So i was fixing this car and while taking it apart, this clip breaks and I'm like WTF mate? So i go to my 3d printer and I'm like yo make me one of these, and it's like sure!

*Changed the size of the cable end hole to be easier to assemble.

**Now tested and working!

replace a broken knob for a toaster oven

I broke the foot off the special bolt that holds this mount to the side of a tripod and ended up buying a new one. However while cleaning things out I came across the old one and realized it was repairable.

You can guess which one in the picture is the one I repaired, heh. It would have been a 20$ savings. I'll probably give the spare away to a friend.

I am posting this here as an example of what a 3D printer can do that is useful when your wife/husband says "Ok, it's neat, but what's it GOOD for?".

And maybe the files will be useful to someone else somday, who knows.

I don't know if anyone else will ever have use for these parts. But, I like to share so here it is.
It's three parts to replace the broken top plastic parts on our big sun parasol. I don't even know the brand of the parasol. :)

How do you replace a 1970s Style sliding door handle that broke at 2pm today!
Aha make use of SNIJLAB's bendy Plywood I used 6mm Plywood for this the drawing and making was done just within two hours.

Most of my acrylic parts have been slightly cracked but stable for a long time. However since I got an MK6 Stepper and have begun ratcheting up the speeds these cracks seem to have grown... One acrylic extruder plate broke the other day (thankfully the MK6 upgrade kit came with a spare). So here are some quickly generated drop-in replacement printable .STL part files for the "Rainbow bridge" that supports the MK5/6 extruder. A more printer compatible support design could be made but the convenience of drop in replacement parts should not be over looked!

Oh, note that the largest part comes in 2 halves that lock together like jigsaw pieces. I would recommend gluing or acetoning these together.

Also, the narrow slots beneath the nut holes are for M3 washers as otherwise I feel the nut will get pulled into the plastic if you over tighten it.

To completely replace your Rainbow bridge you will need:
2x replacement_rainbow_bridge_V1.1_A.stl
2x replacement_rainbow_bridge_V1.1_B.stl
2x replacement_rainbow_bridge_V1.1_cross_brace.stl
1x replacement_rainbow_bridge_V1.1_left_foot
1x replacement_rainbow_bridge_V1.1_right_foot
1x replacement_rainbow_bridge_V1.1_top

This is a replacement visor clip, specifically for a 2003 Dodge Neon, however, it may do for other Years/Makes/Models with minor adjustments. Shown in the images are the broken clip sitting on a table and the printed replacement installed.

The broken clip image shows the result of a few rough pulls on the original, the hook is sheared off. To compensate for this, I've split the replacement in half so the "fibers" of extruded plastic can better resist the pulling force of a moving visor.

This is a replacement corner for wire cube storage systems like this one:
amazon.com/Safco-Model-Wire-Cubes-Black/dp/B000789RSQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1319357764&sr=8-2

It is slightly different from the normal design because of the limitations of printing. It is slightly more difficult to put together than the ones that come with a kit, but it holds stronger too and seems more resistant to breaking than the brittle material the normal corners are made of.

Sorry for the poor photo, it's late and I got lazy and used a phone camera.

Update: Sorry, forgot to upload STL file. It's there now.

While shopping at Value Village for parts to build a heated build platform I came across this sad and hungry MiO-pup. He had no bone and there was no way to make him happy. Until my RepRap came to the rescue.

While I was unpacking the dishwasher my wife overheard me complaining about the little wheels that are constantly falling off the bottom rack. She commented sourly that it served me right since I had made rude remarks many times about how she must be doing something wrong to cause the wheels to fall off.

Sensing I was now close to being in the dog-box I thought about my options for rebuttal. It was clear that I couldn't win the argument or claim I never said those things so my only option was to apologise. If only I could find a way to redeem myself instead...

I hatched a cunning plan. I would finally figure out how to print replacement clips to hold the wheels on. This would not only fix the dishwasher issue and keep me out of the dog-box but would also further cement the usefulness of 3D printing in her eyes. :-D

My first challenge was coming up with a design that was printable since the original clip has a pin that would have required support. I opted for a two-piece design by replacing the pin with a tack from tbuser's awesome Pin Connectors V2 library. The parts are quite small so my initial prints ended up as blobby messes. However by using Multiply to print four at a time it gave each layer enough time to cool.

The replacement clips are working perfectly so far and have survived their first run through the dishwasher. Needless to say my wife is very pleased and all is forgiven. :)

A shim or clamp or something for my trampoline to allow the safety net pipe to bolt to the frame pipe. One broke and so I needed another. This should really be a parametric design with configurable radius on both sides, etc. It may be my first project on openscad whenever I get around to installing and fiddling with it. Currently one side is for a 1+1/4 inch pipe and the other side is for a 1+1/2 inch pipe.

It doesn't have a hole for the bolt because sketchup is terrible at doing holes through curved surfaces. It's quick and dirty. 1/2 hour from concept to installation, and the thingiverse entry was done while the part was printing. :)

I think it would have taken more time to find an online retailer willing to sell me a part like this if there even exists such a store, and then to pay $5 for shipping and $5 for a 30 cent plastic part seems silly. There, now I have justified 1% of my Makerbot purchase.

***Update: I have now crossed the line into openscad geekiness. The parametric version of this part is thingiverse.com/thing:11263. Now a more generalized pipe clamp is available for the unwashed masses.

Dino 2 from thingiverse.com/thing:1912 shortened by 75%. My reason for doing this was that my Makergear hot end mounted on the Brutstruder thingiverse.com/thing:4036 no longer reached my build platform after I installed twotimes' z-rider thingiverse.com/thing:4740 and x-y lowrider thingiverse.com/thing:4213.

A replacement part for a Renault Clio rear door - a plastic mount which the door handhold fixes on to. The offending broken part is also pictured.

I originally intended to print a mesh within the larger hole for the screw to bite into. However, these thin walls did not come out at all, so I ended up sticking a plasterboard plug in instead! We shall see if this works.

Any tips on printing thin walls much appreciated.

A simple 6mm thick Heated Build Platform. This was designed to make my ToM more reliable. As I have been dialing in the Z height more accurately recently I have encountered issues due to slight warping of the HBP's PCB and have had a few occasions where this has resulted in failed prints, removal of Kapton tape from the HBP surface and damage to the HBP itself. As I increasingly leave the printer to do its thing unsupervised and place it in the hands of others I wanted a more reliable surface to ease my mind. Designed in 5 minutes in AutoCAD using the ToM's laser cut acrylic build surface CAD files from here thingiverse.com/thing:4973 and featuring countersunk holes on both sides for 6x M3 machine screws and filleted edges all around. I hope to use this as the base of a new ABP I am working on in future too.

DISASTER SCENARIO No.2

You pick up your pair of trousers/pants and "Oh no!" the top button of the button fly has broken! You've already salvaged any other buttons you could from unneeded pockets, etc - you really don't have a button to use!

Worry not - you can very quickly print a replacement, sew it on, and be out of the door in under 15 minutes! (Depending on your hand-sewing speed.)

-----------------------------------------------

Emergency button for replacing broken or lost buttons on clothing.
2cm diameter - appropriate for button flies.
Very quick to print - under 5 minutes.
Doesn't bend, flex or snap - tested as the top button on a pair of pants for 2 weeks of wearing and counting.
Safe* in the washing machine and tumble dryer.

*So far - YMMV, but the average tumble dryer heats to 175C, and while PLA softens at 50C, the extrusion temp is closer to 230C.

A replacement tip for your beyblade collection. The kids were fighting and crying and wailing and gnashing their teeth today when I got home from work. It seems that the 5 year old had lost the 7 year old's beyblade tips. Out of 5 beyblades, only one was tipped. That's 80% tiplessness with a high misery index. Hopefully when they wake up, the peace of the family abode can be restored by this $0.10 print. But if not, well, I'll be heading off to work. :)

I can't believe this thing worked the first time. It has all the retaining ledges and little clippy ridges and stuff. It fit the beyblade without much cleanup at all.

OK, I guess I should have searched thingiverse first, here is a similar project. thingiverse.com/thing:8327 . I'll have to try his designs too and see if they work on the kids beyblades.

My stove knob is broken, so I print one replacement.
There are some variation knob you can find at:
thingiverse.com/thing:1366
thingiverse.com/thing:1962
thingiverse.com/thing:7348

Mine design has solid body with a square hole on the bottom.
I made the hole smaller than the axis to get better fit.

This is a replacement clip for a tackle box I purchased. The model can likely be scaled to fit your needs, though I'm not sure if there are any "standard" clip sizes. I modeled the part from the original manufactures piece using a photograph, a digital caliper and Google Sketchup. This may be a good candidate for OpenSCAD but I've yet to learn how to use it.

The replacement I printed actually snaps and holds tighter than the clip from the manufacturer!

Here's a link to my blog post showing the modeling/printing of the part: thenewhobbyist.com/2011/06/everyday-fixes-with-makerbot-3-tacklebox-clip/

If you have a Segway you probably know they failed in the kickstand engineering department. The original kickstand for these models came with a spring which easily became broken or bent beyond repair. This was a "safety" feature so that if the kickstand fell down while gliding it didn't catch the ground and send the rider flying through the air. Unfortunately though the spring was too weak and collapsed under the weight of the Segway while parked. A genius then came up with a metal tube replacement for the spring and then started selling them. This decreased the safety, but actually let you "park" the Segway. Unfortunately this increased the stress on the actual kickstand bracket and as a result of using the metal tube replacement the bracket can get broken especially if you try to mount the segway and forget to remove the kickstand. The bracket can also get broken if the kickstand falls down while gliding, it catches something while gliding, or somebody pushes on your Segway while parked.

As a result of all this I broke two of the "pot" metal brackets and nearly a year later of having a partially finished CAD model of the bracket sitting on my hard drive; I finally finished it.

My friend Alex lost one of the detachable analog sticks on his Logitech WingMan Rumble Pad. This is my attempt to recreate it, and my first OpenSCAD project.

I've written about the process of putting this together over at the Ponoko blog. Check it out:
blog.ponoko.com/2011/05/18/openscad-project-replacement-analog-sticks

Wireshelving brackets always fall apart. Keep your shelving together with these brackets.

Current stl stats: each bracket is 25mm tall with 4.9mm spacing for shelves. the spacing dimension, height, and solidity of the print is critical to the strength of your shelving unit. There is a small amount of trade-off between height and solidity.

Drooping overhangs on the second cylinder level tend to increase tension when these brackets are put into use, but it would be nice to design them out by modifying just a few z layers to spiral out.


The openscad file will be at github.com/miloh/scad_stl.
Use the openscad file to change the spacing variable if you prefer more tension, or change the height to make super grippy 30mm tall brackets.

Replacement gear for the motor side of the extruder of the RapMan 3D printer.
This gear is meant to pair with the original gear of the extruder.
I made this as a replacement for the original gear that broke.

This gear uses the same teeth of the thingiverse.com/thing:4472.
I've placed the nut hole so that the screw will hold the motor on the chamfer instead of the round part of the axis.

Note:
The SolidWorks file was created on version 2008
Note2:
This gear was inspired by ( and made using ): thingiverse.com/thing:4472

I got bored on a train ride and improved this old design.

It's a replacement-part for the 4 bed holders and now
should in theory reduce wobble in not only in 1 but 2 dimensions.

It's an experiment and not yet proven to work well.
(work in progress. I hope to get around to trying it when I take the machine apart anyway to replace all corners and the 4 Z-rods.)

A door knob to fit on a square shaft.

I have included the Solidworks parts file if you want to make the knob fit other applications.

Some cars come with removable cup holders. While this is great for cleaning, it is not so great if one is lost. This is a replacement for such a holder. The STLs are modeled for a 2005 Ford Focus. Parametric values in the OpenSCAD file can be adjusted for other vehicles with a similar design.

Note: The original required a bit of sanding to fit, so the uploaded version has been reduced by several mm.

First attempt at a sink drain screen with a knob that can be turned to close the holes. It's parametric so it can generate any size you need. The parts snap together, but the cap may need a drop of super glue to hold it together. Play with the tolerance variable till the parts slide together well on your printer.

It worked for me, unfortunately it drains very slowly and needs more holes! Even with the blocker removed and the central hole open, it still drains too slowly.

Roommate broke the handle off of the lid of his pot, so I'm OpenSCADing him a new one.

This is a replacement case and faceplate for the NuForce Icon µDAC-2. It's designed with thin walls for PLA, so it shows off the circuitry.

A friend commissioned this work. He purchased a NuForce Icon µDAC-2 USB audio device without a case -- it's 50% cheaper without the case, apparently: estore.nuforce.com/products/Icon-uDAC-to-uDac2-Upgrade.html

Your 3D printer just saved you 60 bucks.

Update: you will also need a backplate to make it all pretty and sealed. I hope to post a backplate shortly.

Based on the Coreystruder. My MK5 filament drive cracked and blew (see images), so I needed a printable replacement filament drive on the double. So I patched up the filament drive and printed this, a variation on the Coreystruder which was almost exactly what I needed. Changes include:

- Ribs on the motor side for better support
- Reduced vertex count on holes/edges to print better
- M5 screw/nut combo for tensioning the plunger, same as MK5 drive
- MK5 compatible screwholes and tongues on bottom
- A cover to hold the plunger in

Has your plastruder ever self-destructed? Has the filament guide middle cracked? Behold the Replacement Parts! These are parts that often break in the plastruder. Right now I only have filament guide middle but more are to come. Or you can ask for any lasercut part in the plastruder and I can whip you up a replacement part design.

If you would like the source, just ask and I will upload. I use Sketchup.

NOTE: This is still untested. Please let me know if this works or if I have to scale it differently. Darn Sketchup imports DXFs at a ridiculous scale and I have to experiment to get it the right size.

**UPDATE**
If you have downloaded the Filament Guide Middle or Insulator Retainer before 12/6/2010, then you will need to redownload. New versions uploaded that are much more dimensionally correct.