this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2025
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Still cheaper than getting a 3D printer and filament and stuff. And CAD/CAM software.
The type of person to do this most likely already has a 3d printer, and cad software is free for personal use. The electricity and filament cost for this part would be a few cents and it would take minutes to print on modern printers
Even if you didn't have a 3d printer it would be significantly cheaper to use a 3d printing service to order the part, than to buy OEM replacement knob
Also a high probability they have a 3D printer and are super excited for something useful to do with it.
It's true that you should not expect to save money in the short or long run with 3d printing as a hobby, but if it's your thing then it's nice to have a hobby that's occasionally useful. Also, autodesk fusion is free for consumer use.
I wouldn't say I've made back my investment on 3D printing in the past half a decade I've done it. But in terms of "prints for friends" like this one above I may be close. Plus there's just something nice about going "I need a measuring cup for dog food" and printing one to the exact serving size.
What food-safe printing materials do you use?
I just use PLA. PLA itself is good safe, but occasionally the additives aren't, so I don't use any for human related stuff. It's also worth considering that the layered approach can allow for bacterial growth, so unless you treat it (e.g. epoxy seal it), you'll need to wash it fairly frequently to curb buildup.
That frequent washing is what leaks out the nasty chemicals from the plastic fyi. Heat and mechanical stress are the main way plastics leach
To be fair, that's the case with pretty much all plastics.
Tupperware shouldn't be used to reheat food in the microwave for the same reason, yet that's it's most common use generally.
Untreated PLA is more brittle than commercial food-safe plastics though, that is true.
Software is free if you aren't using it for commercial use. Fusion 360, onshape, etc. are all free for personal use. And that's assuming someone didn't make it already and share it free.
Filament costs $17 for 1kg of perfectly fine plastic. You'd probably use 100g at most for this, so $1.70.
A Bambu A1 mini is $200, and is a modern, high quality printer that would be fine for this project.
So you only need like a half dozen of these projects to come out ahead.
On software SIDE, kinda criminal not to mention FreeCAD, it's FOSS and runs on Linux, unlike the non-free freemium and paid alternatives
But it's got a long way to go before it's at usable as the others. Definitely not a good place to start learning cad.
No, it doesn't.
The recent 1.0 release is actually very good. It is probably better at this point than some of the entry level commercial options and most importantly compared to those is not intentionally hobbled in any way.
The time for everyone to stop parroting how "everyone knows" that FreeCAD is unusable is... now. You can go ahead and delete that one; it's time to learn a new soundbyte.
Come on. The 1.0 release is a huge milestone, but saying it's better than the entry level commercial options is just disingenuous.
I have actually switched over to it because I run a small 3D printing business as a side income, which isn't nearly profitable enough to afford an onshape license, and although Fusion360 has an affordable startup license it simply won't work on Linux and my hackintosh laptop isn't powerful enough for cad.
It is at a point where it is very usable if you are willing to invest the time needed to learn it, but the learning curve is much, much steeper than that of OnShape or Fusion360, especially if it is your first CAD program. There is also a huge lack of beginner tutorials for it, and the documentation is intended for advanced users, which complicates the learning curve even further, because Fusion360 and OnShape have a huge amount of beginner tutorials for them.
For a hobbyist that just wants to model a few things and not sell them I would always recommend OnShape or Fusion360 over FreeCAD, or even Tinkercad if said person just wants to model extremely simple things.
Is it much different from 7 months ago?
https://youtu.be/J--QVhGheP4 https://youtu.be/p8Pk1ayx6LQ
Yes. The 1.0 release was in November. That Ondsel fork in your video was based on, I believe, the 0.22 version.
The 1.0 release actually prompted Ondsel to shut down entirely, as they are now largely redundant and attempting to monetize a FOSS program was probably doomed from the start anyway...
That's good to know, I guess I'll give it a try again.
Nah it's a great place to start learning, it's super easy to start modelling your first simple models in part design.
It's the more complex designs where it starts to struggle (or maybe I'm just bad idk)
Nah it's not you, FreeCAD is perfectly usable for something like the above referenced knob but even mid-size assemblies really have problems. I personally find the workflow to be bad and irritating beyond my ability to express in words and I can't imagine how frustrating it would be as a new user to work it out for yourself while at the same time getting used to thinking of objects as collections of operations. It's a great lightweight program for people who already know what they're doing and that value FOSS, though. 1.0 really fixed a ton of the issues, but it still has the "Blender UX" problem that seems to plague all big FOSS projects...
To be clear, I'm the last one to say one shouldn't invest in money saving innovation. But the breaking even should be number one priority. I, for instance have all kinds of energy savers in my house that have cost me several hundreds. They'll only be returned in a few years and I need to manage them properly.
If you do not have a 3D printer and CAD software, you are 100% right.
If you already have those things like OP, then why not just design / print one? I am also a 3D printer / CAD person, and I love designing replacement parts that are wither too expensive, or often impossible to find. Mostly though, I design and print things that make my and my families lives easier / nicer / more convenient. And they are customized to the exact item and function, something that you would most likely never be able to get in a store or online.
Stove Knob guards. https://www.printables.com/model/278668-stove-knob-guard
Salt / Pepper Grinder Holder. https://www.printables.com/model/155219-salt-and-pepper-grinder-caddy
Spice Jar Organizer. https://www.printables.com/model/151171-spice-jar-spacer-organizer
Just to name a few things.
One doesn't buy a 3D printer to make a knob. One is suddenly presented with a need for a knob (or a thingy, or a flangle, or a twizzlet...) and suddenly remembers, "hey - I have a 3D printer." Followed by "I wonder if there are any matching designs in one of the several massive free databases of models."
Followed by getting out the calipers and opening OpenSCAD