MakerBot Industries

These feet must go!

The topic of improved feet has certainly been on my mind of late.  After a short time off from work, I came back today to find that my computer was swapped out for a new one.  While it is certainly nice to have a new keyboard, the little flip-out feet are woefully inadequate.  They have two settings – completely flush with the underside of the keyboard and an out position that raises the back of the keyboard by about 5mm.   Dealing with these nearly vestigial feet made me realize two important things:

First, it is amazing how much a little tiny piece of plastic can either make your life a lot easier or a lot more difficult.

Second, I really wish I kept a 3D printer at work.  It would only take me a few minutes to whip up a replacement part and rock on. 

The answer is “better than the original.”

Better than the original

I had first seen Ian Johnson‘s Soap Dish on Thingiverse months ago, thought “cool,” and moved on.  A few days ago I stumbled upon Ian’s Flickr photostream and finally got the full story.

This is the original soap dish from Pottery Barn. It rests in a fixture attached to the wall, from which it has fallen many times and broken. It can’t be replaced because the line has been discontinued, but I want to continue to use the fixture, since the pedestal sink doesn’t really have room for a soap dish.

Ian designed a replacement soap dish in halves, so it would fit on the MakerBot print platform and asked Will Langford to print the parts for him.  He then glued the two halves together with black ABS drain pipe cement from the hardware store, dipped the dish in an ABS cement/acetone bath to smooth out the texture, sanded it smooth, painted it with his ABS dip to give it a glossy finish, and then gave it several coats of white liquid plastic.  For more information on Ian’s exact process as well as his photos of the intermediate stages, check out his photostream.