To be honest most of the parts I print are called something like: "bracket" "holder" "mount" "adapter" "..." and I designed each of them for one very specific purpouse around my house.

One of the strongest tools in 3D printing is the community. One of the friendliest and most helpful hobby group I’ve come across.

It's always good to see 3D printing used for something other than fantasy models or skull heads! Modelling your own engineered parts is great fun and failure teaches you a lot about real-world problems.

When measuring hole centres, you're better off measuring inside and outside dimensions with the inside and outside anvils of the calipers, adding them together and dividing by 2. This works even if the holes are different sizes! You can then check if it's made in the USA and see if that rounds to an inch fraction or metric size. If it's really close, use the rounded size because it's almost certainly going to be what the size is.

Awesome! Often when I'm worried about hole placement like that, I'll print a

Brackets and electronic housing is basically what I use my printer for the most, it’s extremely useful and convenient. You could have used a 45° chamfer over the bolt holes instead of fillets to save the need to use support material.

a really useful trick when measuring things is to try both metric and inches, to see if one of them is close to a round number. most products will have regular dimensions so it's likely that e.g. 76.21mm is actually 5 inches and the item was designed using imperial units. this can make figuring out dimensions a lot simpler (and of course you can convert all the units back to metric afterwards)

I've modelled at least 100 fixtures, jigs, adapters etc and you've taught this old dog a new trick. Thanks from Colorado. Woof woof

Aside from clamps and brackets for whatever needs mounting, I also use it to replace broken plastic parts, like broken knobs, lids and covers. Repairing stuff like a drying rack that's falling apart with some handy clamps works too. And you know that weird little corner on the stairs that you can't get to when vacuuming? There's probably already a custom nozzle for it you can just download and print. Finally, custom boxes and drawer compartments specifically made to fit stuff make everything much cleaner looking.

This is so true, the amount of joining things I have made, vacuum nozzle adaptors, GoPro attachments and all sorts of attachments.

Angus, I've been watching and enjoying you videos for quite a while. This is an example of why I like 3D modeling & printing, the ability to design and and fabricate something that can't be purchased. There is so much satisfaction in the results!

In recent times I've made a soap holder, a towel rack (Did use a wood dowel for the roller though) and the most recent thing was a shower caddy for a shower chair (I'm disabled) For that I did 0 top and 0 bottom layers and let the infill show through to give me drainage holes. 3D printing and designing in CAD has been everything I dreamed of growing up. I always had ideas but, not the ability to make them a reality. Going back to music, I also designed a holder for the Boss WL-20 wireless unit. So, 3D printing has been an absolute blast once I dialed everything in. Channels like yours have been an absolutely invaluable tool in learning about printing and all the things related to it. I am extremely grateful for all these tips and guides you give. Thank you.

OMG is that a TEAC 2A mixer I spy on the top rail? I still have mine. It was the first bit of kit I ever bought back in 1983 and it still works to this day! Never seen another one till now.

Nice work as usual Angus! One of my favorite 3d printing projects ever was designing custom pegboard mounts for all my tools and printing them. This reminds me of that process

What a fun way to present the design and print process from beginning to end. Great work as always Angus!

As a person who's two primary hobbies are 3D printing and synthesizers, this feels like it was made just for me.

Nicely done Angus, the hinge / locking mechanism is a beauty. Cheers, JAYTEE

Awesome tutorial! I really loved the elephant's foot tip with chamfering the bottom edges, I'm currently in a great deal of pain dealing with my Ender 3 max over this issue. I've tried all the tips I could find, and I need some precise parts printed out soon.

Starting on paper and recording dimensions before jumping into CAD is a top tip.

Designing simple solutions to daily annoyances is, imho, one of the most approachable aspects of 3D printing. My first designed piece was a replacement button for a broken gamepad, and my most recent one is a much simpler (compared to the default and for my case way too bulky gooseneck) mount to attach the pop shield to my mic. Also, since this was a problem for me for the longest time: If you can't get accurate measurements (or your measurements lead to slightly over-/undersized objects), obviously you have to accommodate for the peculiarities of your printer, like elephant's foot compensation etc, but before you reprint the whole thing, don't forget you don't need 100% accuracy; paper/ cardboard shims or a layer or two of duct tape can compensate for oversized holes, and unless you're taking off a _lot_ of material, sanding or drilling out undersized ones is a perfectly viable "good enough" solution. Sure, it's not perfect, but is perfection worth reprinting that +12h doodad that's not even meant to look particularly good? There's no generally right answer, but just ask yourself that question, y'know ;)

I like your attachment method. I probably would have designed it with a print in place hinge but your approach looks like it would be stronger.

It is *really* useful to see how others approach a new design. This video is pure gold.

The people that say that you can only print trinkets and such are the same people that have zero creativity. I use my 3D printer for all sorts of stuff. I made a new thumb pushbutton for my neighbors screen door, cup holders, microphone mounts. All sorts of things that just simply couldn't exist otherwise. Great project you have shown here. Thanks for another great video explanation. Cheers!

Another excellent video, Angus. It's great to see you posting more regularly again. I always learn something new from your content.

Most of my designs and prints are practical. Toys and kitsch are fun and all, but practicality is what brings me to the yard.

The screw hole tip via triangulation was awesome.. Also kudos to anyone who listens to music that sounds like Tangerine Dream! Nicely done.

Wow, that "triangulation of holes" trick was BRILLIANT! Thanks!

Nice design, and good tips! I work with a non-profit. In their building, one of their exhaust fans died. The unit was so old, there were no replacement parts for it. The problem was in the motor bushings, which had disintegrated over the years. So like you, I took measurements and then designed and 3D-printed replacements, saving the original fan and saving the group a few hundred bucks. The tech still amazes me.

Very cool. This might be the only place you can get great information combined with enjoyable original music. Thanks!

Hi, personally when I'm making something that has to fit something else I print a 1mm thick test print to make sure all the holes etc line up properly(ie checking I've measured properly). That way if there is a mistake you only waste a small amount of print time and materials. Nothing worse than printing something for hours only to find it doesn't fit.

That's awesome! Thank you so much for taking some of your personal time to explain all the process. Greatly appreciated.

For your bolts on the back, you could use a chamfer leading up to it instead of a fillet to 90 degree overhang and then you wouldn't need any support. It may not look as nice but you'd have a easier model to print in the end? Either way, good job!

Great Job, love your confidence and willingness to share! Once I get my enter 3 pro settled and ready I will joyfully steal that interlocking joint! Thanks Mr Muse!

I love making custom mounts for stuff, most of my recent printing has been making custom mounts for stuff to hang on my french cleat system or attach audio devices to my desk. Its super satisfying when everything has a well fitting place to go.

Very well explained Angus. Dovetail design, also chamfers detents etc. well done. You do have great content which I always enjoy.

Adapting things has been my primary use of 3D CAD and 3D printers since 2014. Great video, right on point!

Angus, I have made Polaris snowmobile parts machinist ad tools and repaired my Mr Coffee espresso machine! My Ender 3 is maxed out I don't know how to Pi it but I am good with a Beagle. Thanks to you and others I have printed your castle and given it to kids and now they bug their parents for a 3d printer. Inspiring man really thanks for making the day.

Thanks for all the awesome content Angus! Your channel really did empower my sons creativity! With your family friendly content and the yellow created cockatoo videos, he's given a interest in 3D printing and is imagination has latched onto that. You're one of the best things to happen to the consumer 3D printing corner of the world! Thank you, best wishes mate!

This is what I use 3d printer for also; brackets, holders and adapters. Thanks for the triangulation tip, that part always drive me nuts. What I usually do for complex parts is take a reference picture and import it as a scaled canvas. But the caliper trick will come in very handy for smaller parts!

Great walk-through of the process 👍 Thanks for sharing your experience with All of us 👍😃

Just started designing a couple days ago. TinkerCad was super easy to learn, within a couple days of signing up, I fully designed a mount to hold my power-tool batteries. I corrected all issues after the first prototype as you mentioned. Then I began to trim the fat to make them cheaper/quicker to print(I'm new, and I underestimated the strength of PETG). Designing this has been the most fun part of 3D Printing since I got my printer.

My 3d printer has been the most useful organisational tool in my home, I've built do many hyper specific mounts for things like a wall mount for my Saturn v model or clips to hold sick bags. So useful

You've given us a bunch of useful tips and some beautiful music, thankyou!

A realy great video. Explains in a short time real usages of 3D printers, kudoes!

Really informative video about CAD and design attitudes and thinking. Brilliant.

Love the DX-7! Nice design info in the video, many people don't mention much about the things to watch out for.

Exactly. Because of these kind of special use cases, I've been trying my hand at CAD software to make custom solutions. Since they are mostly static objects with no moving parts, it's been a real accessible entry into design and CAD.

This is a great video!! From start to finish. Including your music! Thanks for all the great tips and great track.

Brackets and adapters! At least 80% of my 3d printing is devoted to making things that no one makes. Super useful.

Thank you for sharing this, Angus. You are a very talented young man. It's been many years since I subscribed to your channel, and you never disappointed me. 😍

Thank you so much for making this video. I look forward to reading your book!

Thank you for sharing this video! I found it incredibly useful, funny, and interesting to watch. It's great to come across content that can both entertain and educate. Keep up the great work!

Loved this video, fixing things or attaching things to another thing is the best thing about 3D printers.

I find that using the "thin extrude" function can combine the surface/split/remove material steps you have to take with a sketch surface. Thin extrude is in the extrude tool and the second option, you can select a line and choose a thickness. Add that I have been doing CAD and 3D printing for 10 years or so now and never thought to just use triangulation and always tried to estaimte the grid of holes, great tip thanks!

I just got done designing and printing brackets to mount a bunch stuff to the underside of my desk. Was a fun learning experience and my desk is much cleaner and easier to use now :)

Attaching things to other things is my favourite part about 3D printing, I have both my interface and a little breakout box for my VR headset both mounted under my desk, so clean!

I love being able to design parts that hold one thing to another thing, couple of weeks ago I created a new handle for a neighbour's umbrella, the original is tiny so I created a decent size handle which clips round the original handle and looks like it was always meant to be. Also there are now thousands of racing / freestyle type drones out there with 3D prints of my designs on because I figured out a whole new way of holding antennas & receiver boards like nothing else before them, using folding TPU designs.

Perfect timing for bringing the kick into the mix 🙂

GLORIOUS!!! You've saved me from dozens to hundreds of failed experiments!!! This was therapeutic!!!

Loved the demo of your synth at the end!

Nice idea on the "hinge" design, makes it much easier to print this type of thing. When making parts like this I typically oversize the large hole that goes over the pipe by around 2-3mm, and then glue or place some thin cork sheet (or linoleum or similar material) into the hole for more friction, gives a much more snug fit.

Exactly what I use my printers for, and I'm pretty good at designing the parts in CAD (F360). Thanks mostly to your videos over the years.

I have used this exact set of guidelines to make a 3d printed prototype brake brackets. The usual ones I've done are calipers from one car fitted to another car, but the craziest one I've done includes calipers, hand brake system and parts from 3 different cars. Sent the cad file to a machinist and he made the prototype out of aluminium. Living in the future!!!

They call it functional print. And it's really the most fun I had with my 3D printer. Making a part from "nothing" to serve an actual purpose is quite nice. I even managed to help other people solve their problems.

Just perfect !! Like yourself I have a studio and always want my synths and other equipment set up in a way I find more organic to use …sounds easy huh ? 😂 This was just what I needed ! Thanks for the vids you always have something that catches my attention 💕

probably my fave vid ive seen from you!!! love the moog music!!!

I love practical designs and prints. Thanks so much Angus for sharing those tips. I'm currently trying to improve a laboratory mixer which was published as an open source project several years ago. I've printed and assembled it but it needs a lot of improvement. I'm using it for my experiments in my lab at work and it's broken several times. So the published design and models just aren't up to snuff. So practical printing and iteration is what is chewing up a lot of my spare time right now to improve on the published version (except for the Diablo 4 beta least weekend and this weekend).

That center hole measuring tip just blew my mind. I have *always* struggled a little with that

great video.. was making something for an outdoor pole and used your video to design. Although in my case, the diagonal cut on non-bolt side was weak. If too much force is applied to that fixed joint part it wil force the 2 parts to separate as one part rides along that diagonal cut line and will separate. I ended up using an inverted "J" shape (slightly offset from centre) in there which held really well.

This couldn't come at a better time! I'm trying to automate a label machine we have at work. Need a clamp just like this to raise and lower the arm the initiates the label feed cycle. I'm going to attach a clamp like this onto the round arm, but make it slightly larger. I'll attach it to the bed of a linear slide but the lowering of the labeler arm is a slight arc, so the clamp will have to be able to move. Can't wait to try it- your design tips are spot on!!

Wow, SUPER handy tip to just “triangulate” between holes! You probably just saved me hours and kilograms of filament! 👍👍👍

This is most of my prints too, it's so useful to just mock up a quick bracket or clip that's a perfect size and send it to the printer. I mount so many things on the underside of tables or cabinets it's a great use of usually wasted space

Cool that you show the full process, valuable lesson :)

This kind of stuff is so brilliant to use with 3D printers... and for spare parts for old devices... my dishwasher works pretty well but is also pretty old... the wheels of the basket broken apart, so I designed them in Fusion360 and printed them with PETG. They work perfectly.

You've outlined the exact reason I recently purchased a 3D printer - to make functional parts. Now I'm just trying to learn Fusion 360. I njoy and learn a lot from your content!

Love the outro music! Just getting into 3D printing and finding all sorts of new channels. That outro music though, I need that vibe.

Nicely presented. Great video!

My number one use for 3D printing is custom enclosures. Instead of cramming my projects into an off-the-shelf project box now I can make something custom fit.

A few years ago, my partner bought a Prusa and designated it as a gift for the family for Xmas (way to bypass permission from "significant other" I suspect!). We printed lots of little stuff amazed at what it could do. I then started watching a lot of your videos and realised I could actually make useful things and use different filaments. I play a musical instrument and decided one day to design a little tool to help me achieve some maintenance on it. Fast forward to today and that little tool I designed is now being sold in 7 different countries as there is no other little tool like it on the market! Family needs another 3D printer as a result 🤣 Keep up the great videos!

Awesome music! Great video, this is what I enjoy most about 3d printing too!

I'm a metal worker by trade and I'm also a synth head with a home studio setup. Well I do use a lot of steel and wood wherever I can I've been using a 3D printer for years to make all sorts of strong lightweight parts to modify my setup and just optimize my workspace. Two things I always keep in mind is cost of material and weight. 3D printed parts over something I could have made out of steel but still come up with the same end result takes care of the cost factor as well as the weight factor. I also use my 3D printer to make custom knobs and volume faders across my entire setup. If you got a home studio and a little bit of engineered intuition a 3D printer is a must to have around.

great solution to mounting on that rack, well done!

Cool man. I was diggin that sound man! Thank you for all you do. Love the videos. Peace man Rolfie

I have used 3D printing to make so much useful stuff. Lots of shop tools, car parts, etc. I often find it takes me a couple of versions to get where I need to be.

Another tip to finding the distance between two centers of different diameter holes is: (distance between the closest point of the holes + distance of the longest distance ) / 2

Awesome video! This is My favorite way to use my 3D printer. 😀

After this very useful tip, with calipers, I’ll buy your e-book Thanks!

Awesome demonstration and music!

I love the idea of the clamp. Simplicity.

Wonderfully done.

I've been really using my 3d printer to mount my VR system in a rented place using existing holes and bars to avoid drilling holes to skip repair payments when we move to a different place. First things I 3d printed were not benchys and calibration cubes but rather adapters for my vr headset and charging station for my vr controllers. I've made my own curtain holders for my chroma key cloth to fit existing bar too. 3d printer is a great tool for me. Despite I didn't learn any CAD, I was able to get "good enough" results in blender to share them and even get some likes. 3d printer for me is a tool of the same level as screwdriver or a hammer. Very handy when I need something done around the house. Only after 2 years of owning one I started printing decorative stuff and dnd minis

Nice synth collection! I'm not a musician by any means, but I appreciate the craft behind synths.

About 4 out of 5 of my CAD-designs have the term 'holder' in it😀. This piece you don't need to measure at all if you have a scanner because they should scan it in the correct size already, but many parts doesn't fit under a scanner and cameras tend to distort images annoyingly. According to Tests on CNC Kitchen the most robust layer-height using a 0.4 nozzle is 0.15 mm and above 0.2 mm the parts loosing quite a lot of strength, so 0.3 mm should be better printed with a 0.6 mm nozzle.

This is a great tutorial! Thanks for this video.

Funny that this comes out now. I just finished a similar endeavor. I has a small web cam and a mini tripod for a go pro. The camera was not a go pro and its mount was just a bracket with a flat bottom and four holes for mounting screws. I was able to design and print an adaptor that attached to the camera bracket and fit into the mount on the tripod. One thing that I find useful is to use a spreadsheet for all of your measurements. You can then derive other measurements from those as needed for the model. If you are using a CAD program that has a built-in spreadsheet like Freecad, use that.

Thank you for this awesome demo. it's certainly inspiring. one minor note is that it looks like this mount might have difficulties staying in place. I might suggest widening the tolerance of the part that mounts to the tube stand and using a bit of foam rubber material to increase friction and using the force of your clamp to dial the friction in to your preference - that would make it significantly less likely to rotate around the axis or slide side to side.

WOWOWO sooo good! much to learn from this! I always stuck to tinkercad, but with this guide I might finally try the step to F360! ... thank you!

Apart from the good informational video, the end sound is awesome!

You don't need to turn the cut line into a surface. You can just select the line itself when using the split body tool.. Just make sure the "extend splitting tool" is checked (it is by default). It saves a step and makes it easier to adjust the setout of the split as you don't need to make sure any changes you make to the sketch are mirrored in the face you've created. Also, one less item under "bodies", one less item in the timeline and faster processing times.

Great content as always