I like to keep a box of tissues in my truck as it comes in very handy after a busy day skiing. Whenever I am done, it feels good to blow my nose as the cold temperatures makes for a runny one. Unfortunately I don't have a great place to store the tissues. I thought about putting Velcro or hook-and-loop fasteners to the bottom of the box and placing it on the carpet floor between the 2 front seats. My wife thought it a bad idea as it would mean replacing the Velcro for each new box. This is a great use for my 3D printer.
I decided I could print a tray that firmly holds the box of tissues and then put the Velcro on the bottom of the tray. The first thing I did was measure the box of tissues I keep in the truck. I took the measurements in millimeters as that is the unit of measure my drawing program expects. Then I went to TinkerCAD.com and drew a hollow box inside a solid one. I made the walls 5mm thick and about an inch high. Then I ran it through the 3D printer software to slice the design into commands for my 3D printer. Next I transferred the GCODE file to my printer on a small SD card and started printing.
The printer said it would take about 23 hours and so I went to bed. In the morning I woke up and checked on my print. I immediately stopped it when I discovered a mistake. I made the floor of my tray about an inch thick. That is way too thick for what I wanted. I also discovered I made the tray a hair too small. I modified my design in TinkerCAD and re-sliced it. Then I started printing it again. The new print only needed 17 hours and so I let it go making sure to check on it throughout the process.
The finished tray looked fabulous. Then I encountered my next problem. The tray stuck to the bed of my 3D printer and it took Herculean effort to get it off. Finally I got it separated and got some Velcro to stick to the bottom. Then I put it in the truck only to discover one final problem. The latest Velcro does not stick to automotive floor carpet. At least not the stuff in my truck. I need to find some of the cheap-no-name-brand stuff and that should work well. Right now there is enough friction to keep the tray from sliding around too much but I want to make sure it is firmly attached and won't slide around as I go around sharp corners.
I talked to my youngest son who also has a 3D printer and we discussed how to modify the design of the tray so it will be easier to remove from my print bed. We have some ideas but right now the tray is working perfectly, as designed. Once I put the correct hook-and-loop fastener on the bottom, it will be finished and I don't need to print another one.
Practice makes perfect and there are a lot of little lessons you will never learn unless you play around with the tool you are using. This story is a great example of that.
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