This was a attempt to model a small cityscape
in the art deco style.
I was inspired by the emerald city from the new Oz movie.

I searched the Thingiverse for a simple hinged box that was parametric and printed all in one piece. I couldn't find one. I did find some really neat parametric boxes and lids though. I used none of their OpenSCAD code for this.

I've printed probably a dozen one piece boxes with hinge during my testing. I wanted a tight hinge that would reliably print and NOT fuse together. During my testing I experimented with different speeds, temps, and tolerance values in my SCAD files. The attached OpenSCAD files prints reliably on my printer. The resulting hinge is a bit loose but it reliably does not fuse. Changing the tolerance by .1 does make a much tighter hinge, but sometimes I could not break it free. YMMV.

A simple vase based on a twisted plus sign. Or an "X," if you prefer to look at it that way. It can be two things.

This is watertight on my Printrbot Plus with 0.2mm layers.

Create customized orthotic insoles using the makerbot customizer. These provide arch support, and are designed to spring a bit when you step. They may have variable thicknesses, and can be modified to fit each foot separately.

Note: Fixed a problem with the mesh; customizer should work properly now.

This is a simple adjustable-volume straw pipette. It should be very useful around any wet lab and works nicely with a relatively high range of possible volume settings. You can calibrate the volume but it is generally only good for low precision work. The pipette has two thumb nuts for adjusting upper and lower stops.

To complete the build you will also need a spring (Pez dispenser) but it may work without as the membrane is elastic, a kids balloon, drinking straw, and some tape. Good luck!

See a demo: youtu.be/N2Ax4OGokGM

The flex hose was awesome and printed very easily, so I created this nozzle to go along with!

Design your own custom knobs!

Many different kinds are possible.

The trouble with 3D printing a ball bearing is that spheres don't adhere to the 45 degree rule, so they tend to print poorly, or if metal balls are used instead, then the bearing requires assembly. This is a new kind of bearing that can only be manufactured by 3D printing and comes preassembled.

It is a planetary gearset and functions like a cross between a needle bearing and a thrust bearing. No cage is required to keep the rollers in place, because their gearing keeps them perfectly spaced. The gears are all herringbone, which is why it cannot be disassembled and also why it can act as a thrust bearing. If you're wondering how well a 3D printed bearing could work under load, please check out my video: youtu.be/ZghwSBiM0sU

This design is fully parametric and made to be adjusted in the Customizer app to whatever you need. Thanks to aubenc for finding a problem in the first version.

Print the song of your life
This is a little handy script to create notes/clefs/accidentals.

UPDATE:
added bars (keyword "bar")
fixed "stacking height"-bug
changed "stacking height" to "cutline height"

for creation i used:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clefs.svg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Music-eighthnote.svg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Accidentals.svg
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Music_rests.svg

For generating the openscad-code from svg i used:
github.com/martymcguire/inkscape-openscad-poly

It works! It's not that impressive! It's kind of a dead end.

My original design had these structures that plugged into each side of the turbine and stretched out to the backsides of the wheels. The idea was they would support the axles, eliminate the need for the clip on the output shaft, and provide a mounting point for the car's body. In practice, they added too much drag to the axle and were way too flimsy. The axle spins much better without them, but it's easily dislocated.

The body was designed in a bit of a hurry, so the front axle design is basically the one I used on my version of the Bugatti balloon car, and it doesn't work that much better here. It's only attached to the front sockets of the turbine, so the car sort of bows in the middle when it runs (like a top fuel dragster! Demonstration of torque. Feature, not bug). The shape is inspired by the Lotus 56 turbine Indy car.

When I printed it all out, I hooked up a balloon and... it went 4 feet. Hmm.
I whipped up a set of lightweight drive wheels, which added maybe another 6 inches. On a few runs, the deflating balloon fell over onto a drive wheel, which brings the car to a stop. I'm thinking now that a gear-driven rear axle with smaller rear wheels might yield better results.

I made Dorus a while back, based on my little Blu character (same feet!).

BTW: Dorus features on the official [Blender for 3D Printing](http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/product_info_n.php?products_id=160) dvd I released with the Blender foundation.

But the initial model was unstable, and couldn't be printed on an extrusion printer.

So now... say hello to Supportless Dorus. I modified him specifically so he can be printed in one go on my Replicator 1. I'm pretty sure he can be printed on any machine.

You can help me make more free things by supporting my work: macouno.com/category/support-my-work/

Customizable calipers. Always come in handy. I had never enough of these.

A spiked wheel for 1:10 scale RC cars designed for winter bashing.

These have probably even more grip in the snow than normal tires in the summertime. Got to be careful not to turn at high speed as the truck wants to flip over due to good lateral grip. Had fun hill-climbing it on slopes I couldn't get up myself on foot :)

Designed for Turnigy 1:10 RC truck but the same attachment mechanism is used by other RC cars too.

Inspired by Jinja's Battery Holder (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:44499) this customizer makes flexible rings that work a bit like rubber bands. Or you might be able to use it to make bracelets, cookie cutters or whatever you prefer.

Dualstrusion chain.

A pen or pencil holder in the hyperboloidian fashion. Not that there is a lack of such here, but... well...

Anyway, after inserting the pens, my daughter immediately put it on top of her head and decided it was a crown, hence the name.

Note that such a move is a bad idea unless the fit is tight, because the pens will slide down.

As much as I love OpenSCAD, constructive solid geometry is just not efficient at certain tasks and I got tired of waiting for hundreds of spheres to be unioned and rendered to make a knot. This is a parametric Matlab script to do the same thing as MakeALot's script, but in seconds instead of hours, plus the mesh is smoother.

The [3,1] knot I printed required more material for support than the print did, but it came out nice in the end. I designed it to fit a 12.7mm steel ball I had extras of from a Geomag set. Since the knot is toroidal, the ball freely rolls around the inside without falling out.

I included a couple of other example knot STLs in case you can't run the script.

This is derived from the 2D artwork by seanmichaelragan in his “Escher-Style Tessellating Lizard” thing.
thingiverse.com/thing:14544
I liked the look of it so much that I thought it would be fun if I brought it into the 3D world while still keeping it sharp and angular. The original design (shown in blue) will need support to print, but the “Flat Bottom” version (shown in yellow and green) does not and still looks cool. Both versions have been modified with a small negative offset so that they will interlock in their printed form, even if your printer overprints slightly.

A fun little Christmas tree.

The Christmas tree shown has all 10 branches. However, the tree can be printed with fewer branches.

The 12.23.2012 update corrects some errors in the pin and hole sizes for branches 8,9,10.

This is a modular truss system with conectors, corners and trusses. Used for stage building or whatever else you wanna hang on them! They can be scaled at any size and might need to be cleaned up with a hoby knife.

Our kids keep losing the tape dispensers, so I decided to make one. This one fits a standard roll of scotch tape, has printed spring clips that hold the tape securely and printed teeth that cut the tape.

Print it now and be prepared to wrap presents!

P.S. We actually found 2 tape dispensers in the time it took me to perfect the design, but it works great.

Have you ever wondered how an automatic transmission works? I did, so I looked it up and then designed this desktop model. It has six forward speeds and one reverse. Real automatic transmissions have a hydraulic or electrical system that engages different clutches and brakes to shift gears depending on the driving situation. With this model you control those simplified brakes and clutches yourself.

The clutch is actuated by sliding the drive shaft through to different positions (which each have two gear markings), while three separate brakes each also have two gear markings. You select a gear by engaging the brake and clutch position associated with your desired gear. See demonstration video: youtube.com/watch?v=-FyC3dn3HJY

I tried to design the gear ratios to be fairly close to what some real cars use, and this is the result, where the input is the crank and the output is the annulus:
1st gear: 1 : 4.29
2nd gear: 1 : 2.5, 71% increase
3rd gear: 1 : 1.67, 50% increase
4th gear: 1 : 1.3, 28% increase
5th gear: 1 : 1, 30% increase
6th gear: 1 : 0.8, 25% increase
Reverse: 1 : -3.93

The OpenSCAD file is included and is highly parametric in case you'd like to play with different gear ratios. If you select a different number of teeth, it will print out the resulting gear ratios at the beginning of the output. I also used Matlab to investigate more thoroughly how the gear sizes affected the various ratios. I used transmission.m as an aid in optimizing the ratios to be somewhat evenly spaced.

This was all printed in PLA at 120 mm/s on a Replicator 1 with Sailfish firmware, default layer height (0.27mm). Everything came out perfectly on the first print. I swear, complex models don't have to be difficult, and who needs glue when you can print snap-fits?

My daughter has a problem with dresses. She has more dresses than closet space. My wife asked me to make a dress hanger that could hold 5 dresses. So here it is. The hanger chain. Hang the hook and link as many hangers and you can handle. Let me know if it works for ya.

Koch snowflakes are created by successively extending the sides of a triangle. I found a very nice description of the Koch method and a fortran program that was used to calculate all the examples given below at:

hmf.enseeiht.fr/travaux/CD9900/travaux/optmfn/hi/00pa/mfn16/part2.html

Enseeiht is a French engineering school in Tolouse and the author of the article is Alain Schuler.


Koch Snowflake by gadgetguydk, (thing:1039), is a composite of three stages of Koch iteration of a triangle and Koch curve/snowflake by Cross, (thing:3166), is an embroidered version. Koch_composite_color_1.stl and Koch_composite_color_2.stl, available below, is a two color version of the same composite for the Replicator.

Koch_three_snowflake.stl and Koch_four_snowflake.stl are monochrome examples of the Koch curve after 3 and 4 iterations of a triangle. The curves have been pierced with holes so that they can be hung as ornaments. The openSCAD programs that created the snowflakes are provided and they can be easily modified to create numerous variations.

This is a precious little gear-profiled twisty vase-lamp thing!

11/2/12 - Thanks for the all the likes and pictures of your prints. Happy people are enjoying this design! :)

11/21/12 - Now available for way too much money on Shapeways. Just in time for the holidays. shapeways.com/model/783257/twisted-gear-vase.html?li=productBox-search

1/26/13 - Currently available for sale at the 3DEA/Openhouse Gallery in NYC along with several of my other designs (and more awesome objects by others)! If you want one, don't have a printer, and are in New York, now's your chance. The store will be open through February 17. :D
3dea.openhouse.me/3dea/

This chain of 40 interlocking rhombic dodecahedra forms a loop that covers nearly the whole Replicator build platform. It's not quite big enough to be a necklace, but it can work as a crown or other decoration. It's quite fun to play with.

The OpenSCAD file is parametric, so if you have a different size build platform, you can adjust the dimensions of the loop by changing the number of modules in the straight section and scaling the whole.

Show off your open source spirit! This nifty little pendant makes a great accessory for any dedicated maker or hardware enthusiast.

Useless 3D printed novelty.

Robot Poker is just like Strip Poker only instead of clothes you loose robot parts. Fun for the whole family. These robots can also be used for regular play or to keep score in a game like "get bit" where the last robot standing wins. All the robots pegs and holes are the same size allowing mix-and-match play.

The robot designs are based on the suits in face cards and corresponding symbols can be found on their chest and in their design lending each one a unique personality.

For more on the creation process see my blog:
joesmakerbot.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-evolution-of-idea.html

If you don't have a 3D printer I am making these available on my Etsy store:
etsy.com/listing/109140054/game-piece-robots-with-interchangeable

Yes, I know, picket fences are supposed to be white, but my wife wants red, nuff said.

Unlike bought, when the dog breaks it playing footie, you just print new bits :-)