10 gift ideas for 3D printing enthusiasts
“What do you want me to give him? – He can 3D print anything!” – “Oh nooo!”
Gift willing person about a 3D printing enthusiast
You need to give something to a person who does not want much and otherwise can actually make the rest yourself? Or, you want to do something good for yourself and push your 3D printing hobby to the next level?
Then this article is sure to have something for you.
Here come 10 gift ideas for 3D printing enthusiasts:
(Or maybe it's just a nod to my own wife, maybe, hmm…. 😀 )
The most important facts in brief:
- We 3D printing enthusiasts first of all need material, a lot of material
- New collection boxes only make us happy if they match our old boxes
- Clamps, cable ties and cameras are also welcome
Gift idea: Filament
You've probably heard the term before when talking to 3D printing enthusiasts about 3D printing. Filament is the name of the material used for the FDM process.
Believe me.
Also, if someone already has 30 rolls in stock, one more roll is always better 😉
Special filaments are a little more expensive and that is why they are sure to come out many times better.
What you need to know:
What thickness of material is required? – Is the person receiving the gift using 1.75 mm or 2.85 mm filament?
You can easily find out by looking at the rolls. In fact, in almost all cases, this is written on the label. But you can also be the interested person and just ask:
“Say, do these rolls actually only come in this thickness?”
After that, you can pick out some filaments on the following pages, which I also recommend to others:
- 3D printer filament
- Best Bio Filament
- Best wood filament
- Best luminous filament
- Best multicolor filament
- Best metal filament
Yeah factor: High
Gift idea: collection boxes
Collection boxes?
Yes!
Over time, a 3D printing enthusiast accumulates reams of filament samples, tools and any odds and ends. Then it's quite nice when there's room for it. Filament, in particular, is really afflicted by ambient moisture. As a result, the material absorbs the moisture and the quality of it and the printed object suffers. When printing itself, you will then hear a kind of crackling sound. This is because small bubbles form and they burst when heated. Even if there are too many collection boxes, you can still use them elsewhere in the household.
Functional and inexpensive.
Great!
Buy there the well-known IKEA Samlaboxes or order the Rotho 1164908812 Roll Box Compact with lid and 4 stable rolls
* Stand: 2024-03-16 / Bilder: Amazon API
Yeah factor: Medium
Gift idea: camera Mintion Beagle
Ok, when I wrote the post was 2017 and Raspberry Pi + webcam (next idea), was the hot sh…. But that was so long ago that I now have a child and that child is debating with me about what to print…. It's fun 🙂
Be that as it may. There is now the Mintion Beagle camera. The name is unimpressive, but the functions are great. The presentee connects the camera to the 3D printer and from then on can control the entire process via app or from the desktop. This includes the printing process itself and the camera functions. Here you can create night shots without light and direct the printer as you see fit.
Also interesting is the fact that you can get the printer to pause between shifts and then create a time-lapse video from it at the end of the print. The list of compatible printers is getting longer and longer and the list of Slicershows how good the recognition in the scene is with:
- Ultimaker Cura,
- Creality Slicer,
- Simplify3D,
- Prusaslicer and
- Superslicer.
If you want to buy the camera, click on the following link and support threedom without paying a higher price yourself: Find Mintion Beagle at 3DJake
Yeah Factor: Very High
Gift idea: Raspberry Pi + Webcam
What can you do with it?
Explained very quickly. With a Raspberry Pi and a webcam it is nowadays possible to control 3D printers remotely. That's really something useful. If the recipient is at work and sees via webcam that the 3D printer is not printing as desired, the print can be stopped, paused or saved by changing the settings.
These two things can also be connected to the Sonoff S20 (see also the next point) and thus, for example, the 3D printer can also be switched off after a finished print.
* Stand: 2024-03-16 / Bilder: Amazon API
Yeah factor: High
Gift idea: “Remote control” sockets
Sometimes it's just enough to turn off the 3D printer when a print is finished. This was the case for me when I had a long print and was at work when it was completed. With the TP-Link HS110, it is possible to see if a print is ready even without a Raspberry Pi and webcam. The TP-Link HS110 measures the consumption and if there is nothing left to heat at the printer, it is of course very low. Thus, “remote monitoring” is possible.
* Stand: 2024-03-16 / Bilder: Amazon API
Yeah factor: High
Gift idea: cat litter / silicate gel
Huh?
Don't worry. Let me enlighten you.
As described above, filament (some materials more and some less) absorbs moisture in the air. So it's not just the quality that suffers. To keep the material dry, cat litter or silicate gel can be used. It is not even necessary to buy the expensive variants. You'll be surprised, but a 3D printing enthusiast can also enjoy something like this, unless 500 kg of the stuff are already stored 😉
Trixie Fresh`N Easy grit granules
* Stand: 2024-03-16 / Bilder: Amazon API
Yeah factor: Low (With cats in the household: Combo bonus)
Gift idea: WAGO terminals
“WAGO make me lose my mind, up in here Up in here”
I think DMX already rapped.
Even if this is not true and I misheard at the time, WAGO terminal blocks are always a great investment and they are one of those things that you can actually never have enough of. The 3D printing enthusiast uses these clamps to connect several cables together. The connection can also be quickly released and reused. I have linked two variants here, which are used very often.
* Stand: 2024-03-16 / Bilder: Amazon API
Yeah factor: Medium to High (Depending on stock ;))
Gift idea: crimping pliers
Speaking of cables. You can also connect them in other ways. This works great with so-called crimping pliers. It is then possible to crimp cable ends and thus ensure a secure hold of cables in sockets.
I show the here times a set with ferrules and a crimping pliers / universal pliers with connectors for this.
1)
* Stand: 2024-03-16 / Bilder: Amazon API
2)
* Stand: 2024-03-16 / Bilder: Amazon API
Yeah factor: High
Gift idea: Isopropanol
Don't worry, this is not meant to be some weird experiment at the end of which someone yells “I think we need a new Timmy”.
Isopropanol is a kind of panacea when it comes to cleaning a wide variety of surfaces and equipment. Consumption is increasing as the use of 3D printers increases. For example, I use isopropanol to clean the Pertinax plates that I use as a 3D printing substrate (see also Pertinax as a 3D printing substrate).
Isopropanol is available in single bottles or in sets of several bottles, with a lower price per bottle as a result.
* Stand: 2024-03-16 / Bilder: Amazon API
Yeah factor: Medium
Gift idea: 3D printing pen
This gift would not only be something for someone who already owns a 3D printer. Children in particular are delighted at trade fairs and events when they can “draw” things in the air with 3D printing pens. At the same time, of course, they need to be supervised, because the tips are very hot. For someone who owns 3D printers, this is certainly still a nice gift and is also helpful. We once scanned someone and printed them out. We overlooked the fact that there was a hole in the file. The person then had a hole in the head when printed. We were then able to patch this hole easily with a 3D printing pen.
You can find more 3D pens in the blog post: Buy 3D Pen – Which ones are available?
Yeah factor: High
Gift idea: scraper / spatula or similar.
Normally, scrapers/spatulas etc. are part of the basic equipment in the 3D printing area. If you give a 3D printer kit as a gift, you should also order something like this. For more tools, see 3D printing tools and accessories.
* Stand: 2024-03-16 / Bilder: Amazon API
Yeah factor: Low to medium
That was my list of gift ideas for the 3D printing enthusiast. With time I will expand it and if you know someone who owns a 3D printer, you can surely bring a small to big smile to their face 🙂
