The Workshop
Same File, Different Fit: Printers and Filaments (Part One)
Understanding this helped me realize that fit isn’t just about the model itself. A lot depends on the printer and the filament, even when everything else stays the same.
Update on the Toolbox
I love my scraper; if I had to choose between scraper and digital caliper for most useful tool, I am not sure which would win out. Probably the scraper, as I think I could replace the caliper with a ruler and some squinting. I’m sharing a snap of my new scraper, smaller than the other and with a surprisingly nice edge. This is especially handy for getting at awkward angles, and it excels at lifting small pieces.
Making a 3D-Printed Print-in-Place Bracelet
The design may not have worked, but it was remarkably close. In fact, every technique I had used was fine — it only needed resizing in places! I needed to widen the clamps, fatten the rings, add more beads, and possibly make some adjustments. Let’s fix some stuff!
3D-Printing Model Documentation
If you want people to be able to use your modeling files effectively, you need a process called 3D Product Documentation. This essential process involves taking down information and leaving it in a folder along with the STL files.
Using AI To Help Troubleshoot Tinkercad Codeblocks! (Part Two)
With the guidance of AI, I successfully created a program that could draw an egg, then converted the program from Javascript to Tinkercad’s Codeblocks. I feel amazing about it, and I’m really excited to share!
Using AI to Help Write Code for Tinkercad Codeblocks! (Part One)
I found square root in the green ‘math’ codeblocks section, in the dropdown menu headed by ‘sin’. The oval was right under the basic maths one. I dragged out the square root codeblock, placing the expression we just made on the right-hand side of the oval. It is here that we would change the math to make it more bottom-heavy if we wanted. Maybe I’ll do that sometime. For now I just want to get this working :)
Swapping Filament Colors Mid-Print: Layer-Based Color Change
This 3D printing technique involves the user changing the printer settings so that the printer stops at a certain layer height, allowing the user to then swap filament.
Print-In-Place (Part 4): Lazy Susan with Cylinder Bearings
“Pressing the balls firmly towards the center with my fingers made the ensemble tight enough that I could test ability of the plate to spin, and it seemed to work rather well.”
Print-In-Place (Part 3): Cylinder Bearings Design and Testing
“The cage works exactly the way I thought it would, and there is a little bit of springiness in the cylinders thanks to the tolerance. If I put a round thing of the right size in the center, it can spin. Likewise, if I surround this piece snugly with a cylinder, the outer cylinder will be able to spin around it. Not perfect, but functional. I’ll take it!”
Print-In-Place Ball Bearings (Part 2): Following an Instructables Tutorial
I know that I could make a better design though. What if I could make the spheres inside the plates? They wouldn’t fall out if the piece got knocked over. They would probably be more smooth, not being printed on a flat mat. And most importantly, they would be invisible. The platform would work like magic. I want to know how to do this.
Print-In-Place for Beginners (Part 1): Designing Flexible Strips in Tinkercad
“The flexible strip appears to be made up of lines of oval shapes end to end, with only narrow strips of space between them. Every other line is shifted up a half-oval, so the entire near-flat plane is covered by alternating strips.”
TtRPG Abandoned Riverwheel (Part 3): Creative Destruction of 3D Printed Spoked Wheel, Axle, and Gear
I made several copies of the star-shaped blob, then stretched out each copy until I ended up with several jagged bits of varying size. I strategically placed these on the wheel and board remnants until I had only two boards remaining. One I left alone, the other I split in two lengthwise.
TtRPG Abandoned Riverwheel (Part 2): Stairs, Doors, and Modular Floors
I had made a door during an earlier project, and liked it so much I saved it to my library. I pulled out my original design, still saved under Tinkercad’s ‘Your Creations’ tab, and plopped it on the grid. A quick resize made the doors 3.3” x 1.65”, with .25” thickness.
TtRPG Abandoned Riverwheel (Part 1): Planning and Design
I have wanted to make something with gears and wheels for a WHILE now, and I am SO excited. It doesn’t need to work, in fact pieces of it have likely been carted off over time. It does however need to be believable.
Finishing the Model (Part 2): Pre-processing Methods ie Speed, Layer Height, Ironing
The amount of improvement gained from changing the settings was stellar. It couldn’t rescue a model as fragile as the original, but I was able to use these techniques to redesign the flower with finely detailed petals and better results.
Finishing the Model (Part 1): Sanding, Chisels, and Filler Primer
To make an object look like it isn’t 3-D printed, a model needs to have a smooth surface, with no print lines apparent and no trace of supports. Painting it also helps. This process is called ‘finishing’.
Clearing a Jammed 3D-Printer Extruder
“We did not take it apart. This project had already eaten up around a week of free time, maybe a week and a half, and quite frankly nobody wanted to deal with it any more. We had succeeded in clearing the nozzle, and isolated the remaining problem to the hot end — good enough. We ordered another hot end and replaced the old one.”
3D Printed Custom Nightstand Organizer (Part 3): Tab and Slot Connectors for Multi-Tier 3D-Printed Shelving
I spent days worth of hours breaking the arc into bits while documenting the process. Creating new wave patterns, while documenting the process. Putting it back together, documenting the process. Changing it up a little by repeating all the prior steps but on a second, smaller tier, dutifully documenting the entire time. All that effort, only to realize that the second tier was rather ugly, as was the sectioned curtain wall, a fact made especially apparent by the prototypes, which I printed in miniature. I’m sharing an image so that the work doesn’t feel entirely wasted.
3D Printed Custom Nightstand Organizer (Part 2): Sculpting Curved Walls and Decorative Panels
I had made sculpted curved walls and flowing decorative panels in Tinkercad, using negative shapes, grouped cuts, and carefully aligned curves, and the result was beautiful. I attached it to the base. It kept all the separate colors because I used the bundle function to keep the pieces together while I moved them around. Neat. Except for one thing: at some point I lowered the center red sphere, and didn’t notice til now. No problem, I broke it all apart, moved the base out of the way, raised up the center sphere, then combined it all again, to make a perfect fence. I then recombined the absolutely perfect fence to the base.
3D Printed Custom Nightstand Organizer (Part 1): Planning Stage and Creating Wave Patterns
I love the look of a shelving unit I made earlier, and am thinking of making something similar in style, but more resistant to cats. While I’m not a big fan of chunky builds, I think I can make this one look good. Time to put some of that art practice to work!