I haven’t done a “Prints Of The Month” post in a while, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t had a pile of stuff popping off the printer.  Here is a smattering of prints I completed in the last 2 months or so.

I needed extra retainer cases for some orthodontics equipment I have (bummer).  I could buy them, but where is the fun in that?  Fusion 360 has a half decent thread database, so I dug into it and made a screw together case.  I started with the default settings and couldn’t get the top to screw down all the way.  It turns out I was using a Class 3 thread.  Class 1 is the loosest, while Class 3 is high precision.

I eventually oiled the threads and worked the Class 3 one back and forth a number of times and it closes now.  The Class 1 set I printed worked itself into fully closing a lot faster.  If you are worried about your prints coming together, pay attention to the thread class.

Continuing with the gaudy yellow color, I added a magnifying light to my shop.  They sell screw on bases you can plug the light post into, but they charge 20 bucks each.  I can print as many as I want for less than a dollar a piece.

A co-worker builds guitars with a CNC mill, but occasionally needs chisels to help clean up segments.  I took his flunky grade D chisels and put a nice shine on them.  3D prints and a magnet means nobody gets stabbed by accident when transporting them back to the owner.

I printed a small cable guide for my car a year ago.  It lasted a while, but fell off recently.  The tape failed to hold the printed part.  Time for an upgrade.  I increased the width by 50% and made it three times taller.  Before attaching the tape I scuffed up the back to help it grip well.  The PETG didn’t melt or deform in the summer heat, so I am sticking with that material.

Not my own invention, but rather a Thingiverse submission by user iamjonlawrence.  They are a set of printable radius gauges.  They have inside radius, outside radius, and a set of circles.  The hole of the circle has the radius marked on the gauge, the outside has twice the radius.  The metric versions have that fact labeled better.  They pack a lot of function in a few small prints.  They are available every 1/16″ up to 1″.  I might have to make a set that goes over 1″.

An example of how to use them is on the right.  A pair of calipers wouldn’t really tell you the proper radius, but this gauge has it pegged.

Last but not least, we have a beloved octopus stained glass in our kitchen window named Eddy.  He guards over the cooking and cleaning activities and always lends a limb.  He is too heavy to hang on a suction cup for more than a few weeks, so we always just sit him on the window edge.  He has fallen before, and that will not do.  I printed this basic profile to clip into the window frame and provide a little spot for Eddy to stay firmly in place.