Saga of the Phone Stands

This Thingiverse phone/tablet stand works great with my Samsung S5. I can use it while it is in the stand. My hubby's has a case, so it doesn't fit quite as well and he taps his phone a bit harder than I do, so he needs a heavier base.  

I went through a few different phone prints for hubby. Most of them were great for holding the phone while it gets charged, but couldn't stand up to him actually poking his phone to navigate and use it.

I ended up with this one on Thingiverse, that I scaled slightly wider so that the plug would fit. I left the raft on to make the base just a little bit heavier. I'm not thrilled with the cord sticking out the front a bit as it curves back, but my hubby says it gives him the slack to plug/unplug it easily.

Task all the things

I make little quick custom to-do lists all the time. The first task list stencil print was too tiny, so I printed it at 150% resolution, which is just perfect for my paper scraps. (I cut paper we've printed on one-side into 1/4's for scrap notes.) I thought, oh, this will be a good stencil to try out. Turns out I've used it this many times for just the first day:

• Grocery list.
• Kids pack your lunch with these things.
• Here's your list of chores this afternoon. 
• Write a Christmas thank you letter to Grandma for these things. 
• Hubby please Do List
• Kids things for Snow Camp tomorrow to pack.
• Things I want to print tomorrow on my new 3D printer!

New Year Prints

 

Headphones holders.  I ran out of yellow filament and switched to orange filament.

Found this great little water diverter for a quick kids' water fountain in our basement bathroom. It works great as long as they don't turn the water on full blast- then it misses the sink!

Batteries are Sorted and Stored!

I found this nice battery holder design on thingiverse.  It was for AA batteries, but I noticed in the comments someone had left some scaling down suggestions to turn it into a AAA battery holder. It worked well. Took about 7 hours to print overnight.

Lucky Money Cat

Because one lucky money cat is not enough.

Also printed a Naruto Bust and a toilet scrub brush holder. Booyah.

3D Printing. Noob Impressions.

So I am quickly learning that some 3D prints are easier to accomplish than others.
Super solid things turn out well.

Things I printed today: 

• Namaste lotus pendant that broke- can't separate from raft. 
• A tiny Naruto figurine that broke! Then I re-printed it at 2000% scale. I will need to figure out how to make supports as gravity pulled the arms apart a little.
• cement truck
• cat-ears ring 
• lucky coin
• 2 mini shelves for my bulletin board
• a cat treat catapult
• cat pendant jewelry item
• Something in Orange that I won't say here because it is a gift. My first time changing the filament, which was easy and straightforward!

It took me several tries on jewelry items to figure out that I didn't want to place them on a raft. Other than 2-footed figurines that don't look like they will balance well, I don't see much use for rafts so far. I think it has to do with the texture of my printer plate. Many printers have glass plates that people put painters tape on so that their prints didn't slip around. This printer has a special non-slip surface. However, it does make taking things off the printing plate quite tricky.  I use a wall scraper and sometimes a hammer with that to chisel the items off the plate!

 

Makerbot's software is fantastic. Super easy to use for this newbie and I love that I can use it from my phone or an iPad. Having a camera on the device is awesome! I can see if the plate has been cleared before I start and I can also see if there are any problems with the filament.  I do wish the camera was mounted just a little higher so you could see better at the start.

I can really easily preview the items, arrange them on the printing plate, and scale and rotate as needed. The software is great for unloading and loading the filament too.

I've even learned how to put multiple items on the same print. 

So far, I'm having a blast. 

My First Print

This is so cool. My daughter said some people might think this is inappropriate.
I responded, "Welcome to ART."