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Giant Pinball Machine Made by Hacking Nintendo Switch Controllers with 3D Printing

“Ever since I was a young boy I’ve played the silver ball…From Soho down to Brighton I must have played them all.” – Pete Townshend, The Who

Now that I’ve got “Pinball Wizard” stuck in your head, let’s talk about this classic arcade game. The concept is pretty simple: you use game paddles, or flippers, to manipulate the little metallic balls on the game field inside the glass-covered cabinet, or pinball machine, to score as many points as you can. It’s so popular that many gaming consoles like the hybrid Nintendo Switch, have their own versions, in case players can’t get themselves to an actual arcade—do those even exist anymore?

The Switch can be plugged into a docking system and played on a TV, or used as a mobile gaming device with a touchscreen interface. Naturally, many people have used 3D printing to hack the system, and customize the multi-use JoyCon controllers however they want, which brings us back to pinball. Maker Tommy Williamson is the founder of the Nerds&Makers community, which is exactly what it sounds like — the members visit the site to “showcase cool projects, to promote makers, to find inspiration, to teach, to learn and most importantly to connect with other makers and like-minded individuals.”

Williamson found that playing pinball on the Switch was difficult with the standard JoyCon shoulder buttons, which are decidedly not the typical flipper controls used to play the original game. He did what many a maker has done before, and used 3D printing to create a custom solution. The JoyCon dock he created, which he dubbed the SwitchPin, makes it much easier to play the game. Basically, the controller turns two buttons on the JoyCon into two different buttons for optimal pinballing.

“Sometimes two buttons really need to be two other buttons, and in those times we should not let anything get in the way of a creative solution,” Kotaku writer Mike Fahey wrote about Williamson’s creation.

The SwitchPin is an ingenious solution. Basically, Williamson modeled two blocks, and fitted them with pinball arcade flipper buttons. Then, he 3D printed the blocks out of black Hatchbox PLA on his Prusa i3 Mk3 3D printer; the buttons were printed in red, and he recommends using the printer’s quality settings due to the tight tolerances of the design. Once the print job was finished, he had to spend some time removing supports from the blocks, and then did a little sanding to, as he wrote on Thingiverse, “tweak things to be just right.”

He used 3/8″ x 5/8″ springs from a Harbor Freight box set to make the flippers work, and assembled the SwitchPin with M3 screws – no soldering required.

“I recommend drilling and tapping the frames, the center parts use nuts. I used M3 20mm and 25mm,” Williamson wrote. “To keep it from sliding around there’s small wells on the bottom for rubber pads. I used hemispherical ones from this pack.”

As you can see in the image above, there’s a slot for a JoyCon controller inside each block, and the controller’s shoulder buttons line up perfectly with the arcade button actuators. Then, Williamson added enough black plastic in between the two blocks to make the whole thing the length of his TV when on portrait mode. He removed the TV from the wall, set it on a table, placed the 3D printed SwitchPin at the bottom, set the Nintendo Switch to the correct view, and started playing the game the way pinball is meant to be played. It’s a pretty impressive setup.

You can get the 3D printing files to make your own SwitchPin pinball controller for free on Thingiverse. Take a look at the video below to see Williamson’s whole building process:

I was curious about what other interesting 3D printable Switch adaptations people have been making, so I searched a few 3D model repositories and found some interesting designs. Mechatronics engineer Julio Vazquez, also known as Vexelius, created these JoyCon adapters that allow disabled gamers to play with just one hand, and also came up with this Accessibility stand “to provide an easy to print and non invasive mod that will help disabled players enjoy a better experience.”

“The SL and SR buttons, which are small and difficult to press are now easier to reach, thanks to a couple of extensions; and an optional cross-shaped cover for the buttons will help users that might not have the accuracy to press the small buttons in the Joy-Con,” Vazquez wrote.

On Cults 3D, I saw this JoyCon Wristband for playing the “Just Dance” game on the Switch, which has two slot sizes, and I also found two different versions of a Nintendo Switch Joy Con Controller Drink Holder.

(Images courtesy of Nerds&Makers)

The post Giant Pinball Machine Made by Hacking Nintendo Switch Controllers with 3D Printing appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

3D Printing for the Fourth of July

Today is the Fourth of July, or Independence Day, here in the U.S. This means most people in the United States will get the chance to enjoy a three-day weekend, and that brings with it the chance for barbecues, camping, fireworks, and more summer fun! Obviously, we thought there was no better way to celebrate this exciting occasion than by 3D printing some holiday-related items, so read on and enjoy.

Fireworks ring

If you’re heading out to see a fireworks display (obviously wearing your mask and social distancing from others, of course), you’ll want to look your best. So, why not print out and wear this fireworks ring from Cults3D user Lockheart? She writes that if you really like this piece, you can also order it in metal from Shapeways. However, some cities are canceling their July 4th fireworks displays due to COVID-19, and even if the shows are still happening, many people may not feel comfortable being in a big crowd yet. So, you can always print this Fireworks sculpture and make your house or backyard a little more festive.

“Put something heavy in the bottom compartment to have it stand better. Scale as wanted,” Thingiverse user Mizcak wrote. “Printed well in ABS at 0.2mm layers and 0.4mm nozzle. No raft or brim.”

Technically this sculpture was created as a decoration for New Year’s, but I think it works for the Fourth of July just as well.

This 3D Printable Fireworks LED Lamp, posted by MyMiniFactory user Joe Casha, is another great decoration, though it will take more than a 3D printer to make. You’ll need screws, wires, an Arduino Nano, fiber optic cable, and a few other things. Plus, some soldering is required.

If you want to have some low-key fireworks fun in your own backyard, you can also make this awesome Sparkler Holder by MyMiniFactory user Muzz64. This easy print holds 27 sparklers over three levels, which means you can place a whole package in the holder, and you won’t need a lot of filament to make it, either.

3D Printable Sparkler Holder

“The design features an internal retainer to locate the Sparklers so they stay at a similar angle as others on the same level as well as keeping the hot / burning part well clear of the holder itself so it won’t melt or burn.”

Speaking of fun in the backyard, it’s always fun for kids when the sprinkler gets hooked up for the summer – make their day with this Basic Water Sprinkler by Thingiverse user ICEPICKTONY. While they’re all running around, you can keep cool yourself with this nine-sided Glacier Wine Cooler from MyMiniFactory user 3DRegan.

“This neat wine cooler uses the infill settings in 3D Printing to trap a cold layer of air between the two walls and keep your wine bottle chilled!”

Glacier Wine Cooler

It takes about 16 hours to print this model out of PLA, with 20% infill, no supports, and layer height of 0.3 mm. You can also print it in separate colors if you so choose.

But if you prefer beer over wine, then you’ll definitely need this Bottle Opener and Cap GUN! by Thingiverse user 3Deddy. It’s an easy print, with just a few supports, and you’ll need a set of M3 bolts and an elastic rubber band to get the fun started. The speed at which it shoots is described as “gentle,” though obviously you won’t be shooting it at people…maybe just stand way back and see how close you can get to the grill!

Bottle Opener and Cap GUN!

If your grill doesn’t have quite as much space as you’d like for the necessary tools of the trade, you can print this handy BBQ tool holder peg multiplier by MyMiniFactory user Kazys Domkus. It fits on a 200 x 200 mm print bed, and should be scaled by 25.4. If the tool doesn’t fit your particular grill, Inventor files have been included for this print. You could also try this BBQ CLIP-ON HOOK/HANGAR print from Cults 3D user Dantu, who printed this out of PETG material.

Once your grill is set up the way you want, you can get down to the serious business of cooking the meat…and why not have some by customizing your burgers with this Burger Stamp by MyMiniFactory user Jeff Green? He says it only “takes about 10 seconds to change it/create it in Tinkercad,” and another 20 minutes to print out of food-safe PLA.

Burger Stamp

If you’ve decided to take advantage of the long holiday weekend and go camping, 3D printing can help with this activity as well. You can make this 1L Camping Bottle from Cults 3D user wavelog, or a helpful Folding Tripod Camping Stool Part by Cults 3D user to make your chair away from home more stable.

You can turn a mini flashlight into an ambient light with this Cults 3D Camplamp model by user 3DPrintNovesia. It’s designed with a 12 mm hole, so you’ll just need to scale it to your own flashlight, and print it with a low infill out of transparent filament. But my favorite is this Camp Caddy by fittingly named Cults 3D user TeamOutdoor, because it’s attractive and multifunctional.

Camping Caddy

“Condiment Holders don’t get any more far out than this. Everybody who BBQs in the outdoors or cooks on a campfire needs this. For one thing, condiments are unwieldy little suckers, and best passed and carried around all at once. And this one is a 3D printed work of art. Also holds a six pack—because of course—and your shower stuff, because why not?”

You can’t argue with that reasoning! It should take about 32 hours to print each half of this caddy out of PLA, and then you simply press the two together “until all of the vertical edges snap together.”

Happy Fourth, and happy 3D printing!

The post 3D Printing for the Fourth of July appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Adafruit Weekly Editorial Round-Up: International Women in Engineering Day, Removing Racism from Thingiverse, No-Sew Cotton Face Mask with a Window, & more!

INewImage 21 1 1

ADAFRUIT WEEKLY EDITORIAL ROUND-UP

We’ve got so much happening here at Adafruit that it’s not always easy to keep up! Don’t fret, we’ve got you covered. Each week we’ll be posting a handy round-up of what we’ve been up to, ranging from learn guides to blog articles, videos, and more.

BLOG

Every June 23 we highlight women in engineering who have made an impact. In hopes to share some inspiration and help get #INWED19 trending we flooded the Adafruit blog with #ShapeTheWorld posts! Read more.

More BLOG:

LEARN

No-Sew Cotton Face Mask with a Window

More LEARN

Browse all that’s new in the Adafruit Learning System here!

Appliance Maker Miele Offers 3D Printable Accessories on Thingiverse

Though it has yet to reach a widespread saturation point, we are slowly witnessing the birth of 3D printable replacement parts and accessories for consumer goods. The latest evidence of that trend is the new 3D4U platform from Miele, which has released a range of 3D printable parts for its appliances. The German manufacturer has released files for ten items on Thingiverse, all of which can be downloaded and 3D printed for free.

A vacuum accessory that uses a fine mesh to separate valuables from debris while vacuuming. Image courtesy of Miele.

Among the tools that can be 3D-printed are a variety of vacuum adapters, as well as accessories for coffee brewing and common repair work. For instance, there are nozzles for vacuuming different types of surfaces, a holder for attaching extra nozzles to Miele vacuums, and even a device that can be used to blow bubbles from one’s vacuum. Also available are a clip for sealing coffee bags, an accessory for decorating lattes, and a borehole cleaning aid to assist with drilling holes. The latte motif maker has also been uploaded as a blank template, with which users are encouraged to download and modify for their own custom coffee decorating.

The 3D4U Borehole Cleaning Aid: a device for hands-free drilling that connects to the drill and mounts directly to the wall. Image courtesy of Miele.

David Buhl, 3D4U project manager at Miele’s Bielefeld plant, said of the project:

“With 3D4U, we aim to offer our customers additional benefits and put ideas into practice which we were not previously able to implement as part of our comprehensive portfolio of accessories. In doing so, each part reflects our expertise in product development, for instance more than 90 years of Miele experience in floor care.”

This isn’t the first time a consumer brand has considered 3D printing for the production of accessories and spare parts. The most similar account is that of Hoover, which teamed up with MakerBot in 2014 to host its own 3D printable vacuum accessories. That experiment seemed to have ended then and there. Also in 2014, iRobot invited customers to hack their Roomba 600 series with 3D printable parts.

A tool for sprinkling coffee toppings in predetermined shapes. Image courtesy of Miele.

IKEA and its customers have experimented with 3D printing, given the natural fit for the DIY aspect of building the Swedish giant’s low-cost furniture. For its part, IKEA has sold 3D-printed art objects, a gaming chair prototype, and, most interestingly, adapter tools that allow disabled consumers to more easily use their products. Makers have designed a number of 3D printable spares for the brand’s furniture, which populate model repositories like Thingiverse and MyMiniFactory.

What’s missing for this very feasible concept to take off is the lack of widespread consumer adoption of 3D printers. Prices for desktop 3D printers are now consistently low and higher-end systems are introducing near-industrial- and true-industrial-grade capabilities that could change that, if price, functionality and ease-of-use can meet in the middle to create something that consumers would be interested in purchasing.

Initiatives like this being pursued by Miele will serve to drive the functionality of the technology, but we’re still waiting for a coalescence of forces to generate a perfect storm for consumer adoption. Meanwhile, larger economic problems will likely drive consumers away from what is, for now, a luxury hobby, unless some wonderfully low-cost, highly functional 3D printer emerges as a means of producing goods at a price that beats items mass manufactured in distant countries.

Otherwise, for now, spare parts will likely start out as more viable for industrial applications, such as for heavy equipment and rail sectors, where the technology is already beginning to demonstrate real value.

The post Appliance Maker Miele Offers 3D Printable Accessories on Thingiverse appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Niche Made: Modding NERF Guns With 3D Printing

We didn’t have a lot of NERF guns in the house growing up, but I do remember one specific NERF incident when I was older. I was home from college for winter break, and my family and I were stuck inside due to a snow emergency. We were getting restless and sick of watching TV, when someone – my mom, maybe – randomly picked up a NERF dart gun from behind her chair, aimed it at the map of Michigan hanging over the couch across the room, and fired. The game quickly evolved into seeing who could get the dart to stick the closest to where we vacationed each summer, and we all forgot we’d been bored.

Just like using 3D printing to increase the fun of LEGOs, so too can the technology be put to work with NERF weapons. NERF modding is the practice of adding hands-on modifications to your NERF guns, so their capabilities are enhanced.

“NERF blasters aren’t just for pre-pubescent boys — the resurgence of NERF is real and it’s happening now,” a Manual post states.

“Grown men are dipping back into the hobby and making hands-on modifications that increase the range and speed of the toys.”

3D Printed Hades Pump Grip, $12 on Out of Darts

In the post, Luke Goodman, referred to there as “the surgeon general of NERF modifications,” describes the basics of modding a NERF Hammershot blaster gun. The former filmmaker wrote a popular book about Nerf modding, and also runs an online shop and NERF modification YouTube Channel called Out of Darts.

Goodman came up with some novel mods, like an air blaster that holds 1,200 rounds and shoots 15 rounds per second, and purchased a 3D printer so he could make his own modification parts. It’s now his full-time gig.

“There’s nothing better than taking something into your own hands and improving it — taking something old and making it new,” Goodman said. “For both kids and adults, getting them off video games, working with their hands, and interacting with the community can happen through NERF.”

Luke Goodman with modified NERF gun (Credit: Luke Goodman)

Reddit user Pballwiz24 posted about his 3D printed hobby-grade NERF blasters, which look like they stepped right out of the 1990s. An appreciative person said they were “still amazed how much 3D printing has revolutionized homemade nerf guns and the nerf community as a whole,” and Pballwiz24 agreed, writing “It really helped launch the hobby to a whole new level.”

Another user wanted to know if the darts had to be cut down, and what was used for springs.

Pballwiz24

“Yeah they are cut to 39mm,” Pballwiz24 replied. “They use brushed motors with flywheels on them to compress and “throw” the dart out.”

He was asked if the model was available on Thingiverse, and while the answer was no, he did state that several of his other models were there under the search term “cowabunga.” I checked it out, and the first one I found was the Cowabunga! Foam Dart Blaster by user radblasters, which contains detailed instructions on how to 3D print your own.

Cowabunga! Foam Dart Blaster

“The key feature of this design is the fact that it uses a smaller solenoid than most other solenoid builds. The Solenoid I designed this around is about half the size of the 35mm ones that are currently popular, but it functions exactly as needed (at only 15mm stroke),” it says in the description.

“Other than that feature, this is basically a primary blaster crammed into the smallest form factor I could create. Fully built, this can get 130-140 FPS on 4x Honeybadger motors…and it can be select fire too!”

There are plenty of other NERF mod designs on Thingiverse as well, such as sights, scopes, barrel extensions, magazines and dart holders, and even this cool NERF-compatible Grappling Hook.

“Printed without raft/supports. The first 5-6 layers look a little rough for lack of supports but it builds just fine,” Thingiverse user hewmart wrote. “I printed: 100% infill .2mm layer height 2 shells 60mm/s travel but these settings are probably changeable.”

If you think you’d like to try 3D printing a NERF mod, but are a little intimidated by the process and don’t know where to start, fear not – you can find Nerf Mods: a Beginner’s Guide on Instructables, which introduces readers “to the vast world of Nerf gun modifications” with instructions that are easy to understand.

“Beginners can be easily repelled from the world of Nerf gun modding by seeing a modification “write-up” that seems complicated. Many modification write-ups do seem confusing at first. However, modding a Nerf gun isn’t very hard–It simply takes knowledge of how a Nerf gun works and how a mod should be executed. With this knowledge, modifying Nerf guns is quite simple,” the post states.

While the instructable doesn’t actually mention 3D printing, it’s still a very helpful guide, with details on a variety of different mods and the differences between NERF spring guns and pump guns. You can check out one of the YouTube videos in this article for help with some cool 3D printed NERF mods.

Have you ever 3D printed a NERF mod? Tell us about it! Discuss this story and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

The post Niche Made: Modding NERF Guns With 3D Printing appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Holiday Fun During COVID-19: 3D Printed Easter Eggs, Seder Plates, and Ramadan Lanterns

Because of the COVID-19 epidemic, this spring is going to be really difficult for a lot of people. On top of cancelled classes, closed restaurants, and people panic-buying at grocery stores, Passover began earlier this week, Easter is this Sunday, and Ramadan starts in two weeks. Many people like to spend time with their loved during holidays like these, and with countries all over the world in various stages of lock down and quarantine, that’s likely not going to happen. The ongoing coronavirus crisis has upended life for a lot of people, and additive manufacturing companies and makers at home have been rushing in to help, to the best of their abilities, by 3D printing things like face shields and masks, nasal swabs, ventilators, field respirators, and even hands-free door openers.

A face shield made with a 3D printed adapter and a standard hard hat. (Image: GE Additive)

However, while this call to arms is admirable, we need to remember that regulations and certifications for 3D printed medical devices are put in place for a reason. Even the best intentions can lead to some harmful consequences, and we must make sure we’re not causing additional harm by 3D printing items that don’t need to be 3D printed. My suggestion is that maybe, we use 3D printing to take care of our mental health, which is just as important during these strange times. So I refer back to my opening statement – it will be hard not spending the holidays with your family and friends.

So, if you’re stuck at home with a 3D printer, why not make the best of things and create some holiday-themed prints? For instance, just because you’re not expecting a passel of guests doesn’t mean you can’t still decorate with this Easter Egg-shaped holder for electric candles, published by MyMiniFactory user 3dprintinggeek, or this ‘Happy Passover‘ print on Thingiverse, which user jrembrandt created with the Customizer feature.

Ramadan Moon

This Ramadan Moon decoration by Thingiverse user YehiaJammoul can be 3D printed in different sizes, so long as the bed is “perfectly leveled.” I also like this Ramadan lantern print by the same user, who designed it in SOLIDWORKS and printed it on a Creality CR-10S.

Easter Cookie Cutters

A lot of people are getting through these difficult times by stress-eating. So long as you use food-safe filament, help feed your craving with the help of these cute Easter Cookie Cutters by MyMiniFactory user Benjamin_Lau, or this one from aptly named Cults3D user Cookiemonster. Thingiverse user ianwarelec turned to Fusion 360 to design this Ramadan Kareem Cookie Cutter, shaped like a crescent to represent the lunar month of Ramadan. Also on Thingiverse, I found this Matzo Slicer by Shoogon and a Matzo holder by itaysp.

You can celebrate the holidays by dressing up if you want, and these Easter Bunny Earrings by MyMiniFactory user Idea Lab, or this adorable Bunny Ears Head Band, will surely land you on the Easter Bunny’s best-dressed list…if he makes one.

Bunny Ears Head Band

“Don’t forget to cut off the tabs, they are present to act as a strategic brim to help bed adhesion and prevent curling,” Cults3D user bLiTzJoN writes about the head band.

I found this really lovely Vertical Seder Plate on Thingiverse – user stevemedwin’s wife is a rabbi, and challenged him to make the vertical plate.

Vertical Seder Plate

” I ended up designing a seven piece assembly that holds the traditional seder plate liners. OpenSCAD came to the rescue as the tolerances on the pieces was critical for it to be stable,” he wrote.

“The arms can be rotated independently in order to fit the items as needed.”

He 3D printed the plate on his MakerBot Replicator 2, with no raft or supports, at 10% infill and a layer height of 0.200.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Easter without 3D printed eggs, like these Floral Easter Eggs and Woven Easter Eggs by MyMiniFactory user TechDave204, and I also really like this Resin Easter Egg Collection on MyMiniFactory from user ChrisBobo, “made with Fusion 360 and Meshmixer and printed on an Anycubic Photon.”

If you’re interested in an indoor hunt for your 3D printed Easter eggs, you can hide them in this 3D Printable Grass by Cults3D user Superbeasti, which can be cut to length and should be printed with a raft for better adhesion.

3D Printable Grass

“As with any “hairy” print, these are printed sideways, and then one of the plates is cut free. The parts should be oriented so, that each strand starts printing from the top of the grass and ends on the root (Cura changes this when you rotate the block 180 degrees on the Z axis).This way you get a nice effect, where the grass is thinner on the top, and adheres better to the bottom plate. You can choose, if you want to have a thick bottom plate or the thin one, by simply orienting the parts accordingly and cutting the opposite plate off,” he wrote.

Bringing things full circle, Thingiverse user menzach created this Coronavirus Easter egg, which needs a raft and supports and will require an extra step of gluing the red S-proteins to the rest of the egg. Once you’ve collected all of your 3D printed eggs, you can place them in this Easter Eggs Basket by Cults3D user SE_2018. But maybe leave the coronavirus egg where you found it…we’ve had enough of that, I think.

Happy holiday 3D printing and stay healthy!

Did you create any holiday 3D prints? Let us know at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

The post Holiday Fun During COVID-19: 3D Printed Easter Eggs, Seder Plates, and Ramadan Lanterns appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Dear Stratasys: We Need Thingiverse Not Face Shields

Dear Stratasys,

I’ve known you now for over 12 years. It was love at first sight when I saw my first 3D printer, a Stratasys Dimension 1200. I’ve admired the reliability, repeatability, and quality of your machines. Your founder Scott Crump is a personal hero of mine and meeting him a few times was a highlight of my life. As an organization, you’ve solidly been producing good machines for a long time now and I’ve always enjoyed working with Stratasys people in many different capacities over the years. We’ve now known each other since Wall-E and In Bruges came out, since we both saw the Beijing Summer Olympics and both danced to I Kissed a Girl and Just Dance. So I feel I can address you like an old friend. Know that this comes from love.

I’m super happy that you are making 11,000 face shields a week. I think that this can really help people by delivering a safe extra precaution for many. But, as notable and nice as this move is you could have a far more important role to play in battling COVID. You see, I’ll let you in on a secret, you own a website called Thingiverse. Thingiverse? Yes, you bought it years ago. Thingiverse is a website where people can download files to 3D print. Theoretically. I’m kidding, it works again, congrats! Of all the key 3D printing infrastructure in the world, Thingiverse is along with slicing software and Magics a core bit of functionality for the 3D printing community. Thingiverse is the one central tool that all of the makers and desktop 3D printing users use. We used to use it every day. It is still the largest 3D printing website in the world. Cool, right?

The really rad thing about Thingiverse is that it lets us all work together. So Mary the mechanical engineering genius could make a file, Petra could refine it and then everyone could use it. Thingiverse has the potential to make all of the world’s problems shallow. All of the things could be designed and shared on that site. This, in turn, would make 3D printing more valuable. If a problem has a thing as its solution, then potentially, this solution could be created, developed and shared on Thingiverse.

Now I totally understand that a lot of the stuff on Thingiverse is silly and perhaps not very well made. Most stuff on the internet is silly and not very well made. Generally, however, we consider the internet to be useful on the whole. Thingiverse is just such a utility. I use the word utility in a purposeful way. Thingiverse is infrastructure like electricity and water. And yet you have neglected Thingiverse. Treated it a bit like a parent who went out for a pack of cigarettes and never came back.

Thingiverse now has ads which is great. It also looks a lot slicker and works much better than before. So maybe compared to before you’re kind of a Christmas and summer holidays dad.

We’ve got hundreds of thousands of people at home now. They’re bored and want to help out. Hundreds of 3D printing firms worldwide are working on COVID related products and solutions. I know many of these are doubtful and risky. But, we can harness the power of the 3D printing community to share findings, solutions and make progress together. The core Thingiverse functionality is what people need right now to download and print files. By curating specific selections you could guide people to NIH and individual health and hospital authority approved files. Through challenges and laying out problems, you could channel our collective energy towards specific solutions.

Companies and makers are ready and willing to expend the effort. Most efforts are now focused on shields which is at least safer than some of the more dubious efforts out there. What is not happening, however, is a guided effort towards sterilization, safer products, real product development and real solving. You see everyone is just parroting things at the moment. “People need masks, let’s make those”. What is not happening is that the request by an individual doctor is getting solved. There is no clearinghouse for problems where people on the frontlines can ask for help. Instead healthcare people have to spend time on conference calls with helpful businesses. This is inefficient.

The most useful thing in the world right now is not a mask or a shield. The most useful thing in the world right now is place where problems are specified which can then be solved. Unique problems brought on by our current crisis could in some cases be solved by things. We as an industry are the shortest path to new things. We could collectively work on how to print safely, how to test parts, how to improve parts and how to really solve new problems. People on the frontlines could simply specify what part they need or what problem they have and our community could solve it. They could then do this in one central place where our collective experience could bring about better parts.

Unique solutions to unique problems is the thing which our technology excels at. Yet, where are the requests from the car side testing people to make an extender for their swabs so they don’t have to reach so far into the car? Where are the files for all of those press releases and articles? Where are the thousands of foot and hand door opener designs for every door? Why hasn’t someone come up with a DIY automatic door opener? Where are the hundreds of no-touch faucet designs? We’ve got thousands of engineers sitting at home in a race to finish Netflix, they can be deployed to solve specific problems affecting us all. Our energies are being wasted, channel them.

I know that I’ve previously spoken about first not doing harm. In this case, we need one central place where we know that the best and right files are to be found. We need one place where all of the possible files are submitted for review and scrutiny. We need a central source of truth for all of our decentralized efforts.

As an industry, we’ve gone from mass-producing press releases to mass-producing face shields. This is laudable. I’d rather have a shield to protect myself than a piece of content marketing, but still, this is not optimal. We have the potential to bring real change and make this world a better place. The clearest way for us as an industry actually solve COVID related problems is for one central place to act as a clearinghouse for ideas, problems, best practices, refinements, and solutions. The most likely place for this, indeed one that has almost all of the functionality already, is Thingiverse. I’m not saying that you have to stop making the face shields but maybe lavish some attention on your least favorite stepchild and have Thingiverse lead the charge on COVID?

11,000 face shields are nice but 11,000 solutions would be better.

The post Dear Stratasys: We Need Thingiverse Not Face Shields appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year…for 3D Printing

Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve, St. Nicholas’ Day, the Winter Solstice, Festivus…December is filled with holidays for us all to celebrate. And what better way to do so than with 3D printing? But whether you’re hosting a holiday gathering this year, or trying to get ready and leave the house so you can attend one (or five…), we know you’re busy and don’t need another thing to add to your already full plate. So we’ve taken the liberty of gathering up some fun holiday-themed 3D print ideas for you in this article. Obviously, you’ll still need to factor in time to actually print these, but sacrifices must be made somewhere, right? Maybe only bake five batches of cookies instead of ten this year.

Speaking of cookies, here are some adorable 3D printable Christmas cookie cutters from Oogime on Cults3D – they come in a variety of festive shapes, such as candy canes, stockings, bells, reindeer, mistletoe, snowmen, Christmas trees, and Santa Claus himself.

“For the baking enthusiast and home cooking aficionado, OogiMe is what you have been looking for. OogiMe digital designs have been tested to fit the requirements necessary for 3D home printing technology.

“We designed unique Cookie Cutters to print that incorporate the holiday spirit, especially for you and your family.”

A couple of the Oogime cookie cutter prints state that with a standard resolution and layer height of 0.3 mm, they shouldn’t take more than an hour to print.

Some people prefer making gingerbread houses to cookie baking, and we found a really awesome holiday 3D printing idea from MyMiniFactory user 3Demon – these are still cookie cutters, but for making a 3D printer out of gingerbread, instead of a house!

“Here’s how you can make a special kind of gingerbread house celebrating one of the best hobbies ever!” the 3Demon group wrote on Instructables.

“I would recommend actually reading the text and not just looking at the pictures so you can avoid some of my mistakes.”

I’ll let you read the rest of the instructions yourself if interested, though I will note that all together, the cookie cutters “should fit on 4 print beds and take about 10 hours of print time” if 3D printed at a layer height of 0.3 mm.

To make your home look merry and bright, you’ll need some good holiday decorations. Thingiverse user amytheengineer suggests this lovely front door wreath, which was 3D printed in four pieces on a JGAurora system. Even though the supports will be “a hassle to remove,” they are necessary for this print.

Thingiverse user deadspool posted this eye-catching Christmas Tree design, which can be 3D printed either as a solid or in vase mode, while Cults3D user Raeunn3D created this cute Snowman, which does not need any supports to print, and Tony Gonzalez on MyMiniFactory designed a 3D printable Spinning Stars Snowflake Ornament, which can be printed in place with no supports.

abbymath on Thingiverse used Mathematica to generate designs for 100 Snowflakes with random parameters, so they are all truly unique. No raft, supports, or infill are required, and the snowflakes were 3D printed at 0.2 mm layer height.

“My code creates all 100 designs, checks each for connectedness, and generates all the STL files in about 13 minutes,” abbymath wrote.

“Included among the individual STL files are five that each contain 20 of the snowflakes arranged to fit on a 200 x 200 mm print bed for quicker setup. Each snowflake has a diameter approximately 40 mm (plus or minus about 5 mm) and a thickness of 0.8 mm.”

Those who celebrate Hanukkah and are in need of a menorah fast, check out this Vase Mode Menorah by Jacob Surovsky on MyMiniFactory. It takes no more than an hour to print in vase mode, or with Surface Mode set to “Surface” rather than “Normal,” and is also a great mold for a cement craft. But, if you’d rather have a more permanent menorah, you can fill the interior with cement, and once it’s cooled, melt off the thin layer of plastic, which will leave behind a “beautiful and colorful organic texture.”

“Sometimes Fusion exports the units strangely,” Surovsky wrote. “If the menorah is really small in your slicer, make sure the units are set to inches or scale up by 2540%. Also, make sure to orient the menorah as displayed in the photos.”

I found some other 3D printable menorahs as well – Thingiverse user DavidPhillipOser designed a Customizable Simple Menorah that holds metal cups rather than candles, and Cults3D user hirez posted a lovely design with the Star of David as the base, held up by a pair of hands and adorned with olive leaves, “a symbol of peace that will grow only if we are all chosen to focus on light than in the dark.”

Moving on, it is now time for the Airing of Grievances, or at least it is for the people who choose to celebrate the secular December 23rd holiday of Festivus. Thingiverse user goodBEan posted this design for a Mini Festivus pole, which can fit “a 1/2 inch standard electrical conduit that is cheap, readily available, and made of aluminum so it has a very high strength to weight ratio.” You should use “as many shells as possible” for this print so the top stays intact, and it’s noted that some sanding may be required if the fit is a bit tight.

Finally, if you’re just not feeling that much holiday spirit this year, or you know someone else who isn’t, might I suggest this adorable Baaaa Humbug! design by Thingiverse user keithirma?

We hope you have a joyful holiday season, and that 3D printing makes it even better!

Have you 3D printed anything for the holidays? Let us know at 3DPrintBoard.com or in the Facebook commentsbelow.

The post It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year…for 3D Printing appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Let’s Kill Thingiverse?

If you are a 3D printer operator you probably have noticed that Thingiverse sucks at the moment. After being asked to write about it I decided to grab the bull by the horns and reached out to Makerbot. I asked them if I could buy Thingiverse. Sadly they weren’t interested in selling it to me.

For a long time, I thought that Thingiverse was the smartest thing in 3D printing. One central file repository for the entire 3D printing community, what a brilliant idea! Open source ideas and files could be exchanged for free by anyone. We could all work together to make all of the things better. In my idealism, Thingiverse could become the one tool that would let us all stand on the shoulders of giants. When the Makerbot team started to patent things its community had made and subsequently turned its back on open source, Thingiverse took a hit. A select few had ridden the open-source popularity wave and essentially used to the community for their own gain without giving back.

No longer loved, the platform still has an unassailable lead in files though. Dozens of other platforms imitated Thingiverse but none manage to come anywhere near its installed base. Even with an Autodesk Instructables plugging at the problem Thingiverse still remains the largest by far. Because it has the most users and the most files it has inertia and people keep publishing on it. Yes, you could try Pinshape, Youmagine or Minifactory but you’ll still get the most downloads, comments, and attention on Thingiverse. Yes, of course, you can search on other repositories but more things will still be on Thingiverse. Even users who by now don’t like the platform still use it very often. Thingiverse has become like a tax on 3D printing. Thingiverse has over two million registered users and has had more than 340 million downloads.

After Stratasys bought Makerbot the firm invested in Thingiverse, making an education version, an improved API, integrations with others, upload tools and adding functionality. For the past year however it been awfully quiet on Thingiverse. Thingiverse chugs along but kind of like the Flying Dutchman sailing the oceans without a crew doomed to continue a never-ending journey. Some social media accounts haven’t been updated for months. Spam and other undesirable content continue to at times not be moderated. Load times have gone to a few minutes per page and the site has had bugs that seem to not be solved for months. Log in issues took a long time to be resolved. There have been continuing issues with the renderings not displaying. A photo upload issue has not been resolved. The site has a lot of time outs and crashes. Lately, it seems to be getting worse. The site is at times painfully slow and you get a lot of errors when using it.

Meanwhile, it looks like some people are crawling and indexing Thingiverse, perhaps to use its data to start new competitors. This will negatively affect the performance of the site and will hasten its end. Rumors persist that the site has only one staff member assigned to it. It feels forlorn and unloved. So what do we do about Thingiverse? It seems that there would be a few options.

Make Stratasys Love Thingiverse. Even though Stratasys interest is squarely focused on the enterprise Thingiverse’s installed base and way of sharing files could be a huge boon for open source and education. Thingiverse could become ad-supported to generate enough cash to survive in a cost-neutral way. With some ad revenue, a small team could keep up maintaining this huge and key 3D printing property.
Get Makerbot to invest more in it so that the site becomes more reliable. Boring but probably the easiest option.
A coup de grace. Kill it off. It continues to chug along and maybe we should put it out of its misery in order to let us focus our attention on other competing websites.
Crowdfund Buying or Restarting Thingiverse. We get together, form a foundation and then try to crowdfund a new Thingiverse or buy the old one from Stratasys. The foundation affirms its open-source principles and tries to use ads to stay afloat and improve the site.
Encourage someone to buy and invest in Thingiverse. I certainly see the long term value of this shared utility that is Thingiverse, maybe a start-up or established firm could also see this?
Continue this stumbling around in the dark like a lazy zombie bore-apocalypse and do nothing.

What do you suggest?

We reached out to Makerbot and they got back to us saying,

“As the largest database for 3D print designs, Thingiverse sees a high volume of traffic on a daily basis, and continues to grow regularly with new users. We understand the frustrations and limitations to the current site, and are making much-needed updates and enhancements to ensure that users have a smoother and better site experience.

“We are redesigning the website, which should address the latency issues, and fixing the backend to address the underlying issues. Over time, we will also be updating other site features. We remain committed to Thingiverse and the 3D printing community, and will continue to make site improvements as needed.”

I’m encouraged that the Makerbot team acknowledges that there are issues with the site. What do you think, will the team fix all of the issues and give Thingiverse a place in your heart and hard drive again?

The post Let’s Kill Thingiverse? appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

3D printing news Sliced: Modix, CRP Technology, OpenAdditive, Florida Makes, Polymaker

This week’s edition of Sliced, the 3D Printing Industry news digest features, the latest large scale 3D Printers from Modix, a new Windform FR1 Flame Retardant composite from CRP Technology, and new 3D printing facilities at the University of Salford. We also cover Alfa Romeo F1 Racing, Xometry, Roboze, OpenAdditive, Florida Makes, Rosswag Engineering, SLD […]