Dremel, they serve dual markets. Their equipment serves both art and general-purpose handyman tools.

lallysingh 12y ago

I felt that way until I realized that 3d printing could be the lego for the next generation of kids. Hell, start with legos, then print out the parts that you wish you had, and refine until you've got something that's actually "maker worthy." Save the files, then start on your next project. Add a microcontroller! yay! I'm completely projecting on my kid, and that's my right as a father! Muahahaha!

georgemcbay 12y ago

I use mine (Prusa i3 reprap design) mostly for camera stuff. I've made a few lens adapters from old manual focus bayonet mounts to my Sony A7, printed the physical housing to get a full-sized speedlite flash mounted to the Fuji Instax 210 instant camera, etc. Pretty ideal for cameras where you are often wanting to mate this thing to that thing with some sort of adapter that may or may not exist otherwise or might cost a ridiculous amount of money for what it is due to relatively low demand for the part.

seanp2k2 12y ago
That's awesome! Are those parts open-source anywhere? Also, curious as to how sturdy those are and what exactly they're made from. In my (quite limited) experience handling printed parts, they didn't really seem like the type of thing I'd trust to hold something expensive + fragile like a camera lens.
- georgemcbay 12y ago
  I've put a couple of things on Thingiverse, including a lens mount design: https://support.thingiverse.com/thing:330812 https://support.thingiverse.com/thing:330812 Someday I need to clean up a bunch of other things and figure out what the cool kids are using to share designs instead of thingiverse now that Makerbot is kind of shunned by large portions of the open 3d printer community. I print parts for my cameras in ABS which is pretty strong and has a nice side benefit in that if it ever does fail, it fails in a slow stretchy sort of way as opposed to just exploding like PLA plastic does. I'm not sure what type of plastic the pieces you've held are but there's a really wide range of available materials ranging from really brittle to really strong (also with various degrees of heat tolerance in the end part). I've used the lens adapters quite extensively and haven't had anything fail yet and some of the lenses I use with them are large old lens designs from the late 70s which tend to be quite heavy.