Here’s another awesome Thingiverse camera item: this time, it’s an adapter to use the iPhone camera to take photos from your microscope.  This looks like an excellent way to get those images of plates into your lab reports.  This should be handy whether you’re checking your wine barrels for a brettanomyces outbreak or figuring out how to fight vicious, rapidly mutating bacteria!  Or just doing nice, safe science projects.  It’s up to you.

Good work Boogie!  Keep the awesome sciencey designs coming!

iPhone to Microscope mount by Boogie

This thing basically holds your iphone in position with the microscope eyepiece. It allows you to turn your iphone into a digital camera/view screen for a binocular type microscope. Great for group viewings or capturing microscopic images with your iphone and microscope. Great tool for classrooms. The mount was designed specifically for the Edmund Scientific binocular type microscope. It slips right over the eye pieces. If you don't have an iPhone, you can print just the base mount and use rubber bands to hold your phone/camera on.

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Stubby Screwdriver Handle by tomlombardi

Recently I moved one of my daughter’s pint-sized bookshelves from one wall to another.  This isn’t as trivial a task as you might first think.  As you may or may not know, it is recommended that children’s furniture above a certain height and weight be secured to the wall. ¹  The new location that had been selected for the bookshelf was almost right next to a corner – about four inches away.  The problem was that I had a hard time finding a screwdriver short enough to fit between the wall and the bookshelf!  In the end I was able to locate a small cheap screwdriver that came with a some-assembly-required piece of Swedish furniture.

That said…  had I been half as smart as tomlombardi, I would have just made one!

I needed a stubby screwdriver for a project and I almost bought one from a hardware store…Duh! I can print one! All you need are the 1/4″ hex bits which most people already have.

Stubby Screwdriver Handle by tomlombardi

I needed a stubby screwdriver for a project and I almost bought one from a hardware store...Duh! I can print one! All you need are the 1/4" hex bits which most people already have.

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1. In case of the child climbing the furniture or an earthquake having a big piece of furniture strapped to a wall might keep your child from being trapped underneath. [↩]

Dueling Masters of Space-Time by smcameron

Thingiverse citizen smcameron has shared with everyone his family’s totally original game featuring a custom board and game pieces. ¹  As cool and fun as this game sounds from the description and instructions, my favorite part might just be the title, “Dueling Masters of Space Time.”  The pieces move in a vaguely chess-like fashion with a screen preventing the players’ view of one another’s board for an interesting amalgam of chess, battleship, and stratego.

With a quality 2D and 3D printer, you could probably make any kind of board game you could possibly imagine.

Dueling Masters of Space Time by smcameron

Here are game pieces and board artwork for a board game my Dad, my brother, and I invented back in 1980.

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1. In fairness to smcameron, the above picture features the entire game, although apparently without the 3D printed pieces.  It was such a good picture I just had to use it. [↩]

Ahh, mid-February.  The week we all turn our thoughts to love.  And here we have the perfect Valentine’s Day gift — an adorable Cthulhu figurine!  What better way to celebrate an ersatz holiday popularized by Chaucer than with a Lovecraftian gift?

This design even comes with a lullaby you can sing with your beloved:

Rock-a-bye Cthulhu, In R’lyeh deep.
Dead you may be, or only in sleep.
When you awake, the madness will fall

Romantic, right?  cymon‘s significant other sure is a lucky one.  The only thing you’ll have to worry about it setting the bar too high for next year!

Cthulhu mini - Lovecraft Collection by cymon

Rock-a-bye Cthulhu, In R'lyeh deep. Dead you may be, or only in sleep. When you awake, the madness will fall, Then the Old Ones will teach man new ways to shout and kill and revel, and all the earth would flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom. This is the first of a new set of pieces designed to be a desktop figures or re-sized to be a suitable replacement for simple pawns in your favorite board games. Print off a whole set to add a touch of madness to any game. I don't have a 3D printer so I'll need your support and feedback if you have one.

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X Buckteeth Leader parametric by timmytool

If you’re rockin’ a Thing-O-Matic, consider installing this clever upgrade from timmytool.  This little plastic part allows you to customize the belt height in your X axis to the height where your X belt naturally rides.  If the place where the belt is held in place on the X carriage is too high or low, it can create additional vibration and noise.

Plus, it kinda looks like a wacky robot face.

X Buckteeth Leader parametric by timmytool

I've found that the x idler pulley tends to ride up against the top y carriage wood. This creates noise and other problems. There are bearing and belt holders and all manner of x axis improvements but I've yet to see one to fix this. The idler rides up due to the belt being pulled up to mesh with the x carriage belt teeth. My solution is to customise the teethes position to match the belts natural path. This is based off of Joakim's x follower openSCAD file so it can match its customization for a perfect x axis sliding action, print his and mine as they replace 2 separate parts. All comments and suggestions welcomed, heck just comment

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What have you made and shared today?

Bathtoy by Request!

After explaining Thing-A-Day to my daughter, I asked her what she would like me to design for her for day 2. Answer: A sailboat for the bathtub.

Tool for a Working Artist!

Last night, my wife needed a circle template for an art project she was doing. This took about 15 minutes to make in total, from design to finished product. And that is why 3D printing is awesome.

Jewelry (and Tool for Future Jewelry)!

This design is intended to be an envelope to be boolean used (intersection) with other textured designs, we’ll see….

Tool for Learning About Clocks!

I figured this tool might be useful for the MakerBot Clock Makers project and for educators and students looking to explore basic gear mechanics.  (I am spending time each day designing new attachments for it.)

Keep checking back to see what other Thing-A-Day participants are sharing on Thingiverse — and get out there and make some stuff.

Japanese hirajiro castle by arnsteio

How’s this for a first-time contribution to Thingiverse?  Arnsteio’s first design shared on Thingiverse is this incredibly intricate and detailed Japanese hirajiro castle.

This is a small Japanese “hirajiro” plains castle from the sengoku period. Bases were simply made of earth so for the castle to survive the vagaries of weather and earth quakes, superstructures had to be light. Hence we see simple walls, small houses and open-work towers. It is meant for use when wargaming, and will be suitable for campaigns in Japan in the 1400s and 1500s – I will use it for the Kawanakajima campaigns.

Awesome work arnsteio!  Please keep the models coming!

Japanese hirajiro castle by arnsteio

This is a small Japanese "hirajiro" plains castle from the sengoku period. Castle bases were simply made of earth so for the castle to survive the vagaries of weather and earth quakes, superstructures had to be light. Hence we see simple walls, small houses and open-work towers. The model is meant for use when wargaming, and will be suitable for campaigns in Japan in the 1400s and 1500s - I will use it for the Kawanakajima campaigns. I have made it for use with 10mm wargaming armies, though it would work equally well for larger or smaller scales. The ashigaru figure I placed in the courtyard for scale is 10mm foot to eye. He is a ripoff of Erik's excellent bride and groom from thingiverse.com/thing:3495 (and he's based on the bride, no less!).

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Rubber Band Ties by lasivian

One of the most noble uses of a 3D printer has got to be making the world a safer place.  Thingiverse user lasivian described the reason behind his rubber band ties:

You might have seen these under other names, but most of them were no good for me because my girlfriend is allergic to latex.

Enter the printer and a box of latex-free rubber bands from a local office store.

Rubber Band Ties by lasivian

You might have seen these under other names, but most of them were no good for me because my girlfriend is allergic to latex. Enter the printer and a box of latex-free rubber bands from a local office store.

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Mutang bug by addy

This is the very first Thingiverse design from Thingiverse citizen addy’s 9 year old son – a mutant bug designed with the help of 3DTin.com.  As you can see from the comments, addy’s son has really taken the Thingiverse spirit to heart by making changes to the designs based upon feedback from other users.  Designing an object, managing constructive criticism, and revising designs – these are important lessons for anyone, let alone a 9 year old.

And, lest we not forget his contributions…  A special thanks to addy for helping his son share these designs and making Thingiverse a better place for it.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:16545

Mutant bug by addy

My 9 year old son, Joel's first design, created using 3d tin.

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Electro Wire Stripper by bjbsquared

Check out Thingiverse citizen bjbsquared’s “Electro Wire Stripper.”  This little baby lights up, thanks to an LED, resistor, and two small batteries, when you’re stripping wires to let you know you’re making contact with the actual metal cores so you won’t accidentally slice the wire.  I could easily see this taking a place in every electrician or hacker’s toolbox.

Electro Wire Stripper by bjbsquared

This is one of the best wire strippers I have ever used. If setup correctly, it can be very precise and give feedback telling when the blades have cut deep enough. Use: Sight down the blades. Align the blades with where the wire should be stripped. Move the wire into the blades having the blades cut into the insulation. When the blades cut through the insulation and contact the wire the LED will light. Spin the wire or the tool to cut the insulation completely around the wire. Remove the wire from the tool and pull off the insulation.

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