MakerBot Industries

DC Fan holder by tatsuya

I was disappointed a few months back when a design I really liked had disappeared from Thingiverse.  Works in progress, unfinished designs, finished components of an unfinished design, and, yes, even bad designs all make Thingiverse a richer and more vibrant world.  In fact, finished designs are a lie.  A design can always be improved in some way. ^1 2

Even if your design doesn’t work, others can learn from it, learn from your mistakes, improve upon your designs, or become inspired to pick up where you left off.  Heck, the design that failed for you might even be perfect for a completely different application.

This is one of the reasons why I like tatsuya’s design for a DC fan holder.  After posting his design he realized that by calibrating his stepper boards, his Thing-O-Matic Z axis stepper motor wouldn’t overheat anymore. ³ If anything, he probably got even more likes and comments after he fixed his calibration issue.

So, even if you’re not happy with your design or you think it’s become obsolete, please upload it to Thingiverse and, whatever you do, please don’t delete it!

DC Fan holder by tatsuya

Thing-O-Matic Z-axes stepper motor is very hot. I made a holder to make cool-down in DC fans. 40mm FAN Countersunk screw M3x14 and M3 nut

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1. If this were the ’80′s, anything could be improved by adding a clock-radio to it. [↩]
2. But, since this is now 2011 – it can be improved by someone making it connect to various social networks. [↩]
3. For other Thing-O-Matic owners – calibrating your stepper boards is kind of a pain – but a seriously critical step in getting the best results from your printer. [↩]

Just as a blank canvas can be almost intimidating in its possibility, it can be equally difficult fully convey the potential of 3D printing to someone who’s not familiar with it.  You can sit someone down and explain that your machine can make ANYTHING, including more machines…  but this doesn’t actually wow as many people as you think.¹

But what if you could walk into an office building and permanently improve every single person’s work environment using a 3D printer?  You might actually have their attention then.  Imagine what it could do for workplace ergonomics.  You could print something to improve the tilt on a computer monitor, raise armrest on a chair, or, as Thingiverse citizen BenJackson demonstrates – print up a more comfy footrest.  I’d bet that pretty soon people would come up with more ways to use their office 3D printer to crank out some things for home too.

BenJackson’s contribution might be a humble footrest – but I think it really opens the door to showing people just how useful 3D printing can really be.

Comfort Footrest for SKRUVSTA by BenJackson

The IKEA SKRUVSTA chair is hard on your feet if you prop them on the swivel base. This comfort footrest slides over the top of each arm of the base, keyed in place by the original plastic caps. Might also work with JULES, SNILLE SKRUVSTA: ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80121649

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1. Or maybe that’s just me. [↩]