I needed to make something simple on my new Mosaic that doesn't require support material. I also wanted something relevant to my kids, so I figured this was a good start. :)

I was power sliding in the front yard and hit the curb, snapping off the rear wheel. I had cracked the hub that hold the bearings for the rear axle.

Although I glued the pieces back together, I figured that I might as well model the part and make it available here. :)

I just did a test run in the street, and the car runs great! Woo hoo!

I needed a way to connect my stepper motor to ACME rod, so I figured that if I'm going to print one, I might as well see how well a helical coupling prints. It came out better than expected, but I can't claim anything about performance or longevity of the part.

I didn't want the pins to short out on random stuff on my desk, so I just whipped up a slide-in case.

I didn't have time to laser cut the cases that are here on Thingiverse, so I printed one instead. Fitment is perfect -- the board is snug when you slide it in, but not too snug. I made a mistake on the first print, and the hole for the mini USB connector is too small. I had to open it up all of the way so that the plug can mate closer to the board.

The design also precludes any need for support material, since the hole for the mini USB plug is open, and I have a 30 degree angle in the slot that holds the board in place.

My wife picked up this really cool popsicle maker (http://bit.ly/g7Yz7u) from Zoku. They also sell a stand that holds several pops, but it's pretty expensive. She asked me if I could make her a cheaper stand, as she didn't really need the cover anyway. It works very well! I'll post pics w/ pops the next time we make some. :)

Don't you hate it when your favorite backpack zipper tab snaps off, and then you have to use your fingertips to close your zipper? I certainly do, so I came up with this replacement tab that's easy to print on any 3D printer.

You just need to put a standard small paper clip through your zipper tab, and then snap the two printed pieces around it.

I wanted to be able to make my own base using StefanHH's ball socket part, because the ball in BallSocket fits well in the socket, but the ball in his BallFlange part doesn't. I'm planning on adding Lego-compatible features to it. So I borrowed an ME's workstation and modified the SLDPRT and here it is.

As a test, I imported the SLDPRT into Alibre Design 2011, and I was able to add a test boss feature to the base. I think it'll work well for everyone!

(taken from my blog post: matz-make.posterous.com/whuzzat)

It's funny how something that started out as a simple toy replacement turned into... Whuzzat? My son loves Ben 10, and has that Omnitrix toy that's a huge watch that's impossible for a kid to put on himself. My goal was to create something that made him feel sort of like Ben Tennison, but also something he could put on himself. Thus, I came up with this design.

I made it with OpenSCAD because I wasn't sure if I would get the dimensions correct, or if I'd need to make small changes to make the wristband fit more comfortably. I modeled it in such a way that I could specify the wrist width and thickness, since these are pretty easy measurements to take. Then of course, you would want to specify the thickness of the band, as well as its length. There also needs to be an opening on one side in order to put on the band. With those parameters, I created Whuzzat.

By now you're probably wondering how a Ben 10 wannabe toy could be called something like Whuzzat. Well, when I thought about this design, it was more than just a simple Omnitrix. It was also a simple bracelet that you can print for your daughter. Using tricks from Tony Buser's parametric nametag (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2055), or the the OpenSCAD code for my Parametric Cup Name Tag (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5309), you can put a name on the bracelet!

My wife uses a hook in the closet to hold wet towels on a hanger if there isn't enough room on a towel bar. Well, by modifying the parameters for the Whuzzat, you can have one, too!

How about Halloween decorations? Narrow the "wrist thickness", lengthen the "wrist width", thicken the band, and narrow the "opening width", then print a bunch of Whuzzats in black, and you have a chain!

What about cable organization? Why buy an expensive cable track, when you can print a few Whuzzats that fit inside of each other? Screw the smaller one to your desk, then snap the larger one over it!

It's amazing how such a simple design can be used in so many different ways. Can you think of any others? If so, please post your derivatives!

I have an LCD that requires level shifting before I can connect it to my PC. I purchased a Sparkfun PRT-00133 RS232 level shifter for this very reason, but it doesn't have any mounting holes (and the LCD doesn't anyway).

The solution I came up with was to print a carrier, and then I could attach the PCB to it, and then double stick tape everything to my LCD. The PCB attaches to the carrier via the included jackscrews.

Do you have an air gap by your sink that dumps water all over the counter whenever you run your dishwasher? The idea behind this part is to prevent this from happening to you.

Two problems exist in my household: 1) my Comcast DVR is on the lower shelf of our media cabinet, and the door frame blocks the IR receiver, and 2) in the master bedroom we have our set-top boxes stacked, so anything with ventilation on top can overheat.

I designed this parametric foot pedestal so it could be altered for use with (hopefully) any set-top box. I hope it works for you, too.

We have a Crate and Barrel media center that has two doors that open outward. There isn't any ventilation and I'm too lazy to cut holes in the back and mount fans, so we leave the doors propped open with a stuffed animal. The problem is that our baby likes to pull the stuffed animal out, or worse, lean against doors (which means pinched fingers).

I designed a prop piece in OpenSCAD that grabs onto each door, and keeps it a specified distance from the media center frame. I added holes to the posts so I could put a #6-32 screw in for reinforcement (that's all I had readily available in the garage).

Ever have a dinner party where you don't want to roll with the Dixie + Sharpie? Your guests invariably get their cups all mixed up, and just create extra work for the dishwasher (you).

I came up with a simple idea, which is to make a ring with an embossed section for the name. My first attempt was just the ring and I wrote my name in sharpie. The improved version was inspired by Tony Buser's Parametric Name Tag (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2055). However, I wanted to use a specific true type font and therefore couldn't use his work, so I based my approach off of example008 in the OpenSCAD examples folder. I didn't like the ring-around-the-middle-of-the-glass approach, so I changed the parameters so the ring just sits on the table (but you're still free to change it!)

This was my first piece with OpenSCAD, and boy do I love it.

I really wanted to move to a microstep-capable stepper driver, and heard lots of good things about the board from Pololu that is based on the Allegro A4983 (http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1202). I went through several iterations of my PCB, and here is the "final" version -- well, it's the one that I sent in for prototyping. Note that there isn't any silkscreening on this image because ExpressPCB's proto service doesn't include that or soldermask. I drew the text as traces so there would at least be some labeling. Those weird cutouts inside of the U1 footprint are there because I thought some people might want to try to install the Pololu carrier board underneath the PCB if they were hurting for space above the board. I do not yet know if the location is in a good spot for the capacitor, yet. The small hole in the lower right corner is for the pot adjustment, and the hole in the middle is for the Allegro chip. Makergear gives a screw to use as a heatsink, so I figure people can poke the screw out from this hole, and then use the small pads above and below to hold the screw down with some wire (wrap it around the screw, then solder it into place).

My kids want to wipe their mouths on the hand towels in the bathroom after brushing their teeth, which is gross. I wanted them to start using facecloths, but they are so small they always fall off of the towel bar. This clip attaches to the facecloth and then clips onto the towel bar.

**UPDATED 2010-05-18**

RobertHunt sent me an optimized STL file. I skeinforged it and did a test print to make sure it worked okay. Everything looked great (see uploaded picture of part on the MakerGear heated build platform -- it's Robert's). I recommend that you download that file since it's *way* smaller!

The power supply was missing a knob, so I printed a replacement. The hole for the pot was too small, so I drilled it out and it's a nearly perfect friction fit!

I was trying to dial in my Cupcake using da3v's single walled test piece, and for some reason my Cupcake started to print the design really strangely as I tweaked the settings. Eventually, even restoring the default settings would result in a print with weird blobs and the stage would orbit a lot, even though my first five prints with the same STL file were great.

Anyhow, it sounds like the problem is with my Skeinforge settings not liking the smaller wall sizes. Just to keep things consistent, I remade the part in Alibre Design to have 0.5mm walls all of the way around. The rounded corners have a constant 0.5mm thickness as well.

Ever had the knob at the end of your window blinds' drawstrings break? No problem, just print out a new one!

Something to hang kitchen rags from so that they dry more quickly, and also so that they are more accessible while you're washing dishes, etc.