Just 3D Printed A Chess Set

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sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
99,553
17,623
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As lxskllr pointed out, if you're doing things like replacement parts or prototyping, you need a pretty good handle on 3d cad. For me, 2d cad is a day at the beach, 3d cad is a confusing morass of commands and concepts. I gave up the entire idea of doing anything productive with it after several frustrating hours of trying to produce a simple cube with a hole in it.

None of this was a surprise to me, that's why I waited until a really good deal came along on a used printer. I had a pretty good idea of the things I wanted to print that had readily available models.

gears are pretty easy no? produce 2D drawing, then specify thickness.

<--- can't draw a straight line with a ruler.
 

nOOky

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2004
3,232
2,289
136
3D printing has many good uses, cheap plastic figurines and chess pieces, not so much. As for the plastics debate, I work in the engineered thermoplastics industry. There are dozens of engineered resins, and hundreds of fillers and additives and reinforcements. It's a horrible, horrible industry for the environment. Most of the waste and products can't be recycled or separated out from each other so it all ends up in landfills eventually. Efforts are made to recycle and incorporate recycled materials back into production, but rarely. People want to go "green" when the economy is good and there is money floating around for the effort, but it always dies out when the money dries up. Personally I'd rather see a trend to go back to making more things out of metal, at least recycling metal is a better shot at reusing it over and over. Some of the fillers in everyday plastic products are things like talc and calcium carbonate and other minerals which are strip mined from the earth, and can never be recovered or replaced.
 
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Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
22,091
6,345
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gears are pretty easy no? produce 2D drawing, then specify thickness.

<--- can't draw a straight line with a ruler.
I had the exact same thought, I was wrong. I was so wrong it hurt. The process is alien to how I think. I spent my entire working life making 2d drawings into 3d objects, but that 3rd dimension was always fixed or calculated from x and y. The direction was always known, and the shapes were all specific modules that I understood and worked with every day.
3d cad ain't like that at all. My guess is it's pretty straight forward for a young agile brain, mine is old and calcified so that shit just doesn't soak in.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
51,037
6,922
136
I wonder about the overall utility of a 3d printer for the average Joe . I've run off a few things for my shop that are handy, but the entire group just barely justifies the cost of the printer, and I picked that up cheap. I have absolutely no interest in toys or figurines, though I would probably print an A10 or SR71 if I came across the right model.

I mostly print goofy stuff with mine. This is a great sub:


The printable organizational tools are excellent. Gridfinity for horizontal stuff:


1753215044700.png

Multiboard for vertical stuff:


1753215128521.png

Cable management print files:


1753214826778.png

You can get a jumbo 16" 3D printer for $400 these days:


1753214953409.png
 

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
62,142
17,952
136
I mostly print goofy stuff with mine. This is a great sub:


The printable organizational tools are excellent. Gridfinity for horizontal stuff:


View attachment 127555

Multiboard for vertical stuff:


View attachment 127556

Cable management print files:


View attachment 127553

You can get a jumbo 16" 3D printer for $400 these days:


View attachment 127554
My BFF just printed out some badge-holder mounts to hold RSA tokens since they now require 3 of them in order to do their jobs, he printed me out some dice trays for a game I play with friends, so yeah, he does the same kind of thing you're up to, generally. He's working on converting the foot pedals from an old organ into a MIDI controller for me, I suspect he may well find some use for 3D prints in that project too.
 
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Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
51,037
6,922
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My BFF just printed out some badge-holder mounts to hold RSA tokens since they now require 3 of them in order to do their jobs, he printed me out some dice trays for a game I play with friends, so yeah, he does the same kind of thing you're up to, generally. He's working on converting the foot pedals from an old organ into a MIDI controller for me, I suspect he may well find some use for 3D prints in that project too.

I mostly print dumb stuff like this:

 

Gizmo j

Golden Member
Nov 9, 2013
1,526
422
136
I just went to a pawn shop with some of my prints and the dude gave me $5 for a phone stand and $2 for a kratos bust!

He said he'd give me another $2 for a batman bust, I gave my last batman bust to my math teacher.
 
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