2023 May
Problem: Uneven floor
Solution: 3D printed "feet"
My girlfriend bought a tv bench, and discovered that her living room floor was really not level.
It was so uneven that the adjusters on the legs didn’t work. I designed small "feet" that look the same on the outside, but have different depths on the inside. There were a lot of prints that didn't get used which I felt was a waste. So I designed one that was adjustable with a screwdriver. Should I make variations or turn it into a product? What do you think?
The first versions (with a weird glitch)
The screwdriver version
2023 March
Problem: Broken strap adjuster
Solution: 3D printed adjuster
The strap adjuster on our Quest 2 controller was broken. My son said this was quite a common thing to happen so I thought it would be a fun challenge to replace the part. I designed one that would just snap on without having to take the controller apart. Eventually we got one that works - it’s easy to put on, tighten, won’t pop off during use, easy to loosen, and also take off.
White, black and grey
On the straps
2024 July
Problem: Wobbly shelf
Solution: 3D printed support
My sister had a wonky shelf in her cupboard because one of the supports was missing. She knew that I had a 3D printer, and asked if I could copy one of the other supports. I measured it, designed it and printed a few out. We put it in the cupboard, and it works! Give me a shout if you need anything similar 🙂
The original and the copies
New support in place
2024 August
Problem: complicated designs for getting soda bottles to fly
Solution: Simple “stopper” design
My son wanted a bottle rocket but all the instructions we found were very complicated. So I made a really simple version. I found an old bike valve, measured that and the opening of a soda bottle, modelled a simple stopper, and printed it out. I glued in the valve and taped a couple of layers of sellotape around the stopper. Put the whole thing in the soda bottle, attached a bike pump, pumped and BOOM! It worked, very much to my son’s delight.
It's as simple as this
Problem: How do you feel mountains?
Solution: An extreme globe
My girlfriend’s daughter was curious about the heights of mountains around the world. I thought it would be nice to 3D print a globe with the relief of the planet, but taken to extremes. So I found this image where the high parts are bright, and the low parts are dark. I mapped this onto a sphere and printed it out (took aaaages). Added a nice holder and it looks (and feels!) great.
Could be Africa and Indonesia
Japan?
2024 August
Problem: stacks of boxes
Solution: Wood & 3D printed shelves
I bought these KUGGIS boxes to tidy up my bathroom. But since they are all stacked on top of each other I had to lift them off to get to the bottom one. I needed a shelving system. So I bought some wooden poles and screws and designed some 3D printed parts to join the wood together. It worked, but (as my girlfriend predicted) was very janky and wobbly. So I adjusted the middle parts and tied diagonal wire to stiffen it but it’s still very twisted. It’ll do.
Assembling the parts in the correct order
The limitations of gravity are considerable
2024 June
Problem: pouring salt
Solution: 3d printed rip-off
My girlfriend showed me these salt & pepper shakers that she liked. I thought it would be nice to surprise her with some 3D printed ones I made myself. Even though it felt a bit like cheating. I found a container that I’d printed out before which had good threads, stretched the top and bottom of it, put on a little texture on the outside and printed them out. She was really pleased. And they work!
The inspiration
In place in the kitchen
I’ve been really fascinated by my son’s enthusiasm for collecting pokemon trading cards and I’ve been thinking about a particular idea related to this, but have come to the conclusion that I probably won’t be able to make it happen, so I’m just going to put the concept out there and hopefully someone else will make it real.
What percentage of a filament reel ends up as waste? I collected every piece of support, botched print or print that was just plain wrong, in a bag. My original reel of filament was 1.1 kg. Once the reel was finished, I weighed the waste bag and ...
There's a fascinating beauty in the waste
I'm trying to do something arty with it
2024 October
Problem: Patience and inaccuracy
Solution: 3d printed funnel and “spoon”
My son got a gel blaster (no advertising) but had difficulty getting the gellets into the holder. So I made a simple funnel that also works with soda bottles. It was also difficult to measure the growing gellets, so I made a spoon that has holes that are the correct diameter. No more waiting for the fun.
The spoon for scooping out fully-grown gellets
The funnel for getting the gellets into the holder
2024 June
Problem: Robotic vacuum can’t get back home
Solution: a piece of wood
My girlfriend has a robot vacuum cleaner which can move down the bumps in her apartment, but it just can’t get back up them. I measured everything and 3d-printed a whole bunch of over-engineered tests but in the end it would have been enough with a simple piece of wood.
Upside down, ready to be put in place
I covered these with more fake-wood sticker
2024 November
Problem: None really
Solution: Give away some basic objects
I’ve modelled quite a few objects while animating these videos, so I’ve put them all in a file that you can download for free here.
In sort-of Alphabetical order
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