3D Printing for the Whole House

My Dad gave me one of the most amazing gifts imaginable. A 3D printer! The first time I remember seeing a 3D printer, was in Jurassic Park 3. Remember that? They printed the resonance chamber of a velociraptor. Wasn't called a 3D printer back then though. Okay, nerdy moment over. The next time I saw a 3D printer, was when I worked for Target. They were donating one to the School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine. We did art with the kids there. They would draw a picture that would be scanned in, and then it would 3D print it for them to feel their creation. I loved seeing what they wanted to make! Fast forward to now. I have my own. Thankfully, it does not rely on my artistic skills. There is this great website where people have already done the CAD work or scans and created the file to input into the printer. Though I wish I had remembered my Dads training in using CAD... There have been things I wished I could create. Thingiverse.com has become one of my favorite places to browse through. I've even made gifts for family from it. 

When we first received it, we were printing little things. My husband made extensions to add to the printer. I printed various things for the girls' and I to use with our dolls. Since then, our collection of prints has just grown!

Since moving, I have been printing upgrades to this old house of ours. Starting with a different light switch cover in every room.

Yes, this switch flips like a mad scientist one and even makes a clicking noise while doing so. I have walked by my husband just in time to hear him switching it on while crying out, "We have light! Muhahaha" 

Painting is out of our budget right now. So these walls are getting just a temporary beautification until we have a little more funding to change the cosmetics. Ugly orange from the... what? 70's? Meet Star Wars!

I really can't wait to redo the kitchen. Especially the cabinets. *shudders* Why they thought orange was a cool color back in the day, I'll never understand. However, at the very least, my kitchen has been taken over by Star Wars. Salt and pepper shakers, oven mitt gloves, knife set - I have pulled out all my Star Wars aesthetics to really make it home in there. And this plate cover just adds icing to the cake for me.

And then my second love, Steampunk, is also being introduced. How could I not have some of that in our new home? Sadly, not all prints work as well as they are claimed to. This one is stuck in this position. Not functioning, despite my husbands efforts to adjust it. But it works out. This one controls a fan that is left on all the time to keep the kitchen cool. 

This one is still a work in progress as we have to adjust how to hang it better. For now, this was the engineers fix my husband came up with. There is nothing to attach it by except command strips. My husband is waiting for the day when he can use it to prank someone.

One by one, our light switch covers around the house are slowly being shifted from plain to nerdy! I have a Nintendo controller plate for the game room. The girls have a unicorn. Boys have a lovely Legend of Zelda plate. We even have a key ring hook for the first time ever in Zelda theme.

I've printed stands to hold my sons geode slices, and plan to print another one for a hand-painted plate that my husbands Great Grandpa gave me. 

This is just around the home. There are so many other amazing things you can 3D print. Like Christmas gifts! This year, Christmas is not going to be the same. One, we are in a town at least 6 hours from anyone we know. Two, we be broke. Let me rephrase, before I get frantic phone calls and my husband revokes my blogging rights - we have what we need to get by paycheck to paycheck. Not for extras. I really miss having that small cushion we had before the move. However, I'm glad to have the home of my dreams. So I'd say it is a fair switch off. But that means that unless I make the gift myself or find something super cheap for a person on our list, they are getting nothing more than a card this year. Which isn't so bad. I have plenty of filament in various colors. The trick has been finding something for each person. The second trick will be getting the gifts either mailed or delivered to them... I'm still working on a plan for that. 

There are so many ideas on there! I even found things that are customized to have unusual names on there. That is something you hardly find in stores. 

My son loves the Halo game ships. So I printed these and hung them from the ceiling for him. See that gas station set he has? For his birthday, we are giving him accessories to add to it. Including a car lift like they would have in the garage to lift the car and work under it. 

What do you think? Are you impressed where technology has gone? I know I am! I can't wait to see what other creations I can make.