So I was having a conversation with my better half last night and was all excited to tell her about what I’ve been working on and how I’ve been tuning my printer. When I said I needed to go to Home Depot to grab a paving block (for vibration dampening) she commented “man this hobby is getting expensive… and you don’t even print much other than to upgrade the printer”… which is true for now as I’m still tuning and learning.
BUT it occurred to me that to keep the buy-in on all my shenanegans I need to start printing stuff that she would immediately see the value and usefulness of. So I’m thinking maybe starting with a laundry detergent drip cup or something but I’m curious what else my fellow 3D Printing cohort has printed or is planning to print to keep their significant other happy that they have their printers. There are no wrong answers
Yes… Laundry and Vacuum attachments will more than likely make you homeless. Perhaps something that lets you complete a “Honey Do” list item… hanging pictures with printed doodads… or something along those lines.
My qualifications: Successfully married to the same woman for 41 years.
It feels like at least half of my recent prints are my SO’s idea
For the garden: plant name stakes, mini trellises, plant stands, plant pots and starter pots.
Around the house: key and wallet holder, custom utensil holders, shelf brackets, cable organizers, bin clips, vaccum attachments.
There are also some of the one off stuff, like a giant chungus garden gnome, rings and hair clips (resin printer), occupied sign for the bathroom, toothbrush holster, a comb, decor… The list goes on… I swear the more you look around our place the more 3D printed things you’ll see…
I designed and printed a series of earrings for my better half, she painted them an appropriate colour for her wardrobe. Happy Wife=Happy Life (and more 3D printing purchases).
My wife writes books and edits other people’s books as a hobby, so I made her a sign to put over her work area.
I also took a look at her bathroom counter and custom made an organiser so that various items could be stacked vertically rather than horizontally.
She works in a daycare, so I’ve made any number of pre-school appropriate toys for her to bring in and a set of custom, stackable boxes to put them in. I’ve had requests from her co-workers for their own sets.
Anything that fixes something broken always scores points here. My wife has an ikea closet for storing out of season clothes, one of the brackets broke. Printing the replacement made her very happy.
Also made a set of paper craft tools for twilling.
Baby Yodas have been quite popular. There are lots of custom versions of those, pretty much any occasion.
Custom cookie cutters are a winner if she likes to bake.
other than that, I use the printer to fix any appliance or doo dad I need around the house.
Other part you have to remember, I print things for the kids all the time, Its like xmas every day. And it keeps them busy and out from under my wife’s feet
Knob on the dryer broke.
We have an appliance place 5 minutes walk from my house.
Was going to go there and buy new one, then the says “You have 6 3D printers upstairs, can’t you make 1?’” So measured the half round peg from the switch and did a quick Tinkercad knob.
2 Years on and it’s still holding up.
I don’t have an SO. solo here, I like the bakers cube I use mine for thick liquids like honey but it gets super messy dry stiff is best.
I don’t make many doodads that have no purpose. I have a corner shower shelf that is very useful and gets used a lot. Repaired the fridge crisper drawer, also very glad, repaired the nespresso and soda stream. I would suspect these would go over well too.
Can I say that this topic and content of this post and the replies would be seen as sexist by many women? I guess there aren’t any women on this list but I would think that a husband justifying a tool by making laundry drip catchers, vacuum attachments, toothbrush holders, earrings, cookie cutters, measuring cups is something that I would expect from the plot of a '60s sitcom.
From @SpaceMoose wife’s comments, I’m wondering if maybe the best solution would be for you to invite her into your man cave and spend some time explaining the 3D printing process and teach her how to design her own pieces and make them? Bring her in rather than try to buy her off.
Sorry, if I offended anybody, but I really cringed when I read the posts here.
I’m just pulling this. I wish there was an easy solution there isn’t. It is not the right place. My opinions are influenced by my personal history. I am just going to say that those with long term significant others cherish and respect them always.
I have to chime in as well. In the age of being politically correct, I would agree that some people may get offended. However, anyone that is here often knows that by my posts I am about as far from a sexist as you get. Anywhere in this post, you can freely exchange Wife/Husband the reality is it’s totally exchangeable. I have out of 100 customers that come in the store it’s the husband that prints and their wife is usually not interested and along for the ride. This is not being sexist, not by any stretch this is just what I see. Of those 100 pairs of customers, 3-5 of them would be the Wifes looking for parts/Printers and the husbands are along for the ride. Works the same both ways.
Now IF I said that “women should not be 3d printing”, That is a sexist statement and I would gladly take the ugly that would come along with it. Believe me, I would get more of it from my wife than anyone.
Just because I/We make reference to our Wifes/Husbands doe not make us sexist it makes us real people. If I thought there was anything here that would insult more people than not I would be the first one to pull it down.
On a bit of a personal note, I refer to my wife because that is the most accurate description there is. I am not going to start referring to her as a gender-neutral “partner”, “significant other” or “spouse”.
Speaking as a wife who was first introduced by her husband to 3D printing - honestly the best thing he ever did was send me to Thingiverse just let me go through the pages of things that you can print. You really see the versatility of a printer when you can see the 100s upon 100s of different files already available to you. Let your SO choose a few things to print and they will soon see the benefit of a 3D printer! That’s how I got hooked! Once I was asking for stuff to be printed, I became more interested in the process and more interested in learning about the process. And now I work at 3D Printing company. LOL.
No they should just get their own damn printer and leave ours alone!
I just finished printing a knife sharpening rig to do the kitchen Knives. I doubt I will be able to get her to use it so that will be up to me. Will I get any brownie points, NO!
The real division here is the 3d printer people vs. the ones that are not 3d printer people Not men/women/husbands/wives/whoever. We have to keep our biases straight and on target here! LOL
Not men/women/husbands/wives/whoever. We have to keep our biases straight and on target here! LOL