5 Cool Products to 3D Print in January 2024

A phone stand is the easiest first project and the one most people get wrong. The usual failure is a hinge printed in PLA that creeps under a phone's weight within a month. Build the body in PETG or ABS and keep the hinge as a separate pin in 4 mm steel rod, and the stand holds its angle.

Set 0.2 mm layers, 4 perimeters, and 40% infill for the upright. The base needs more: 60% infill or a solid bottom 6 mm thick, because that is where the tipping moment lands. Add a 2 mm fillet where the upright meets the base. A sharp internal corner is a crack starter.

The viewing angle matters more than the shape. Measure your phone, then set the cradle lip 2 mm deeper than the phone thickness so the device does not slide forward during a call. A 15 degree back tilt keeps the screen readable at desk height. Cable clearance at the bottom needs 12 mm, or the stand becomes a paperweight the first time you charge the phone.

A planter is a container, so layer adhesion is the whole game. Water pressure against a 0.8 mm wall at 0.2 mm layer height will weep along the layer lines. Three perimeters minimum, and 0.3 mm layers actually seal better than 0.1 mm because there are fewer seams for water to follow.

Split the design into an outer pot and an inner basket. Print the outer pot in PETG, which takes moisture without swelling. The inner basket holds the soil and wicks water up. Print that one in PLA and leave the bottom 30 mm open so roots can reach the reservoir.

Drainage holes should be 4 mm minimum. Smaller holes bridge closed on most FDM machines. A 6 mm gap between the basket floor and the pot bottom gives the reservoir enough volume for a week between refills on a 150 mm pot.

If the pot needs to be watertight to a real standard, printing is the wrong process. A machined aluminium or acetal reservoir with an O-ring groove will hold pressure indefinitely. We cut those on a 3-axis mill to ±0.005 mm and finish the bore to Ra 0.8–1.6 μm.

Cable clips fail in one place: the arm that flexes. PLA has almost no elastic range, so a snap-fit arm printed in PLA cracks on the third use. Switch that part to PETG or polypropylene and the same geometry survives thousands of cycles.

The arm thickness carries the load. A 1.6 mm arm deflects about 3 mm before yield in PETG, which is enough for a 5 mm cable. Go thinner and it snaps. Go thicker and you cannot open it with one hand.

Layer orientation decides whether the clip lives. Print the clip lying on its side so the layer lines run across the flexing arm, not along it. A clip printed standing up will split between layers the first time it is opened.

For clips that see heat, such as engine bay or enclosure routing, printed plastics are out. Nylon clips machined from PA6 or POM hold their spring at 100 °C and can be produced in the thousands. Our mill-turn centers run these from bar stock with no minimum order quantity.

An electronics enclosure is where printed parts stop being toys. The board has mounting holes, the connectors have positions, and the lid has to close. That means real tolerances, and FDM holds about ±0.3 mm on a good day.

Design around that number. Make every screw hole 0.4 mm oversized, use M3 self-tapping screws into 2.5 mm pilot holes, and leave 0.5 mm clearance around the PCB instead of a snug fit. The lid will close on the first try.

Vents are the other trap. A 1 mm slot prints as a fuzzy mess. Use 2 mm slots on 4 mm centers, and put them on a vertical face so the slicer does not have to bridge them. Keep the top surface solid to stop dust falling in.

When the enclosure becomes a product, printing stops scaling. The same housing in ABS or PC, machined or injection molded, gives you consistent wall thickness and a flat mating face. We quote from a STEP file within 12 hours and include a free DFM analysis.

Drill guides, soldering helpers, and assembly fixtures are the best use of a 3D printer in a workshop. They do not need to look good, they need to be stiff. Print them solid, 6 perimeters, 0.3 mm layers, and do not waste time on surface finish.

A drill guide has one critical dimension: the bore. Print it undersize and ream it to size with the actual drill bit, or better, press in a 8 mm bronze bushing. A printed bore wears oval after a few dozen holes. A bushing does not.

The jig body can be PLA. It only sees hand force. Where the jig clamps to a vise or a machine table, swap that block for machined aluminium, because printed plastic creeps under sustained clamp load and the jig loses its reference.

That split is the useful rule for the whole list. Printed parts win on shape and speed. Machined parts win on load, heat, and tolerance. Most real products use both.