Summary
3D printers are fascinating devices that you can make just about anything with. But when you buy one, nobody warns you that the most useful thing your 3D printer will ever make is a box, or a hook that sits just right on a specific ledge. When I bought my printer, I imagined custom enclosures, fittings, and cool cosplay helmets. What I actually print, week after week, is unglamorous storage and mounting hardware. There are items you should always 3D print instead of buying, and these are the ones that end up paying for your printer. They won’t look good on Instagram, but they’ll save you time, money, and a whole lot of hassle. Gridfinity organized my entire workspace Custom bins eliminated clutter for good When I first tried Gridfinity, I wanted my filament back. However, it turns out I was using it the wrong way. Since then, I’ve decked out two entire bookshelves with Gridfinity baseplates and organizers, and I couldn’t be happier. Jumper wires, soldering equipment, spare sensors, electronics, batteries, breadboards, ESP32s, and just about everything I have is now organized into bins sized exactly for what they hold. The beauty is that it’s infinitely customizable, since anyone can design a bin for a specific tool and share the file, so I’ve barely had to design anything from scratch. It hasn’t made me money, but it has saved me hours of rifling through junk drawers and unorganized storage boxes looking for the right cable, sensor, board, or soldering tip. Multiply that by a year and the time saved is impossible to ignore, making this one of the highest value things I’ve printed. Skadis became endlessly customizable I printed exactly the holders I needed Ikea’s Skadis pegboard is already cheap and great, but the official accessories are limited, and the third-party ones are expensive for what they are. However, one look on Makerworld or Thingiverse and I bet you’ll find exactly what it is you’re looking for. From simple shelves to entire spool holders, 3D printing your own Skadis accessories is the best way to make the most out of Ikea’s extremely popular pegboards. I’ve printed holders for my pliers, calipers, tape measure, various tapes, cable holders, a controller holder, hooks for my keys and Looki L1, and more random storage than I care to count. Compared to buying official or third-party accessories, my 3D-printed ones fit my needs like a glove. And once I taught Claude how to use CAD software, I can now use AI to design any custom fitments I need. No mount? I made one Custom brackets solved niche problems This is where my printer earns its keep in a way no store-bought accessory ever could. I’ve got a ton of gear around my office that either no one makes mounts for, the mounts are too expensive, or they simply don’t match my purpose. With a 3D printer around, I can make mounts for exactly what I want, however I want them. For example, my Hollyland Lark A1 mic and DJI Osmo Action 4 are popular enough to have cases, but oddly underserved when it comes to niche mounting needs. I wanted a small mount I could stick inside my helmet so the mic magnetically clips onto it. The internet came up empty for what I wanted, so I decided to measure the mic, came up with a few iterations in FreeCAD, and before you know it, I had a perfectly fitting mount that sat inside my helmet. Another example is the wheel rim wall mount I made for my old bike rims. I wanted to keep the rims around as decoration pieces, but couldn’t find anything to hang them on the walls with. Half an hour in FreeCAD and a couple on the printer later, I now have a mount that attaches to my bike rims perfectly and hangs them on the wall without being visible at all. It’s nothing short of magic. These are the prints that would never have been possible without owning a printer, since there’s simply no commercial equivalent to buy. That alone makes this category worth the price of admission. Tiny replacement parts saved big money Printing them beat buying new There are household repairs your 3D printer can fix that you’d normally toss the whole thing for. These include anything from vacuum cleaner timing belts, dining chair feet, cabinet hinges, mixer worm gear, and a lot of smaller items that tend to break often but aren’t either sold as replacement parts or have just been discontinued. The only catch here is part complexity. If you’ve got a relatively popular appliance, chances are you’ll find a pre-made design you can just download, print, and use just fine. But if you’re using something more exotic, or something that isn’t as popular, you might have to design the replacement yourself. The good news is that CAD software isn’t that hard to learn. Between Claude being able to design 3D parts, tons of guides online, and several beginner-friendly CAD software programs that are easily accessible and free of cost, 3D design isn’t all that difficult anymore. It does take a minute to get familiar with the concepts and the program you’re using, but don’t put it off as something incredibly difficult or high-effort to do. Besides, if you’ve got a 3D printer, chances are you’d want to print something that the internet doesn’t have at some point, and having 3D design skills can come in handy then. The savings added up surprisingly fast If you’re worried about the cost of filament, don’t be. I did the math on what a 3D print actually costs, and you’ll be surprised by just how cost-effective it is. PLA and PETG will meet a majority of your aesthetic or functional part requirements, and even engineering-grade filaments like ABS or ASA aren’t that difficult or expensive to work with anymore. None of these prints are the reason people buy 3D printers, and none of them will ever trend on Makerworld or a maker subreddit. But between the organization, the wall storage, the niche mounts, cable management, and small repairs, my printer has quietly paid for itself in saved trips, saved purchases, and saved frustration.