
I defeated a long-broken fridge and became a household hero through 3D printing - shawndumas
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/05/even-a-3d-printing-infant-can-fix-the-perennially-broken-fridge/
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dmritard96
The part that I found so relatable here is that 3D printers in libraries are
absolutely transformative. It empowers people to do things like fix things on
their own but also crazier things like launch a company. A couple of days ago
I wrote a blog entry about how we started our company after doing some 3D
printing at the library in downtown Chicago.

[https://flair.co/blogs/news/175364743-flair-in-the-
beginning](https://flair.co/blogs/news/175364743-flair-in-the-beginning)

~~~
nfriedly
I've been talking to the head of my local library about this - I think we'll
see one installed here within a year or so. (I live in a tiny town, so the
main issue is budget.)

~~~
dmritard96
thats awesome. If our company manages have some extra cash somewhat soon I am
hoping to buy a printer or two for the library we used (harold washington, the
main one downtown). I believe they had some sort of rental deal or something.
Would love to get them one of the resin based ones.

------
nfriedly
This probably all boils down to my lack of experience, but I just recently got
a 3d printer, and most of the things I have printed have failed to perform
their desired function. This is both things I designed (a replacement battery
lid for a remote - the software skips the small details like the notch that
holds it in place), and most of the designs I've pulled off of thingiverse
(e.g. a water bottle lid - it's too tight _and_ it leaks water).

My only fully successful prints aside from the calibration were the "hello
world" roctopus and a toy car.

I expect (hope) that this will improve with time, but so far it's been a
little disappointing.

~~~
exodust
What 3D printer do you have? They are not all equal in capability and
resolution.

For something like a chunky toy car, precision is not important. For a
threaded screw, in particular a bottle cap, you will need good resolution and
accuracy.

~~~
nfriedly
It's a Lulzbot Taz 5 (they announced the Taz 6 the day after it shipped :(

From what I've read, it's a decent quality printer. I've kept the software in
beginner mode so far, so there's probably some settings I'm overlooking.

~~~
exodust
Looks very capable. Not cheap at all. I haven't heard of it, but then again
once I bought my "Up!" printer I stopped looking at what was out there.

------
sgnelson
My father needed to change the oil in his Toyota truck about 6 months ago, but
unfortunately he couldn't find his oil filter wrench. I too thought I could be
a hero, and show him that the money I spent on this 3d printer wasn't just for
a lark, but it was a useful tool. I found a model of the exact tool needed on
Thingiverse, printed the model out (it took about 3 and a half hours if my
memory serves me correctly to print the part, all the while my dad was
waiting).

Finally, being incredibly proud, I handed my dad the tool, and expected
success along with much congratulations from my father for solving his
problem.

It was about a millimeter too small to fit around the filter. I had failed. My
printer had failed. He went and bought a new oil filter wrench at a car parts
store.

One of the problems with STL's is that they're unit independent, they don't
care if the part is measured in millimeters or inches. (they also ignore the
internal structure of the part, but that's a rant for another time.) And one
problem with the 3d printer community is that with all these different
printers, there is a wide variety in the tolerances/accuracy of the printed
parts. Even with well set-up printers, changing one setting, such as amount of
infill, may change the size of the final part. And even if you have a
precisely calibrated printer, the person who made the model you're about to
print may not.

In this particular case, I don't believe the model was off, but rather to make
the tool incredibly strong, I printed with ABS plastic and included extra
support and extra shell layers, which I believe may have produced too much
material and effectively over extruded plastic, making the part just a bit too
small. But I took the part and slammed it into the driveway as hard as I
could, and the part didn't even think about breaking, it was quite strong,
even if it was useless.

~~~
Daneel_
Surely a flat file would fix that though? If it's just ABS it should file
quite easily. The tool is far from useless.

~~~
WalterBright
A file is one of the most under-appreciated tools. I find them incredibly
useful.

------
robbrown451
Not to take something away from what he did and what he learned doing it, but
there are plenty of ways to fix that part that would be a good bit quicker.

I'm a big fan of Bondo, fiberglass/fiberglass resin, and my trusty dremel
tool. Recently a plastic part to a dryer cracked, and those approaches didn't
seem strong enough and would probably make it not fit any more, so I heated up
some little nails on the gas stove and pressed them into the plastic, which
melted around them, making a very strong part that was no bigger than the
original.

And I say this as someone who has a long, long history with 3d CAD modeling.

~~~
asimuvPR
I have similar experiences. In the case of the OP, it seems that the person
found value in being able to simply print a new part whenever needed. With a
fiberglass part you need to store the mold somewhere safe. Composites are a
great way to build parts (I build lightweight parts for race cars), but they
are not as convenient as 3D printed parts.

~~~
robbrown451
Not sure what you mean about storing the mold. I just do the fiberglass and
resin directly on the broken part to repair things (after cutting away some of
the plastic). It's sort of like gluing it, but when you need more strength.

Would he really need to print more parts? I mean, it could break again, but
this seems like a one-off fix.

~~~
asimuvPR
I assumed you were replicating a part by making a mold. :)

------
elliotf
I am, unlike the author, not a mechanical engineer. However, I've been able to
teach myself enough about designing and printing in 3d to make household-
useful items with my 3d printer. The interesting thing is that my wife and I
now take it for granted that I can just print something to fix the problem.

It's not been easy, and I laugh at my earlier attempts, but it's been a fun
learning experience. The fun thing is that I've had to re-learn a bit of
trigonometry because of my choice in CAD tools (openscad).

I have a repository of the household items I've printed:
[https://github.com/elliotf/reprap-household-
misc](https://github.com/elliotf/reprap-household-misc)

------
hristov
He was a mechanical engineer with some experience with autocad. I have to say
this is still something the average person would not be able to do.

I never learned autocad or ME, but I do remember my ME buddies from college
taking their required autocad class and taking many hours to design a simple
part like a pulley, and then being oh so proud of their creation. But, hey, I
am sure it was much more fun than their Fortran class which they also had to
take.

My point is it takes special skills, training and a lot of patience to be able
to design a part and get all the dimensions right.

It would have been more interesting if he was able to glue the broken part
together, then scan it, and then print a copy of the scanned part. Is that
something that is easily doable nowadays?

~~~
rtpg
I think the interesting thing is that for small communities (Game Boy
revitalisations?), there is a semi-cheap way to build certain plastic
replacement parts/mod parts. Sure, the person who made the piece needs to be
good, but everyone can profit.

~~~
whamlastxmas
Replacement game boy parts are available on ebay for super cheap.

~~~
DanBC
But people putting a raspberry pi into an old gameboy case don't want gameboy
parts, they want modified gameboy parts.

At the moment there will be a youtube video and an imgur gallery of where to
apply the dremmel. In future there'll be downloadable 3d printing files.

------
caseysoftware
I was truly convinced of the power of 3D printing a similar way a couple years
back.. My 80+yo neighbor lost the back cover of her feature phone. I looked
for a replacement but it's an old phone. She told someone at her church, who
noted the model number.

The following week, he brought her a 3D printed cover that fit perfectly. Over
a month later and she was still talking about it.

When you build a product that appeals to 20yo hackers and 80yo grandmas,
you're onto something.

------
SexyCyborg
TinkerCAD is really underrated. People who already have good spatial and
mechanical skills tend to be CAD snobs and look down on it. But if you’re not
by nature a very handy person and just need simple things around the house it
will do everything you need. It’s parts tend to have a distinct look. But they
work just fine.

~~~
Kliment
TinkerCAD is great in terms of both function and usability. The core problem
with it, being both closed and cloudy, is that it can just disappear one day
and leave you unable to edit anything you made, or losing it entirely if you
forget to export it. Unfortunately, many of the "grown up" CAD packages are
the same way, with version-specific DRM formats and cloud activation. They're
expensive enough that the customers have some power to demand continued
availability and access, but the only way to be safe is either to use non-
networked local software or software that is open/free enough that it can be
hosted by someone else if the vendor or their post-acquisition owner decides
to not give a shit about you anymore.

------
te0006
Modeling needs to get easier, especially for such simple replacement parts
tasks.

Any suggestions regarding tools for_capturing_ 3D (or at least 2D) models from
photos or videos of existing objects? I imagine if there are multiple
reference objects (of known size and shape) visible in the scene together with
the object-to-capture, the photogrammetry should be tractable.

A good start would be an app able to produce a 2D CAD file from a prototype
shape (e. g. cut from cardboard) photographed on a background of squared
paper. Does such a beast perhaps already exist?

~~~
a_bonobo
Some people have done similar things using the XBox Kinect, see for example
[http://makezine.com/projects/from-kinect-to-
makerbot/](http://makezine.com/projects/from-kinect-to-makerbot/)

It's still not easy though!

~~~
tribaal
I used an Xbox kinect as a 3d scanner before, and the resolution of the 3d
sensor is wayyyy too coarse-grained for anything really useful, unfortunately.

It works well for human-sized objects, but you can forget it for smaller
things (it had trouble scanning my then-reference object: a beer can)

That was a couple of years ago - maybe software has evolved enough to make it
useable in the mean time.

------
aftbit
3d printers are in a weird transitional state. We are long past the point
where every prototype shop has a decent 3d printer, yet we're still
(seemingly) years away from the point where every home and business has a 3d
printer. A big part of this problem is that there really aren't that many
obviously useful things to print.

~~~
burfog
There are lots of obviously useful things to print, but printing them is
expensive and difficult.

I looked into replacing a door shelf for a huge Samsung refrigerator. It's a
$2000 refrigerator with $50 parts that constantly break. I could buy a new
part every few months, 3D print something suitable, or give up and just
replace the refrigerator.

Step one is getting a model. Everything is organically curved. Ugh. This is
impossible. Well, putting that problem aside, let's just throw together an
approximation so that I can get a price. It's a bucket about 20x30x40 cm, and
needs to be about 5mm thick. To survive longer than the original junk, it'll
need to be made out of something decent. The first thought is naturally
titanium. Woah, expensive! The second thought, reluctantly, is laser-sintered
nylon. Woah, expensive! I don't want to just go thinner, but I could carve out
some holes or leave ribs. This is getting complicated. Woah, still expensive!

It's a good thing I didn't put the effort into somehow making a model that
would perfectly fit the organic shape. My effort would have been wasted as
soon as I found out the price.

I bought a new refrigerator. The old one is still here, growing mold, because
I can't get it out of my house.

------
tezza
I appreciate the geek aspect to this.

However I do feel he could have achieved the same result a simpler way.

1\. Repair the original part in a basic fashion

2\. Make a silicon cast of the repaired original part. The original will have
been injection molded, so try to use their mold separation lines as a guide
for where your separation line should be

3\. Spilt out to make a mould

4\. Pour in resin to make an very exact replica. The place where the original
was broken will be replaced with functional resin

5\. De-mold and put in place.

This guy makes his own rubics cube style puzzle via this method and documents
it well:
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i-HXU4cfvdc](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i-HXU4cfvdc)

~~~
mattmanser
How is this simpler? Seems a lot more complex to me.

In his story he sat down at his computer for a while and did what he needed. A
couple of trips to town later it was done.

In your story he needs to get a bunch of messy stuff, using tools and
processes he has no knowledge of, of which even stage one I don't know where
to start.

I don't understand how you think that is simpler!

~~~
tezza
What you say has merit. My suggestion is not simpler for everyone. There is a
free time - experiment space - messiness tolerance elrequirement that you
point out.

But if you have free time, have a bit of free space like a shed and can
tolerate a bit of mess, then my way could be simpler

------
olivermarks
For something like this simple plastic non load bearing cap you could just
press the broken one in a wad of plasticine then pour molten polystyrene or
similar plastic into the mould. A lot cheaper and simpler than 3d printing...

------
noonespecial
The very first thing I did with my printer is go on a repair binge. Modelling
a tiny gear in Blender (having done 0 autocad since college) and fixing a
little toy felt like my first "hello world" on a C64. Magical.

I then had a moment of silence for all of the super-glue messes of my
childhood that never fixed anything and a touch of envy for my own kids
growing up in what to my 10yo self would seem a Star Trek future.

~~~
voltagex_
I've got no CAD skills whatsoever - how would I go about creating a
replacement for the back of a remote that's cracked?

It's similar to the back of [http://www.ebay.com/itm/Panasonic-Remote-Control-
EUR644862-C...](http://www.ebay.com/itm/Panasonic-Remote-Control-EUR644862-CD-
Stereo-System-tested-works-/262459882914) and I suspect the tiny gap at the
top is going to be my downfall.

~~~
noonespecial
I fixed 2 remotes with missing battery covers. The secret to getting a good
result seemed to be not trying to duplicate exactly what is missing but
reimagine the part a little to take advantage of what 3d printing brings.

In both cases, I first modeled as best as I could the parts that I had (not
the parts I wanted to print) so that I could see the fit. On one remote, I
replaced the entire back, not just the battery cover because I just didn't
think my printer could create that thin curved shape. This came out awesome.
The second, instead of copying the missing cover exactly, I left much plastic
that an injection molder would not (ex between the batteries and set my infill
to 90% making a very solid, strong part that snapped in nicely.

Note: Blender has a learning curve like the side of Everest but there are
endless excellent video tutorials available on youtube to get you up to speed,
so don't despair when you open it the first time and literally can't even
navigate the view with your mouse.

~~~
mayoff
Instead of Blender for mechanical parts, try OnShape or Fusion 360.

------
zakalwe2000
Spoiler! Author is a mechanical engineer.

~~~
ojm
As the author did state write:

"While I only have experience drawing in 2D, how much harder could it be to
add one more D? Fairly hard, it turns out."

Being a mechanical engineer doesn't mean you automatically can draw 3D models
(and I should know, I was a mechanical engineer).

~~~
varjag
How come? I mean you sure can draw isometric views, is that such a huge leap?

------
dsfyu404ed
Stereotype reinforcement at it's finest. The mechanical engineer designs a
part in CAD, 3d prints a prototype and repeats until success is achieved. It's
the physical equivalent of the programmer automating a one time task. What a
shame no computer simulations were involved.

It would have been easier to go to the dump and spend five minutes looking at
the row or two of fridges to find the part or, failing that, find a suitable
chunk of plastic, cuts it down and makes the part and spend the rest of the
time fixing something else around the house instead of writing an article.

After working with everything from paper to plastic to wood to spring steel at
college I'm just gonna kill a few hundred birds with one stone and get a mill.
When you consider all the tools it replaces and how many different specialized
machines it can stand in for (including a 3d printer) in a pinch if its got a
big enough Z it seems like a no-brainer

