Please share a model link in your comment if it’s relevant.
The very simple protector that keeps the cats from turning off my computer by stepping on the power button, while leaving the button itself accessible.
The single most useful print is just a simple cylinder to repair a broken knob on a nearly brand new kitchen stove. A new knob cost $35 at the time and had a 2 month lead time from the factory, (it was during the covid lock down).
It took longer to turn on my computer and start up my CAD program than it did to design the repair part for the knob. 30 minutes later, I had the sleeve printed and super glued over the broken part and the knob reinstalled on the stove.
That’s been 7 years ago, the repaired knob is still there and in use daily. And one more knob got the same treatment. It probably took less than 10 cents of PLA and electricity for both repairs.
I’ve printed some basic gridfinity bins (the vase mode ones are super quick and sturdy enough for what I’m doing) and baseplates.
I also custom modeled a hook for my headset that would only work for my specific desk.
Sink cover to catch bits. Every time I move to a new place, I print a new one. Just a simple PLA one lasts literal years. I had my last one for close to 4 years of daily pouring down boiling soup and other crap until I poured some 35% vinegar accidentally.
What PLA resists deformation when subjected to boiling water?
Well it doesn’t fall apart and boiling water is only 100C, and it’s not like it’s sitting in the boiling water for long
First thing I ever printed was a spout to replace the elephant trunk on my Rancilio Rocky coffee grinder. It allows me to use the grinder with basically 0 ground retention so it was a huge improvement and allows me to accurately use the grinder for single doses. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:101392
Another thing I made were some spacers to correct alignment on the freezer door of my French door refrigerator. They’ve been working great for years now and keep the door seal in perfect alignment. I custom made these and they’re unlikely to be useful to anyone else.
I also am very fond of some wire organizers I use for managing USB charging cables so they’re not a jumbled mess. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5340635
With the exception of crap for the kids and cake toppers, everything I print is to solve a problem I/we have.
Here are the gridfinity drawers I designed and printed for under my desk. https://www.printables.com/model/1129785-gridfinity-under-desk-drawer-system
I’m about to start printing triple stacks of these to put better drawers into my IKEA KALLAX shelves than the ones IKEA sells.
I printed an ikea pegboard holder for my paper towels. It’s in use every day
Miniature buildings, trees, walls and terrain parts for my Dungeons and Dragons campains.
I printed new treads for my beach cart in TPU.
Drops for drones, drone parts.
Drops? Or props?
If props, do you use a generator that you might be able to share?
New interior door handle for a john deere 450clc excavator. Red pla, so far, has outlasted the original
At work we have a bunch of phones that were just plugged in sitting at my desk randomly. I got tired of the mess and 3D printed a tower to put them in. Complete with trays to quickly slide them in and out, fans to keep them cool and, slide in filters for the fans.
I need to finish some last modifications before I share it all. But if anyone’s interest I’ll try to share the link.
Wow that’s awesome! If you publish it I would love an link!
My washing machine broke. Wouldn’t drain. I took it apart and realized it was going to be a huge pain to fix if I didn’t drain it first, but it wouldn’t drain on its own. So I designed and printed an adapter that would let me run the pump that drains the washer from my cordless drill. PLA isn’t the strongest material, so I went through like 3 of them draining the washer, but it worked fantastically. Very simple to design and a quick print. Big payoff.
Aside from that, wall mounts for my Nintendo Switch and accessories as well as a wall mount for my NAS solution, a shield for the face of my alarm clock so it didn’t shine bright digital-clock LED light in my face all night (but I could move it aside and check the time), mounts for SAD lamps in convenient places. Most of what I print is custom-designed stuff for utilitarian purposes.
Wall mount for a Switch, you say?
So, the one I used appears to have been removed from Thingiverse in the meantime, but I’m pretty sure it was V1 of this (which has been remixed a couple of times by someone else and is up to V3). It is a very tight fit, though. (Like maybe the original designer left zero tolerance.) If I had it to do again, I’d go for a different one, but I’d guess probably V2 and V3 have resolved the way-too-tight fit issue.
I made a couple of things myself for mounting my Joycon charger on the wall. (Definitely improvements that could be made to the wall mount one. Conical holes for the screw holes for one. But it does the job.)
Outstanding, thanks for the visual aid 😀
I started up Reddits functional print many years ago to serve as a gallery/showcase to inspire others that 3D printing has a lot of useful uses.
I left Reddit with the Exodus, but I believe it still exists, although it’s probably bot filled garbage now.
But it had a huge list of useful things.
I have a similar thead here on the fediverse, but the original site (kbin.social) died out and I haven’t bothered to get another going.
I posted a couple things there early on but I’m generally terrible at documenting my work do there’s a decent back log of things I should share.
Thanks for getting that going way back, it was a nice place while it lasted.
I loved those subreddits. Got so many great ideas from other people’s designs. Start one up here!
That’s one of the few subreddits that still has interesting stuff. I don’t care about benchies and shiny dragons.
I printed bushings for the augers we have on the bottoms of a couple grain bins. They’ve lasted for about 10 years in ABS, and the old ones were ridiculously expensive to replace even though they were just made of maple. Probably run a couple of million bushels of grain through those augers since I replaced them.
I also replace the impellers in a couple of pumps we use to pump river water up to cattle, and the design I cribbed is probably twice as effective as the originals, making it more efficient for the solar panels we use to power them.
I’ve replaced various implement parts around the farm with other prints, things like parts for our seeder and sprayer.
