Marco ArmentFeb 22

I've really gotten into 3D printing since our family got an awesome Bambu printer last fall.

I find SO many household problems that can be solved, or projects that can be done better, by quickly making little custom parts like these.

What are they? Doesn't matter!* They printed in 5 minutes and helped me with a project. (And I'm still making all of my custom models in TinkerCAD, a web app designed for children, because it's so fast and easy.)

* installing some custom cove lights in my office

Show threadMarco Arment
I previously also made this custom tool to pull up a difficult shower-drain grate… then also made a new drain filter that significantly improved over the performance of the old one.
Feb 22 at 8:24pmIvory for Mac
Show threadMarco ArmentFeb 22
And when my rattly office vent cover finally annoyed me enough… I fixed that, too.
Show threadMarco ArmentFeb 23
One more 3D-printing win: I made Tiff a tiny pair of earring replicas of our restaurant's famous swinging lights as a Christmas gift.
Show threadGreg PierceFeb 23
@marcoarment What are you doing the modelling in? I’m also enjoying 3D printing, but haven’t settled on a modeling tool.
Show threadChrisFeb 23
@marcoarment This is so adorable.
Show threadMichael B. JohnsonFeb 23
@marcoarment That's very sweet.
Show threadTheEJJ 🇨🇦Feb 23
@marcoarment I’m sorry, this is just the most wholesome, thoughtful thing I’ve seen in maybe a month.
Show threadShane BousloughFeb 23
@marcoarment but do they light up?
Show threadMark OtwayFeb 23
@marcoarment
Friends of ours 3D printed this modular drawer for organising our extensive tea collection in our new kitchen. It took 45+ hours to print!
Show threadPeter N LewisFeb 23
@marcoarment with led and button battery in it?
Show threadSwampYankeeFeb 23
@marcoarment There is a "swing the lights" joke here but it's not my joke to make.
Show threadThe Animal and the MachineFeb 24

@marcoarment
I hope there are pearl lightbulbs under there.

@siracusa would have used Perl.

Show threadDrChrisFeb 22
@marcoarment interesting times we live in where 3D-printers can help us with hyper-personalised tools & LLMs are helping us build hyper-personalised software tools.
Show threadJorge Salvador CaffarenaFeb 22
@DrChris @marcoarment sometimes I wonder if we are heading towards something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age
The Diamond Age - Wikipedia

Show threadmaxFeb 23
@DrChris @marcoarment
You can even use LLMs to build your hyper-personalized models for your 3D printers with OpenSCAD!
Show threadDan Ryan  (he/she/they)Feb 22
@marcoarment atoms > bits! There’s nothing quite like going from need to idea to physical thing in a matter of minutes.
Show threadPedro FernandesFeb 22
@marcoarment is that photo from the 3D printed version? The quality looks amazing
Show threadMarco ArmentFeb 22
@pfernandes Yup!
Show threadPedro FernandesFeb 22
@marcoarment which material did you use for printing?
Show threadMarco ArmentFeb 22

@pfernandes That's just black Bambu PLA Basic.

I jumped through some support hoops to print it face-up, such that the face you're seeing was the top face during printing, which gives it that smooth finish.

Show threadPedro FernandesFeb 22
@marcoarment nice, that smooth finish was what caught my eye 👌
Show threadMarco ArmentFeb 23
@pfernandes Here's a photo right after the print completed. You can see some of the massive support under it. (And I used a support-interface material between them for clean removal.)
Show threadJon CarlestamFeb 22
@marcoarment LLM’s + 3D printing can be a really interesting combo as well. I’m using meshy.ai to create highly detailed figurines based on just a single photograph. Here’s one from our wedding photo. Crazy!
Show threadPete HareFeb 22
@marcoarment inspiring! I’ve never got over the hump of “would I really find it useful”, these examples are really helpful
Show thread_IanOfEarthFeb 23
@marcoarment my guy… talk about this on the show!! What the hell?! 😆
Show threadDaniel SchaeferFeb 22
@marcoarment Awesome!
Did you design these two yourself or adjust an available model to your dimensions?
Show threadMarco ArmentFeb 22
@JohnAZoidberg Just designed them myself with TinkerCAD.
Show threadRyan JonesFeb 22
@marcoarment how the hell did you come up with the design for a drain filter! AI?
Show threadMarco ArmentFeb 22
@rjj No! I just had an idea to make a bunch of little hooks to catch hair, and made enough structure around them so they wouldn't snap off.
Show threadclokey74Feb 22
@marcoarment your tinkercad skills are phenomenal!! I can’t do anything but the most simple of things.
Show threadChris MarquardtFeb 23
@marcoarment kudos for making all that in tinkercad. Can’t wait for you to discover parametric cad. Whole new world of possibilities.
Show threadJon SchwennFeb 23
@marcoarment you made this in tinkercad??? I was about to recommend Shapr3D (who also has an Apple Vision app) which is a step up in capability but still very accessible with basic skills.
Show threadDarryl RammFeb 23
@marcoarment
Custom tool to pull up a difficult shower-drain grate… 🤷‍♂️