These 3D prints will convert non believers

Some people think 3D printing is a useless technology and hobby. Quite frankly, they are just wrong. In this video, I present a range of 3D prints to convert non believers. While not every 3D print is useful, many 3D prints have a positive, meaningful impact on our daily lives. This ranges from convenience, hobbies and even life changing medical technology.

The next time someone dismisses 3D printing as a meaningless activity, send them to this video.

A big thanks to Liam from Astroprinter for collaborating on this video. The following links are relevant:

0:00 Introduction

0:43 Trinkets with value

2:20 Making things not possible any other way

3:48 Education

4:56 Prototypes

5:53 Making hobbies better

7:44 Functional and replacement parts

9:43 Things that you just can’t buy:

10:50 Changing people’s lives

11:35 Conclusion

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[j.a.]

It's a shame how many people don't know the immense satisfaction that comes from having a custom part that you designed, fit perfectly with a real world object. It never gets old.

[theofficialczex]

I have a friend who's allergic to certain metals. She had injured her forearm, and the brace her insurance would pay for had metal components that directly contacted her skin. I designed and printed replacements in CF-filled PC, and they worked perfectly.

[iandawkins]

My Ender 3 paid for itself in the first nine months simply printing replacement parts as you have done or printing custom electrical project boxes. I am lucky as I can use CAD but you hit the nail on the head, it's important getting people interested in designing there own parts. Respect and many thanks for the work you put in for the community.

[rickclaussen]

A neighbor needed replacement knobs for her cooktop. The manufacturer wanted $75 for each one of 5. The originals were made of cheap thin plastic. I found a design online that was close enough to match, I used a CAD program to make them thicker and stronger and printed them for less than $1 each.

[Martial-Mat]

I totally agree that printing things that you can't buy is invaluable. I printed parts for my mototorcycle and my outdated alarm system. I also LOVE printing scans of classic sculptures.

[knoopx]

the key to 3d printing is learning cad. once you do then it becomes an invaluable tool.

[scotthoffmaster]

Only thing you left out...is the community that surrounds 3d printing. Awesome people like you and so many others that give so freely of yourself to enlighten and teach. The word thanks seems inadequate but..thanks! Im also a huge car guy and the printed airbox is probably one of my favorite videos of yours thats as much educational as it is entertaining.

[PatriotAr]

I feel that the usefuless of a 3D printer sort of grows as you learn more.
For example learning how to use Fusion 360 is a game changer.

[J_Madison]

For 95% of people, 3D printing is all about spending way too much money to make cheap trinkets you wouldn't bother buying in a store. For the remaining 5% or so who actually design custom stuff and print it.. well, my hats off to you.

[andrewhofmann]

I bet you were a cool teacher back in the day. Glad you advocate for this tech, we need it!

[MostlyConfused]

I bought my Ender without really knowing what I was getting myself into, as I have zero technical background. But after a couple years I have a bunch of things I designed on tinkercad and printed to use around the house, holders and such - my favourite is actually a super simple set of feet that clip on to my modern steel weld table and protect my floor from scratching - not a chance in the world to buy these off shelf, and I've just designed and printed a set of sanding dics dispensers for a friend. Teaching Tech has been with me since the beginning of my printing journey, and a fair chunk of credit for all this goes to Michael.

[one-man-band]

I can't wait for the CAD video, as a 3d printing fan, designing my own parts is definitely my biggest shortcoming.

[WeekdayWeekend]

7:36 That constellation model for the vision-impaired is a simply amazing idea. He should be extremely proud.

[Hilmi]

Astronomy and 3D printing are a match made in heaven, so many custom adapters needed to connect equipment from different manufacturers. I have made solar filter holder I custom designed, hand controller brackets and so many other accessories

[bunni]

Hey Michael, thanks for everything you do. Mentioning that some things can only be created with additive manufacturing is great but but I feel that you've overlooked some of the most valuable applications related to this. Unless clients have previous experience with AM like aerospace users, I find that many people and organizations still need substantial convincing that "3D printing" is even something to be taken seriously and some seem to think it's new or a fad, remaining ignorant of the half a century of tremendous work and research that got us to where we are today. Hopefully the examples I provide can help shed light on the reality. I'm not sure how AM got this reputation of being a hobby thing, but there is a **lot** more to it.
Starting at the simplest level, yourself and many of your viewers probably have products in your homes right now produced on factory equipment and continuous production processes I've upgraded with my 3D printed parts. Amazon boxes and packaging for food for example... Lots of the people reading this will likely have one of these things sitting in arm's reach right now. One of the ways we protect employees and improve flow is by using air transfer tables to hover thousands of pounds of material so you can move it with a finger instead of wrecking your back or using a ton of electricity. My air transfer nozzles make this possible at vastly reduced cost, enabling the small factories who produce these boxes to afford such upgrades and compete with the big outfits for contracts. Also, I build automation control systems such as touch screen equipped microcomputers to run these giant machines. Since I build everything from the PCBs and operating systems up to the final product, nobody makes mounting hardware, screen bezels, suitable electronics cases, etc. Rather than pay $50, 000+ for tooling to injection mold something (useless, since they're all different) I can simply spend a handful of hours to design the parts needed, print them, test, and integrate them for end use in the factory. Mounts for other hardware, safety shields, cable guards, routing for air tubing and many other things benefit from this as well. I've spent over 6 years improving the production process on my own equipment to be able to reliably produce end use products which does come with a cost, but now I can make fancy things on inexpensive machines similar to an Ender 3 that big fab houses claim are unprintable and HPee and Strat-ahem printers simply *can't* produce due to the limitations of these systems. I've actually never printed a toy for anyone but my cats but I've produced automotive parts which were unobtainable like you mentioned, many tools for fabrication, medical and robotics components, and weapon safety improvements to name a few.
Having worked in medicine for over a decade as well, I'd like to point out that 3D printed PEEK orthopedic implants are *the* ideal solution which can be customized for the individual patient, capable of achieving a flexural modulus similar to bone and better wear and rejection characteristics than titanium alloys. In some cases like pediatric cranial plates, 3D printing is the only practical solution. Models for surgeons to practice with before a procedure can be produced from actual CT/MR images of the patient in advance and used to reduce risk and improve outcomes, and to better inform the patient as well as biomedical equipment manufacturers assisting the team.
The US Army now deploys with 3D printers to assist various missions, and replacement parts for Air Force aircraft can be produced on the spot without risking more lives, equipment, and money to send them to the site. Printed components allow me to design RADAR systems which have uniquely controllable beam paths, and the equipment I provide laser cutting and marking services with is largely printed in-house. Additive structures built by similar machines economically produce disaster shelters, homes, and agricultural structures in place to make basic survival more affordable, less harmful, and more energy efficient but that isn't exclusively using polymers.
Given the complexity, serious nature, and how little most AM processes really have in common with printing, I really have a problem with the term "3D printing" in general. This isn't printing, you don't click "print" and magic comes out, it is nowhere near as trivial as that and "printing" seems to imply creating a visual representation of something. While this *can* be a use case for additive, that's like calling a freight train a cat litter carrier but I'm sure that is all my cats think they're good for. Engineers are just too busy solving problems or too constrained by the business and governmental requirements for secrecy to make videos about it, but I wish YouTube would quit perpetuating the concept that "printing" is simply for D&D, airsoft, and cosplay - this is absolutely untrue.
I hope that content creators like yourself will cover some of these practical use cases in more depth in the future, and the fun and importance of becoming additive manufacturing technologists rather than consumers and printer collectors. Sadly, sponsored content may be paradoxically throwing fuel on the fire. I appreciate your policy on sponsored content, but I think it can create a conflict of interest for some. To earn money by working in manufacturing restricts your ability to make content about making, but becoming sponsored may imply that some creators should not talk about the important reasons why the all new XYZ printer mod is useless if you would just learn about how the machine works. Guys, you don't *need* any of the crap they keep trying to sell you. They're quick solutions to problems you can easily solve yourself. Sure, some are well designed and it doesn't get *easier* than buying something. However, nobody can sell you a better machine than you can learn to design, they can only sell you what they're capable of mass producing at a profit and that often comes with hidden costs necessary to sustain their business models.
If you really like the technology behind the making then remember the spirit of RepRap and the whole point of the contemporary movement was for people to learn to build and improve the industry and the world, not to buy things designed by the community which are being sold as if they were developed by the silly brand names they sometimes represent. An "Ender 3" or a "Prusa i3" is basically just a kit for building a RepRap Mendel without having to source parts, have friends who are already CNC nerds, or learn a hundred things to get started. They're a starting point on a journey, not the destination so look beyond the retail solutions and think about how *you* can solve problems. If you made it through all that, thanks for reading lol.

[timplett]

A year or so ago I was looking into commercial grade 3d printers, trying to get my workplace to invest in one. Apparently it is very common for the large automakers (in North America at least) to not carry little/no spare parts for their assembly lines. They instead have a high end FDM 3d printer as well as a metal 3d printer. When a part breaks, they simultaneously start printing a replacement in plastic, one in metal, as well as order the proper replacement part. Depending on the part, the plastic one is complete in under a day and the line resumes operation. The metal one will take 2-3 days, and once it is complete it is installed and the plastic one is discarded. Finally, once the proper replacement arrives, it will be installed, and the metal 3d print is often kept as a quick stand-in for future breakdowns. 3d printing allows them to not have to keep large amounts of money tied up in spare parts for every possible breakdown, but still reduces the impact of any breakdown. If it's useful for large scale manufacturing, I think it's more than a useless toy.

[jackkiwi]

I found 3 D printing 2 yrs ago and as a 80 year old I love it . I have learnt how to do CAD drawing and design and make things that I want and also my wife . I started in engineering when I was 16 yrs old as an ophthalmic instrument maker and after a lot of different engineering jobs ended up in aircraft maintenance building gas turbine engines. I have two printers now both highly modified, I just load the file into octoprint and press the GO button, very satisfying.

[juicycoding]

Hey Michael! Great Video! One thing to add is Makers Making Change. It simply is a way for makers to help others with disabilities by 3d printing or manufacturing accessibility technologies. Think of it like asking a freelancer with 3d printers and cad knowledge to produce a part to help them use their computer mouse

[jon]

I work for a fortune 100 company and we use 3D printing all the time. We have a $50 million lab dedicated to additive manufacturing with dozens of printers including huge Stratasys FDM and metal printers. We have used these to make parts that are simply impossible with standard manufacturing techniques, to make tools & fixtures at a fraction of traditional costs, prototype ergonomics for same day iterative design... the list goes on and on. At this point anyone who thinks 3d printing is a gimmick is just ignorant.

[sysghost]

Whenever I meet a non-believer, I simply show them my electric scooter that I just arrived in riding on. It's filled with 3D printed parts such as extra battery holders, Display protection cover, mudflaps, extra turn light extender (made of TPU), phone mount, extra hooks to hang grocery bags on, lock-wire holder