3D printed solution to an everyday emergency – a broken knob on the dryer!

One of the great benefits of owning a 3D printer is that you can create spare parts. This knob is for an old Fridgidaire dryer, but it is easy to create a knob for just about anything with 3D modeling software. This particular one is created in Autodesk Inventor, which is a professional design software suite. However, there are free alternatives such as Tinker CAD. Tinker CAD is of course not nearly as sophisticated as Autodesk Inventor, but it is completely sufficient to create a dryer knob and other simple designs.

If you happen to have a Fridgidair dryer that is missing a knob, you can [...]

What do you do when the shifter knob in your truck breaks at Bonneville? 3D print a new one, of course!

Using the broken shifter knob for reference, I created the shape with CAD (Computer Aided Design) in Autodesk Inventor, and exported it as a 3D-printable .stl file.

I then printed the knob of NinjaTek SemiFlex, which is a very strong and relatively hard polyurethane rubber, on my Lulzbot TAZ 5 3D printer. The print took about 5 hours. Time-lapse video of the print below.

The knob was designed with a press fit, and by placing it in boiling hot water it became soft enough to easily be pressed onto the shaft. The presence of both duct tape and JB weld on [...]

There is nothing like MIG welding in slo-mo. I am building a shelf for KillaJoule’s second battery pack that will be mounted in the trailer. #GirlsCanWeldToo

What is there not to love with a 3D printed, two-color Easter Egg filled with candy?

If you are lucky enough to have access to a 3D printer, you can easily 3D print your own Easter Egg and fill it with candy. Creating egg-shaped objects in CAD can be a bit tricky, but ScienceEnvy contributor Eva Håkansson has already done the work for you. You can download the files for  free in both a single color and dual color version from Thingiverse.com. The original Autodesk Inventor files are also included in case you was to customize your egg, like we did by adding part of the ScienceEnvy logo.

The eggs shown in this post are all printed in PLA (Poly Lactic Acid), which is a [...]