Whether it’s under my desk or in a storage box, a tangled mass of wall-wart cables always get my blood boiling. So in the interest of delaying my stress-related demise, today I came up with a solution.
Project: 3D Printing
I don’t think of myself as a 3D Print Designer - I’m just a guy who owns a good 3D printer and likes to use it to solve problems. Every month I find a problem or two for which 3DP is the right tool in my kit, so I’m not going to create a new project here on CH for each and every one. That would be insane. Instead, I’m creating this catch-all project and I’ll report them all here.
Printer
I originally started printing on a MakerBot Replicator 2 back in 2017, which was the printer available in the maker lab I used, but I’ve owned a Prusa MK3S+ of my own since January of 2021, and that’s now the only printer I use.
Software
As a longtime user of Blender for animations, live action special effects, book cover design, etc., it was my obvious choice when I started 3D printing too. And while I still use it for visualization, and sometimes for modifying STL files that I get from somebody else, I have since moved on.
My design tool of choice is now OpenSCAD - an open source, constructive solid modeling tool that is both free and available on all OS platforms. Instead of having to learn a bunch of fiddly interactive tools, I much prefer OpenSCAD’s simple, logical programming-style interface.
For slicing, I stick with PrusaSlicer. It’s excellent, I’m familiar with it, and it works well with my Prusa printer.
And lastly, my sharing platform. I was on Thingiverse until it took a crap-dive, but I quickly pivoted to Printables (also by Prusa :-) and I haven’t looked back since.
Related Documents
Project Log Entries
FirstBox
As I mentioned in a previous post, I need a system for storing little parts efficiently, and to me that means three things:
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all parts are organized into collections of similar items
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all parts are stored securely, with minimal risk of spillage or cross-cubby contamination
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Each collection is easy to find, easy to put away, and requires zero gameplay (think Jenga or Towers Of Hanoi) to access
Many existing storage solutions tackle numbers 1 and 2, but number 3 seems surprisingly elusive, so I set out to solve it myself. And my motivating requirement? The first box you touch should always be the box you need.
FlipStand - An Adjustable and Retractable Bike Rack
I needed a way to organize bikes in a garage or shed when they weren’t being ridden. This is not for winter storage, so I wanted the bikes to remain accessible - just tidier. I also wanted my solution to be adjustable for wheels of different widths, and easy to flip out of the way when they’re not being used.
What I ended up with was simple, cheap (less than $4 per bike!) and extremely easy to build. I didn’t end up using any 3D printed parts, but this feels 3D-adjacent, so I’m including it here anyway.