MakerBot Industries

Halloween Hero!

This was a big weekend for a MakerBot dad like myself.  My daughter wanted to be a witch for Halloween and so we got her a costume, complete with small plastic broom.  The broom came in two parts that screwed together.  While letting a kid play around in their costume even when it’s not actually Halloween is part of the fun, it wasn’t long before she managed to break the broom right in the middle.  The plastic screw had broken off the one side, while still stuck in the other.

No problemo!  I measured the broken parts, thought of a fix, and created a workable digital model in less than five minutes.  The part took about 30 minutes to print (in PLA, since that’s what I had loaded in my 3D printer).  It consists of a plastic cylinder with notches where the pins in the broom would fit.  This would keep the part from rotating or sliding out of place.  Fitting the part, wrapping it in duct tape for strength, and then again in black electrical tape to smooth out the wrinkly duct tape and blend in with the color of the broom took less than minutes more.

Sure, I could have fixed that broom with little more than just the duct and electrical tape.  However, I would be virtually guaranteed that it would have been bent at that join before the morning was out.  I’m pretty sure that particular joint is the strongest part of the entire broom at this point.

Super-hero dad tip: Tape glow sticks up and down the broom handle for extra visibility while trick or treating and for a seriously awesome witch’s broom.