Whether you’re an aspiring surgeon or just love to collect figurines, 3D printing is a great way to recreate the objects you want. Here are 9 incredible things you can make with your 3D printer!
Organize your desk with this quick and easy to make project. Featuring a cute hedgehog design, it’s sure to save you from misplacing your USB, SD and micro SD cards!
1. Penny Whistle
The penny whistle (also known as a tin whistle) is a portable, high-pitched flute that has 6 finger holes and is tuned to play a D scale. It is a popular instrument for both novice and experienced musicians. It gets its name from the fact that it was often played by street performers who would give a penny to passers-by for a tune.
This STL design allows you to print your own working penny whistle and attach it to a length of tube for playing. The length of the tube affects the frequency of the tone produced; shorter tubes produce higher frequencies, and longer tubes produce lower frequencies.
While the penny whistle may seem like a simple musical toy or gateway instrument, it is capable of expressive and beautiful musical passages when properly played. A lot can be learned about the basics of flute technique from learning to play this little marvel.
2. Earbud Cord Holder
Earbuds can easily become tangled up, especially when stored in bags or purses. To keep them organized, try making this easy earbud cord holder. It is a small and compact design that fits any earbuds cords and stores them neatly.
The model is designed with a convenient cable passage that allows the user to wrap their cords around it in a cross looped configuration, and then merge them at the center with a magnetic closure. This ensures that the cords are tightly secured and eliminated from dangling during physical activities.
Students can practice the Engineering Design Process with this challenge while learning 3D modeling in Tinkercad. Have them start by drawing life-size sketches of the Earbud Buddy and then iterate with different designs to see what works best. They can even print a few copies to use in their daily life and to give to friends and family.
3. Carabiner
Carabiners are an essential piece of climbing gear, used to connect everything from ropes and lanyards to water bottles and other accessories. They can also be found in backpacks and utility belts, as they’re great for securing keys or other small items that might otherwise fall out while on the go.
While many people assume that carabiners were conceived for scaling mountains, the word itself (or Karabinerhaken) actually derives from German and means ‘hook-lock.’ And while there have been a variety of stylistic, material and closure innovations, their basic functionality hasn’t changed all that much.
Pear-shaped carabiners are still the most common on the market but you can now find offset oval versions as well. The reasoning behind this is that the offset shape means more of the weight hits the spine rather than the gate, making it stronger and less likely to fail under load. You can even get specialist locking options like the Petzl Ball-Lock, which has two levers you must push towards each other to open and close, or pin-lock versions that require a special pin tool to unlock.
4. Dragonfly
Dragonflies are one of the most spectacular insects in nature. They can fly straight up and down, sideways and backwards, hover in place, and even make hairpin turns without loosing altitude. They can do all of this by flapping their wings 30 times a minute. By comparison, mosquitoes flap their wings 600 and 1000 times a minute respectively.
They can see 360 degrees around them thanks to an incredible visual system called ommatidia (a lens and light sensitive cells) in their head. They can also see in the ultraviolet and infrared spectrum.
This allows them to take present information and calculate a future location where they can intercept prey in mid-air. This is why they’re often seen as aerial ambush predators. Dragonflies are important to their ecosystems as both predators and prey. They are also a good indicator of water quality. Some Native Americans believe they are symbols of purity, activity and speed.
5. Eating Utensils
Using a 3D printer to make rings, clothes, shoes, and more, from replacement hardware parts to toys to kitchenware is possible. However, when it comes to printing utensils that will touch food, there are valid health concerns about the chemicals and heat used in 3D printing.
The spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl, usually oval or round, attached to a handle. People have been using spoons as eating utensils since Paleolithic times. They’ve been made out of shells, chips of wood, precious metals and other materials.
The chopstick is a utensil that has become an integral part of Asian culture, dating back to Han and Ming dynasties. They’re used as a primary method of eating food in China and throughout Asia. They are pre-cut and thus don’t require sharp cutting tools, unlike knives or forks. This is a great way to cut down on kitchen waste.
6. Bottle Opener
A bottle opener is a specialized lever that helps remove the metal bottle caps from bottles of liquid. It consists of a flat housing with a lever attached to it which is often shaped like a cross and used by bar tenders to open bottles. The lever can be inserted beneath the pleated metalwork of a bottle cap and pivoted by using a point on the metal cap as a fulcrum. Bottle openers can also include corkscrews that are used to remove plastic or natural wine corks from bottles.
You can make a bottle opener using an ordinary home 3D printer with simple steps. To start, you’ll need to turn on your 3D printer and make sure that it is loaded with the correct filament (image a). Once the print job has finished you’ll need to wait for the bed to cool. Once it has, you’ll be able to use a small screwdriver or other tool with a flat edge to carefully lift up the Penn State model from the bed (images b and c). Be sure to use caution when lifting the printed model as it may have hot parts that could burn you or crack the object.
7. Hedwig
Whether you’re camping or just need an easy-to-pack set of eating utensils for work, this is the perfect project to whip up in a hurry. Just add a bit of colorful cutlery and you’ll be able to impress your coworkers with this handy gadget.
8. Electric Violin
Imagine a world where furniture is made to fit your space, shoes are printed to the exact shape of your feet and door handles are personalized with your name. This is the future of bespoke manufacturing, and it’s only possible with 3D printers.
Like a home inkjet printer, 3D printing builds a physical object layer by layer. It’s called additive manufacturing, and it takes top-of-the-line software, powder-like materials and precision tools to make something from nothing.
Electric violins don’t have the standard hollow body and sound box of acoustic ones, so they need pickups to convert string vibrations into an electric signal that can be amplified through headphones or a guitar amplifier. This gives them the versatility to play any genre of music without disturbing others.
When shopping for an electric violin, it’s important to consider what features you want to include and your budget. Sweetwater has an online tool that allows you to narrow down your options by specific specs, so you can find the best electric violin for your needs.
9. Drawing Machine
Fun 3D printer ideas are often the kinds of minimalistic decorations that make a big impact with minor effort. You can organize your desktop with a pencil holder that matches your personality or get your headphones off the table with a hook of your own design.
With a little more complexity, you can engineer a drawing machine that can create beautiful looped geometric art. It’s an amazing way to see how math and art can coexist.
What’s more, you can make a wallet that will save you $50 on a leather one. You can also use a 3D printer to reproduce replacement parts for your favorite musical instruments, like a fiddle or guitar. Alternatively, you could even recreate a charming Johnny 5, the robot from the ’80s sci-fi film Short Circuit, for your desk or to give as a gift. This is one of the coolest things you can make with a 3D printer.