Last year I started collecting ideas of things I would like to 3D print one day, on Twitter. Twitter is fundamentally ephemeral, so I'll collect it here instead. I got up to 14 items on Twitter, and now I'm up to 25.

I don't own a 3D printer, but I have access to one at the work office. Perhaps this list is my subconcious trying to convince me to buy one.

What am I missing? What else should I be thinking of printing? Let me know!

  1. Some kind of 45° leaning prong to dry bottles and flasks on
  2. A tea tray and coasters
  3. a replacement prop arm/foot for my computer keyboard (something like this but for the Lenovo Ultranav)
  4. some attempted representation of Borges’ Library of Babel, a la @jwz The Library of Babel, again
  5. an exploration of the geometry of Susanna Clarke’s “Piranesi”
  6. further iterations of my castle
  7. Small tins to keep loose-leaf tea in

  8. Who am I kidding, bound to be a map from DOOM. E1M1 perhaps, or something more regular (MAP07? E2M8?)

    See also this amazing print of Quake 3: Arena's "Camping Grounds"

  9. replacement bits for kids toy sets, e.g. a bolt with long shank from Early Learning Centre Build It Deluxe Set, without all 4 of which you can't build much of anything

  10. A stand for a decorative Christmas bauble (kid's hand print on it)

    A roll of cellotape works pretty well in the mean time

  11. DIY bits-and-bobs sorter/storage (nuts and bolts etc)

  12. A space ship from Elite/Frontier. Probably a Cobra mk3 or maybe a Viper mk2. In a glow-in-the-dark PLA which i’d overpaint with gunmetal except for the fuselage

  13. A watch stand/holder/storage thing

    Except it would look nicer in wood

    (And I’m more inclined to get rid of all but one watch instead)

  14. Little tabbed 7” dividers for vinyl records, with A-Z cut into the tabs

    12” ones might be a stretch

    (something like this)

  15. A low-profile custom trackpoint cover like the ones by SaotoTech (e.g.)

  16. A vinyl record. (Not sure that any 3D printer I would have access to would have the necessary resolution. I haven't done any research yet.)

  17. A free-standing inclined vinyl record display stand (e.g.)

  18. A "Settlers of Catan" set. I've got the travel edition which is great but it would be nicer to have a larger-sized set. There are some things I really like about the travel set that the full-size set lacks; so designing and printing a larger set myself could incorporate them. Also I don't feel inclined to buy the full-size set for £50 or so to end up with essentially the same game I already bought. No doubt I'd spent at least that much in PLA.

  19. Little kids trinkets. Pacman ghosts, that sort-of thing. Whatever my daughters come up with next.

  20. Lego storage/sorters.

  21. Some kind of lenticular picture. Perhaps a gift or Christmas card combined in one.

  22. A bracket to install a Gotek drive in my Amiga 500 (e.g.). I've managed without but the fit isn't great.

  23. An attempt at using the 3D printer for 2D drawing. I would never get the same kind of quality results you can get from a proper plotter, but still… Take a look at some proper plotter art!

  24. Garden decorations. I like the idea of porous geometric shapes that you can plant mosses or ferns into, but also things which might be taken over and "used" by nature in ways I hadn't thought of.

  25. Floor plans / 3D plans of my house (including variations if I remodelled)