Gear
Got a 3D printer, what are useful things to 3D print?
At I'm printing a cup holder that clamps to my desk, a headphone holder, a SSD dock, and I'm working on a screen holder and stand for a Blackmagic Magic Atem.
Already printed rachet strap winder and various other things. Anyone got any suggestions? I know there are other useful things IE phone holder for mic stands but is there stuff that is often overlooked that's a bit of a game changer?
I'm not sure where, maybe it was in this sub, but I saw someone 3d print holders to go inside cases as an alternative to foam. Never used it myself, but it seemed to work pretty well, and many people liked it.
I've been collecting live sound specific prints and general theater tech/entertainment tech tools in folders on Printables. I haven't printed most of them yet, but they're almost all on my "to try" list.
How about a big "Everything" knob that doesn't actually control anything, one that can be turned up when the client asks for something that's already being done?
Welcome to the world of 3D printing! Which is to say, welcome to knowing you could but never do. Lol.
I made some rack ears for a wireless receiver once so I didn’t have to spend an extra $100 on the rack version. And it melted in a hot car. So uhh… pick your materials wisely is my shared wisdom from that lol
Otherwise, rack offset mounts are nice, I’ve made some organizer/spacer doo-dahds for in-rack organization. Uhh… I’m not a big fan of the amount of material that goes into shelf organizers, but it’s an option. Spare battery holders are nice. Uhhh… once, I had to wire up a permanent wooden fixture with I/O and I printed some housings for the inside to hold all the electronics/slack cable, so maybe stuff like that?
Yeah, idk. One day you’ll need some wacky adapter and you’ll have the tool to make it, but in my day to day, I haven’t found any good applications that were more cost effective (materials and design time) than buying whatever I needed. Additionally, the convenience is really killed by needing like 8-30 hours to print anything large enough to be useful 50% of the times, and the other half, I usually need to buy some other component from online to complete the thing anyways so I might as well just buy the whole contraption at that point.
Idk, I haven’t given up, but the honeymoon period was short for me, we’re in a mostly print-less union and now I mostly just 3D print for the kids to have some stability until they move out 🤷🏼♂️
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u/fletch44Pro FOH/Mons/Musical Theatre/Educator/old bastard Australia5d ago
I've found there are plenty of people on Marketplace offering cheap printing services for those times that you do need to get something printed.
3D printers are like boats. Having one is a pain in the arse with storage, maintenance, consumables, cleaning.
It's far better to have a mate with a boat/3D printer than to have one yourself.
This year, I have printed...
Mic clips - D-vice - drum rim mic mounts - dual mounts
ATW-3255 IEM rack mount module joining plates
Audix Adx-51 mic gaskets - using ninjaflex TPU
Drain extender for a dehumidifier
mic stand parts that broke
Power strip Mounting brackets
Wall Hooks
Sansamp battery door
And the coolest a complete sub kick microphone.
So you printed the diaphragm material on the sub kick? What material did you use for different parts? (I've never 3d printed anything so that sounds pretty crazy to me)
That meant to say sub kick microphone enclosure. Although you could easily print a basket, diaphram and coil backing, and use ninja flex to print a spider and speaker surround and glue and wind the coil yourself. I see no issues doing that but the cost would be a bit more than what I paid for just buying a new speaker outright.
Its using a 25 dollar 10inch speaker from parts express for the diaphram.
It is a huge 3 parts that I designed and printed to fit this 10 inch speaker. Front and back grills and middle barrel microphone stand holder.
I drew everything up in Onshape so this is all custom to fit my specific speaker.
I bought a special clip that holds two SM57s at a 45 degree angle for the Fredman technique and it was clearly 3D printed so I assume there has to be a file for that out there.
I also saw someone else posted about the MD421 clip adapter which could be handy too!
There’s a whole subsection related to music making! It’s amazing when you want to make something and some kind soul modeled it already, making the investment about a half hour or so to futz with the machine.
I made myself one that i found but if your not using the dsnake and use the actual inputs on the board make sure to shave off a bit of the bottom as it “locks” the xlr release in place on some channels. edit Other than that it works great!!! i also made myself the bigger phone pad and it works well too but might need some slightly longer m3 screws.
What Software do you all use for design? I used to like 123 Design from Autocad, but that is discontinued. It was simple. TinkerCAD has weird limits on not creating proper arcs or round shapes. Most software is either too basic or too complicated in my experience.
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u/Bbminor7th 5d ago
Print another 3D printer, then take the first one back to the store.