12 3D printed tools you need for your workshop

if you're looking for something useful to 3d print here's some fantastic workshop tools from the community if the 3d printing bug has been new hard particularly modifying them there's a fair chance that most of the 3d prints you do are 3d printing parts for your 3d printer there are some great tools for this like this v-roller bearing extractor by lewis teams let's say you've got a flat spot on one of your wheels this tool offers an easy way to separate the wheel from the bearing so you can get your machine moving smoothly i happen to think that's a really good tool but it's not going to impress your maker buddies who aren't into 3d printing and think it's only for making novelty parts in this video we're going to fix that by making a bunch of great tools to use in your workshop all of these are from members of the community who have generously provided them for free on thingiverse so let's celebrate their work and upgrade our toolset we'll cover printing assembly and use as necessary so you can follow along at home we're gonna do this in categories and the first one is tools to find the center of things the first one is by mobilo and it's a center finder for straight pieces of material what you're seeing here is the printed pieces of the fdm version the general arrangement is as you can see here and like a lot of the tools in this video if you have any undersized holes it's good to open them up with the correct drill bit do check the instructions however because some holes are precisely the right size for an m3 bolt to cut its own thread as you insert it i opted to start by attaching the center section to the two small arms and then mounting that on top of the main legs before using another four m3 bolts to put the whole thing together the holes in the center piece are for putting a pencil pen or scribe through which means that if they're undersized it's worth opening up once again with the appropriately sized drill bit here's how it works traditionally if we wanted to draw a line down the center of a piece of material we would need to measure across the width in at least two places divide and then draw a line between the two but with this tool all we need to do is put it over the top swivel the arms to make it close on both sides and then run it along the length with a pencil or a scribe in the middle this should give us a line perfectly down the middle of our piece of stock it works just the same on other materials and we can use it on metal for instance with the largest hole being the right size for a sharpie our next center finder is from marius hornberger and i've showed this on the past but it's worth revisiting no assembly required and operation as follows let's say we want to find the exact center point of this round object so we can drill a hole we simply place the center finder hard against one side mark a line using the cutout trench in the middle rotate the tool to a new position and repeat with another line if you're feeling pedantic you can also do a third line and if that matches it should verify that your object is round that should leave you the exact center ready to drill to perfection there's plenty of these round center finders to choose from but this one also has the advantage of working on square stock we put the tool against one corner again draw a line through the center trench position on another corner draw a second line and when we remove the tool the two lines should overlap directly in the center this centre finder for a drill by de gent is something i didn't know i needed but now i'm glad i have there's only two pieces and we need a single m4 bolt to join them as we insert it it's going to cut its own thread and we need to adjust how tight we do it to make sure that there's no wobble but it can also rotate freely and this is what it's for let's say we need to drill a hole through this round pipe and we need it exactly in the middle but lining that up is awfully hard we remove our drill bit and insert the printed tool into the chuck finger tight is fine as you can see as we position the pipe underneath the dial will point to the middle when it's exactly in the center now is a good time to use some sort of fast clamp to hold the vice in place remove the tool reinsert the drill bit and then drill our hole in the perfect position this plastic pipe is pretty forgiving but on narrow metal tube it's going to stop the drill bit from shooting off to the side i think we're off to a good start so let's continue with some measurement tools this screw measuring device by cmh i've also covered in the past but absolutely deserves its place in this video i chose to print it in white and then simply use a sharpie to make the printed labels legible this simple tool makes sorting and storing loose fasteners very quick and easy we can check both the diameter and the length in just a few seconds with this design catering from m2 up to m5 with a maximum length of 50 millimeters i found this handy printed tool is in constant demand because it helps me keep my spare fasteners organized next up is this fillet gauge by tna tmr and once again this is deceptively simple but useful this is another tool i opted to print in one color and then use a sharpie to highlight the labels and this is what it's for let's say we need to measure something accurately for the purposes of a cut drawing calipers will allow us to measure most exterior dimensions with a minimum of fuss but what about these tricky exterior fillets you can kind of eyeball them but the result isn't really going to be accurate and here's where our fillet gauge comes in we simply try the different sizes until we find one that matches in this case this exterior fillet is five millimeters and this larger one on the other side is eight millimeters this means that the cad model that we're basing these measurements on is going to be quite accurate the tool can also do internal fillets but only for five and three millimeters on each end we can see here three millimeters does not fit but if i rotate the tool i have a nice match for five millimeters for this fillet let's measure some angles with this printed tool by dell 1979 and this one is kind of like a fancier sliding bevel you need to print two long arms two short arms and four of the tightening knobs the knobs have a hex cutout where you're meant to put the head of an m4 bolt but the only ones i had had this square washer permanently attached however i found that i could still use a normal hex head bolt because it had a fairly tight interference fit on the sides and just to be safe i used a little super glue around the edges to hold it in place assembly is the same for each of the four junctions with the side that was facing down towards the bed facing up we push through the tightening knob and bolt then we flip the whole assembly over get an m4 nut rest it in the trench on the underside and turn the knob to engage the thread repeat four times and the tool is assembled you should be able to loosen any of the knobs to free up the assembly move it into position and then tighten the knobs to lock it in place the simplest way to use this tool is to move it to match the outside shapes of an angled object you can then lock the angle in place move to another material and then trace the exact angle what i found is a better use is to use it to trace really hard to reach and complicated objects like the angle on this front winch bar that angle can be then measured by using a protractor and then you can base your cad design around this angle to ensure that your part has a perfect fit one more for measuring and it's this lockable contour gauge by tjalf there's a variety of sizes available to print on thingiverse and you're seeing the parts here for the default smallest size we want these blue sections to slide nicely against each other so i lowered my solid in-fill flow rate you can see little gaps there and that kept the top surface quite smooth for the size i'm showing you'll need 41 of these in total we start assembly by inserting a captive m3 nut and then we lay all of the little fingers in one half of the case making sure that they're all facing the same direction you'll probably need to squeeze the existing ones into place to slide the last one in as it's quite tight but this is normal and once they're in place we can put on the other half of the case and use some m4 bolts cutting their own thread to attach the two halves together we then have a printed spring that pushes in from the end we insert our fifth bolt line it up with the locking finger and then screw that down before the case bolts can be tightened for good i found one was a little stiff at first but running it back and forth took off the high spots and gave me smoother operation so what do we do with it i don't have an actual scenario that i need it for right now so here's a simulated one let's say i'm cutting a piece of flooring and it needs to match this complicated contour i position the tool in the corner and then carefully push the fingers forward so they match the contour of the object i'm trying to trace once i've got them all accurately in position i can apply a little bit of tension with the locking arm to hold my contour in place you can then trace your contour to your other material and after cutting you should hopefully find that it matches the contour of what you measured quite accurately our next category is sanding and painting regulars to this channel know that i hate sanding so i'll be quick on this section but hopefully there's something of use for you first up we have this mini sanding block by just ignorant it's more effective than holding sandpaper by hand and definitely more ergonomic i printed this one overnight and the cold temperatures meant it lifted and warped a little but that doesn't affect its operation we're going to place two m3 screws in from the bottom and then we're going to hammer in two m3 nuts into the tightening knobs our clamping piece then slides over the top and we secure the two knobs just loosely for now finally on the underside we have two caps to cover the tops of the screws to use we cut some sandpaper one and a half inches wide and if you're like me you're going to struggle to slide it in from the side but eventually i did endure and managed to get it in place before doing up the two locking knobs i don't have anything that needs sanding right now so forgive this poor example but this is a great tool for ensuring your sanding surface is flat and for keeping your fingers clean and out of harm's way and as a bonus you can always angle the tool forwards or back to use the rounded edges as appropriate let's switch our attention to painting with these serious paint cones by jmax because these are tiny they're a great way to use up the remains of filament on a near-empty spool i don't need to but let's pretend i want to paint this flat tray if i paint it flat on the cardboard the paint wrists running over the edge and gluing it down to the cardboard ruining the paint and making my life harder so these paint cones come in handy for propping up object off your flat surface which lets you paint safely down to the edge without any risk of the object getting stuck what makes this design extra handy are the holes in the bottom so you can screw them onto your sacrificial painting surface this means that they'll no longer slide around and that means when you transport the object that you're painting from your work area to your painting area you don't have to worry about it falling off and getting dirty especially when it has wet paint let's get back on track with some tools for striking and cutting first up is the thwack from mr megatronic and i learned about this print from my patrons it's basically a plastic handsome hammer it seemed like it needed support material so i opted for this remix by low 351 which due to the way the layers are stacked is going to be slightly weaker but that shouldn't matter because this hammer is for delicate jobs the instructions call for 100 infill so when your hand it feels quite weighty and solid i also think it's quite handsome as promised why do we need a plastic hammer well sometimes we need quite a soft touch like installing this diffuser onto this led torch the thwack is the right tool here because it won't break anything underneath and it won't mark the surface you can buy plastic hammers from their hardware store so why not print one instead next up this tube cutter by predator junior and i reckon this is a really clever design this is the only print in this video that i needed to apply support for so i manually placed it in simplified 3d i think however i was a bit overzealous because after it was printed i remembered that i had to remove all of this support it took me about 10 minutes to snap it free without any damage to the model which meant i was ready for assembly the blades this tube cutter uses are the ones found as spares in the handle of your box cutter i found that the notch on the printed part matched the blade exactly so once the blade was in place i got the second retaining piece and clamped the whole lot together with two m4 bolts which cut their own thread as they went in for me there's two areas that make this a clever design the first is that the blade is completely concealed so it should be very hard for your finger to accidentally be cut the second is this box which holds the cutter closed ensuring no accidents while it's in storage the smallest cutout is actually the ideal size for cutting ptfe tube and i found the other cutouts were great for automotive use in this case silicon vacuum hose i found that if i rotated it as i applied pressure i would get an extremely nice flat cut on the end of the tube our final category is clamping tools there are a lot of printable vices on thingiverse like this mini machine vise by haimek but i went for this even smaller remixed nano vise by prima based on the thingiverse comments i printed the knurled screw part three times at 100 95 and 90 scale for me the 100 scale screw fit perfectly but if you were having fitment issues you could scale this part down one area i did need to make an alteration was using a blade to take the sharp edge off these inner mating surfaces after doing this and before your final assembly i'd recommend applying some grease to inside the thread and the ball on the end of the screw the screw can then be inserted into the main body so the head sits just proud we then slide the clamp in from above and continue to turn the screw which slots the three parts together and completes our assembly i think a vice this small is particularly good for jewelry makers forgive me if i don't actually file my wedding ring but hopefully you can see that it's a pretty good way of holding it for some filing and sanding it also holds it quite securely as well this is also a great tool for holding small and fiddly work pieces when you want to use a sharp tool like a dremel and you don't really want your fingers anywhere near the blade it's also great for clamping thin parts where your fingers might otherwise get in the way our final printed tool is this kant twist clamp by 3d printing world this clamp does have a lot of parts to be printed but it also has excellent dedicated assembly instructions embedded on the thingiverse page the only deviation i had from these instructions was again applying synthetic grease inside the threads as well as any junctions where parts were meant to rotate it was also an excellent demonstration of the thwack for tapping together the pieces of the frame as well as inserting the locking pins without damaging the printed clamp this clamp has a wide range of motion opening up quite wide yet closing up enough to hold quite slender objects i think this is an ideal tool for clamping together the halves of objects that you're gluing together this mechanism gives you a lot of control as well as sufficient strength so now i'm going to have to print some more that brings us to the end of my list but you should know with 3d printing you can go much much further if you have a dremel tool you can convert it into a table saw a mini disc sander or even a mini pedestal drill and you can even convert your standard hand drill into a drill press of sorts there's a lot of great printable tools online so please share with me and everyone else your favorite in the comments section thank you so much for watching and until next time happy 3d printing your own tools g'day it's michael again if you like the video then please click like if you want to see more content like this in future click subscribe and make sure you click on the bell to receive every notification if you really want to support the channel and see exclusive content become a patron visit my patreon page see you next time

Channel: Teaching Tech

Views: 689,474

Rating: 4.9521751 out of 5

Keywords: 3d printing, 3d printer, 3d prined, 3d print, tool, tools, guide, list, useful, practical, vise, clamp, centre finder, center finder, paint stand, standing block, hammer, mallet, thwack, prusa, i3 mk3, creality, ender 3, artillery3d, x1, thingiverse, sanding, painting, shop, workshop, angle finder, measurement, measuring, fillet gauge

Id: tO5Ym6-H2Ac

Length: 16min 58sec (1018 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 09 2021