I designed and made a thing on my 3d printer!

shaunmza (62)in #printing3d • 7 years ago (edited)

This weekend I got around to doing something I have wanted to do since I was in my teens (thats a loong time ago)!

I managed to take an idea for a part from conception, to design and ended up with a physical product in my hands! I did it in aa afternoon too, which surprised my the most.

If you have seen my previous post, It's ALIVE!! Fixed my 3d printer, you will know I have a 3d printer, that I recently got parts for and got it working.

In the comments, @steevc asked what plans I had for it, and here is an answer ;)

Why?

So, this deserves a back story. When we moved into our flat, my wife bought 2 hangers that you can hang multiple socks or other underwear on. We were still getting used to working in Euro's so she got the cheapest she could find.
Generally they are ok, except for the hook at the very top, which is as flimsy as can be.

The predictable happens and the hook breaks. My wife is resourceful, though and finds a way to make it work, but it's less than ideal because she cannot move it around anymore.

Design process

I have never worked in a CAD program before, but after some searching found FreeCAD, which is free to download and use. I had installed this a while back in anticipation of playing with the printer.

First I tried to design a smaller piece, so I could test and make sure that what I designed would be printable.

I started with this,

After watching 2 or 3 tutorials on YouTube about working in FreeCAD I got to work and came up with this.

Super chuffed with my attempt, I rushed to the printer to print it.
Sadly it did not turn out that great, it was usable, and I watched as it printed, so I learnt why it printed so badly.

The next day, I got started on the part that was actually broken, and created this after a while.
It emulates and improves on the one below, which is flimsy and overcomplicated in my mind.

Why not just buy another one?

Granted, it would have been cheaper and a more efficient use of time to just go back to the store and buy another one.
But then i would throw this one away, which means more plastic in landfills.
I also would not have made something, designed it, learnt how to work with new, powerful, software! This provides experience to create new and more exciting things!

Conclusion

I know I used new filament, so I have actually 'added' to plastic waste in a sense, but in the long run I plan to build a shredder and extruder, so that I can re-use failed prints and recycle plastic from everyday items to create new stuff and fix items that really should not be going to the landfill.

One last shot, from the 'ugly' side, I still have a bit to learn on the printer, so here you can see it's not all roses ;)