MakerBot Industries

How to justify your Thing-O-Matic to your significant other!

As everyone knows, any good relationship involves negotiation and compromise.  Thingiverse citizen Bluemetal was able to justify the purchase of his Thing-O-Matic 3D printer by pointing out all of the things around his house he’d be able to fix.  This has lead him to fix his car’s luggage compartment cover (a savings of at least $550!) and a rotary sprinkler (a savings of at least $9.99).  This doesn’t even begin to contemplate the amount of time, travel, gas, and wear-and-tear on his vehicles he’s saved by just making the replacements he would otherwise have to go out and purchase.  While Bluemetal certainly isn’t the first person to use their MakerBot to print up replacement parts and save themselves money, he appears to be the first to be keeping a running tally of the amounts saved by using it.  It sounds like Bluemetal is well on his way to having his Thing-O-Matic pay for itself.

Here’s Bluemetal in his own words:

Being (or trying to be) a maker is not easy. Justifying your investments to your Significant Other requires some careful planning ( measure twice – cut once! ). My infra-red camera was justified with potential savings in our heating bill as I used to find cold air leaks around our +100 year old house.

The 3d printer was not that easy at first. I tried the cute things like a Gear Heart with some success but the real opinion former was to repair the cover for the luggage compartment in my car. After trying super glue and loosing the broken piece, I tried to buy just the plastic part and was informed that it was not possible and that the whole cover would set me back some USD 550.

My Thing-o-Matic saved the day! Using Google SketchUP I was able to create an exact piece (in 2 parts later glued together) to fit in the broken cover and secured firmly in place in some screws. The repair (made in orange plastic on purpose) is barely visible when in use but it has been shown several times to my Significant Other – who now feels that my investment in the 3d printer has been partially justified. I just need to find some USD 1000 worth of broken things fixable with pieces of plastic!

Even if you don’t have a significant other, there are still lots of ways you could justify a purchase of a 3D printer to someone who would be willing to help.  Some have created Kickstarter campaigns, while others have lobbied their parents, schools, or even employers.  Like Bluemetal, just think of some ways you can use your 3D printer to make or save money, resources, or time and put together a persuasive argument.

What’s your best 3D printer justification story?

How to justify your TOM to your significant other! by Bluemetal

We have all been there! How do you explain a several thousand dollars investment into another "toy"? My significant other (SO) had some issues with the amount of money and specially time I spent with the TOM. Not even thingiverse.com/derivative:9461 won her over (though it did get some extra time credit over all).I needed something significant ( in monetary terms ) to bring her over to our side. In my case, I had the (mis)fortune of breaking the end of my cars luggage compartment cover. The cover can be used in the 5 and 7 seat configuration so it has extensions that lock to the ends to make it longer for the 5 seat set up. The broken piece that connected to the left extension was around a bit and I tried the usual super glue cure with terrible results - not only it did not glue properly, it actually made me loose the broken piece altogether (now I see it was divine providence!). Upon contacting the dealer to try to buy the offending plastic part and after being politely told to stop being foolish and that Plan B (a whole new cover) was going to cost USD 550, I saw the light! :0What if I fixed the cover and saved USD 550 (plus tax)? Hero for a few days maybe and even, just maybe a "isn't nice that you bought the 3d printer thingy?" Lofty goals but the difference between courage and ignorance is usually not that big.

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