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95 3D Printing Fans Show Off Their Most Useful DIY Creations
It’s fun to have a hobby. But it’s even cooler when it directly gives you the ability to significantly improve the quality of your life. That, in many cases, is a major draw of 3D printing. There, the only limit, aside from the tech you have, is your imagination.
3D printing enthusiasts from around the globe come to the ‘Functional Print’ online group to share their most out-of-the-box DIY projects that have made their lives much better. Scroll down to get inspired by their designs, and who knows, you might just convince yourself to try out a new hobby.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I Designed And 3D Printed A Dog Wheelchair For A Strangers Dog, And Now I Get These Great Update Videos. Functional Printing
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#2
I Designed A 3D Printed Mirror Array To Propose! The Mirrors Are Angled So That Just Before Sunset, They Reflect The Sunlight To Spell “Marry Me?”
#3
3D Printed My Wife A Vending Machine
#4
My Cactus Was Leaning Heavily On One Side So I Made It A Crutch
#5
I Made These Spikes To Stop "Helpful" People From Grabbing Me Without Consent
Janissary35680 3 months ago
Is grabbing wheelchairs w/o consent so much a thing that these are necessary?
#6
I Created A System Of LEGO Compatible Wall Mounts
#7
Button Reducer For TV Remote For My Grandparents
Eirik Hjørnevik 3 months ago
This is great! I made this for Grandma, but with cardboard and tape.
#9
Printed A Sisyphus Statue To Push My Tp Up A Shelf For All Eternity
#10
I Printed Some Two-Color Qr Coasters So My Guests Can Connect To The WiFi Without Asking Me For The Password
#11
Cardboard Perforation Tool To Make New Folds/Custom Boxes
#12
Quick Sunday Project To Stop Lid Avalanches
#13
With My Desk Near The Factory Entrance, My Fingers Tips Have Been Getting Really Cold This Winter So I Piped The Waste Heat From My PC To Warm Them Up!
#14
Mother-In-Law Asked If I Could Help Modify A Trike So My Niece's Prosthetic Foot Would Stop Slipping Off The Pedal. Came Up With This
#15
I 3D Printed A 🗿 Toilet Roll Holder, He Is Holding His Breath
#16
Would Y’all Consider This A Functional Print?
#17
Fractions Learning Purpose, Is It Still Functional?
#18
This Guy On Instagram Who 3D Printed A Helmet For His Cat So He Can Take Him Cycling/Motorcycling!
#20
I'm A Woodworker New To 3D Printing. I Designed And Printed Pencil Magnets I Can Stick To All My Machinery So I Always Have A Pencil Handy. I Used 6x3 Mm Neodymium Magnets
#21
Made A Credit-Card Sized Guide To Help Draw Organic Molecules!
#22
I Made A Headless Electric Violin For My Sister's Birthday
David Paterson 3 months ago (edited)
Polyester is the best material for this, the sound quality is excellent. ABS the second best material. Clarinets are made of ABS.
#23
Been 3D Printing Face Shields Non-Stop For 4 Days For Spanish Hospital Workers Fighting Coronavirus
WindySwede 3 months ago
Here they would probably have said "it have no CE marking" or some s**t they refused gas masks from the military at one point because of this.... 🙈
#24
I Discovered The Curvy Mode In Fusion 360 And Vase Mode So Now All Of My Lights Have Shades!
#25
Never Lose Them Again
#26
Gave My Echo Dot A Fun Vintage Flare :)
#27
My Country (Ireland) Has Separate Hot And Cold Water Taps. Here's A Mixer To Get A Comfortable Temperature!
Ace 3 months ago
Some older household plumbing systems without non-return valves could, in theory, allow heated water to backflow into the cold water main, in the event of a pressure fluctuation. It's unlikely, but in such situations mixer taps are not allowed. Also why washing machines and dishwashers(in Europe, at least) always come fitted with the non-return valves built-in to the inlet connection.
#28
I Got Tired Of My Sanding Pads Being Tossed In A Box, So Here's My Solution
#29
I Got Tired Of Juggling All This Stuff While Working For The Census, So Designed A Few Cleats And Brackets And Made My Own Clipboard
#30
I Designed This Mini Ramekin Stacker - So They Stop Falling Over In The Cupboard
Janissary35680 3 months ago
I wish we could 3D-print a designer who refuses to design wares that won't nest and stack.
#31
Nearly 50 Models On Makerworld, Some With Hours Of Design And This Is My Most Popular Model
#32
Twin Lamp Socket For Skate Lamp I Mada!
#33
New Monitor Didn't Have A USB Hub, Now It Does!
#34
I Was Tired Of The A/C Air Cooling My Blinds Instead Of Me, So I Made This
crashthegreenhat 3 months ago
Neat idea, but depending on the filament used it might have been cheaper to just buy one (They have made these for a while)
#35
3D Printed Jacket Ventilation
#36
Taking Consistent Pictures Of Trading Cards Made Easier!
#37
Designed A Faucet Handle So I Can Use My Elbow Instead Of My Dirty Hands
#38
Just Found And Printed This Beauty Of A Functional 3D Model - Wife Acceptance Factor Over 9000!
Mat O'Dowd 3 months ago
I did as well, it it very useful, and also accepted by spouse. Sneaky way to integrate 3D printing as useful addition to the home toolbox.
#39
Souvenir Baseball Display Tree
#40
I'm Lazy And Didn't Want To Bend Down To Turn My Steamer On Or Off
#41
Household Task Planner
#42
Headboard Silencer Springs. When The Boats A Rockin, No More Knockin
#43
Broke The Neighbors Tool.... Maybe They Won't Notice
#44
My Ancient Beard Trimmer Seems To Suck The Life Out Of C Size Batteries. I Made An Adaptor So I Can Use Aa Size Rechargeables
#45
3D Printed Casing For Hdmi Connector. Original Was Unreasonable Big, So I Made Smaller One
#46
Because, Honestly, Screw Those Buttons
How many times have you sat on your remote only to have it change to a channel that you don't subscribe to? For every time that has happened to you I created this print. Begone, foul advertisement discussed as 'convenience'!
#47
I No Longer Need Structural Corn In My Pantry
#48
I Made A Garden Hose Attachment For My Vegetable Garden!
#49
I Was Tired Of All The Dust I Was Getting While Making Holes In The Drywall. This Solved All My Issues
#50
Got Tired Of Carrying My Ruler And Stencil Around With Me, So I Combined Both And Now I Just Clip It To My Calculator!
#51
Anyone Looking For A Doorstop?
#52
Made A To Do List Stencil For Making Clean Looking Lists
#53
Sanity Saver 3000
Giles McArdell 3 months ago
Every time I think of "Joy to the world" it comes in to my head as Nelson Muntz singing "Joy to the world, the teachers d ead... etc" (badly)
#54
Printed Some “AC” For My Girlfriends Cat
#55
Forced Air Vent Boot/Shoe/Glove/Misc Wet Kid Stuff Dryer (1 1/2” Pvc With Printed Vent Adapter)
#56
My Biggest (And Prudest) 3D Printing Project. Sounds And Plays Better Than Expected
#57
9 Minute Print: A Splint For My Dying Headphone Cable That Must Be Kept Perfectly Straight
#58
Since No One Reads Range Rules I Made A Display To Show What’s Not Allowed
#59
Tool For Knowing Who Of My Roommates Are Home And Whether Or Not Anyone Has A Guest Over
#60
Kept Getting Lots Of Mail From The Previous Owner Of The House So Decided To Cast My Own Stamp
Ben Endicott 3 months ago
I need this. Been here 6+ years, and still get their mail once or twice a week. It's a pain labelling all of it "wrong address" - especially when usps just sticks half of it back in my mailbox anyway...
#61
This Might Be My Most Functional Print Ever - Steel Wire + Tpu
This long tpu spiral is one of my many experiments combing TPU with different types of wire.
To make this I printed a long spiral tube of tpu and then put 2mm steel wire through it and sealed the end with a little heat.
#62
DIY 3D Printed Surfboard
#63
Kirby Soldering Fume Extractor
#64
Printed This To Drain The Cup Back Back Into The Jug Of Laundry Detergent. Works Like A Charm!
#65
Tidied Up The Bathroom Counter A Bit!
#66
Update: Custom Made Pla Drain Cover Holding Up Well After 1 Year Outside In Welsh Weather
#67
Tweezers With A Button Cell To Test Your Leds
#68
Functional Print Found In The Wild!
#69
Dumb Idea That Worked
#70
No More Ugly Zip Ties On Network Switch
#71
I Got Sick Of Wasting A Whole Hand On Holding My Daughter's Bottle
#73
Does This Belong Here? 3D Printed Keyboard, Handwired
#74
I Made A Way To Connect Ptfe Tubes Magnetically!
#75
Stylized Headphone Holder I Made. Perfectly Snug Fit
#76
Tastiest Print I've Ever Done - Dumpling Press
#77
I Made A Tag For One Of My Houseplants. The Qr Code Links To An Online Care Sheet
Shark Lady 3 months ago
Wish we had this 40 years ago. My gran left handwritten instructions on every plant whenever she had mum and myself plant sit for her!
#78
Lockbox For My Morning Alarm. I Put The Key In My Freezer Every Night. Changed My Mornings!
#79
I Procrastinated On Writing My Thesis By Designing A Stand To Hold My Surface Vertically, Which Should Help Me Read Papers Faster For My Thesis
#80
Lenovo Wanted An Exorbitant Amount Of Money For One Of These Caddies So I Printed One Instead
#81
Air Duct That Delivers Fresh Air Directly To My Cpu Cooler
#82
Got Tired Of Scraping Ice Off Of My Windows Every Morning
I had a drill to 3/8" socket adapter laying around so I designed this circular ice scraper to attach to my drill and scrape the ice for me. Works perfectly!
Na Schi 3 months ago (edited)
I really praise my recent Ford Focus, which has front- and back-window heating! And I also like to say fick dich Ford US, by ruining the European marked with your US-American visions what car a European customer wants!!! Little hint: it is not an E-Mustang or an E-Capri. It's the Mondeo, Focus. Ka, Ford C-Max and S-Max.... there's a reason why market dominance for middle class cars has dropped from around appeox. 40% in the 80s and 90s to 4% today! for Ford in Europe!!
#83
Hotel Had All The Room Numbers 3D Printed
#84
Problems. Solutions
#85
Waterproof Pi Cyberdeck W Hackrf. W/ Touchscreen. I Saw A Cyberdeck Build Recently Posted Here, Thought I’d Share Mine
Virgil Blue 3 months ago
Very nice choom! Stay safe from black ICE while roaming the Net hacking Megacorps.
#86
Easy Model Optimization
#87
3D Printing Makes Casting Molds So Simple
#88
Dual Laptop Under-Desk Mount With Felt Sliders And USB Hub Bracket
#89
This Is What White Tpu Looks Like After Five Years Of Exposure To Sun And Weather. I Wasn't Able To Tear It
#90
Stencils I Made For Quickly Drawing Axes For Trigonometry Homework On Graph Paper
#92
Foaming Tpu Is Amazing!
#93
I Shall Never Juggle Sauce And Nugget, So Saith The Prusa
#94
Corner Radius Gauge For My Calipers. R = A*(√2+1). Not Perfect. Not Terrible
#95
It's So Satisfying To Design A Solution To A Super Specific Problem
More from this series:
All 2 parts All 2 parts in this series
1 You’re here95 3D Printing Fans Show Off Their Most Useful DIY Creations
254 Cool 3D Prints: Fun And Useful Things To 3D Print Add New Image
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What do you think ?
Cofty Sweet 3 months ago
So there is a whole list of awesome ingenuity and what do people do? Put on a comment "you could have bought it" "we have this everywhere" "just replace it" - nobody here asked for you to know it better. Just appreciate people having invented and gotten to work something.
Upstaged75 3 months ago
Seriously! I think some people come here just to post assh.ole comments because it makes them feel better about their pathetic lives.
Load More Replies...
Lara Verne 3 months ago
My cousin's dishwasher stopped working, and he learned that it was because of a specific component that broke. So he 3D printed this component. It was tiny square piece of plastic, easy to print, easy to assemble. Yet for some reason this component replacement would cost more than a new dishwasher.
El Cucuy 3 months ago
Sadly, that is by design. They make the replacement parts more expensive than a new item so that you'll just by the new item instead. Several years back my oven stopped working. The stovetop worked fine, just no oven heat. Repairman came over and told me a circuit board had burned out and needed to be replaced. That cheap little board that would have taken him 10 minutes to swap out was more expensive than buying the exact same stove again brand new. That was my first taste of planned obsolescence.
Load More Replies... Janissary35680 3 months ago
TIL a whole bunch of new stuff including the existence of Reddit's FunctionalPrint. Thanks Jonas!
Cofty Sweet 3 months ago
So there is a whole list of awesome ingenuity and what do people do? Put on a comment "you could have bought it" "we have this everywhere" "just replace it" - nobody here asked for you to know it better. Just appreciate people having invented and gotten to work something.
Upstaged75 3 months ago
Seriously! I think some people come here just to post assh.ole comments because it makes them feel better about their pathetic lives.
Load More Replies... Lara Verne 3 months ago
My cousin's dishwasher stopped working, and he learned that it was because of a specific component that broke. So he 3D printed this component. It was tiny square piece of plastic, easy to print, easy to assemble. Yet for some reason this component replacement would cost more than a new dishwasher.
El Cucuy 3 months ago
Sadly, that is by design. They make the replacement parts more expensive than a new item so that you'll just by the new item instead. Several years back my oven stopped working. The stovetop worked fine, just no oven heat. Repairman came over and told me a circuit board had burned out and needed to be replaced. That cheap little board that would have taken him 10 minutes to swap out was more expensive than buying the exact same stove again brand new. That was my first taste of planned obsolescence.
Load More Replies... Janissary35680 3 months ago
TIL a whole bunch of new stuff including the existence of Reddit's FunctionalPrint. Thanks Jonas!
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