I was looking to try out 3D printing metals on Shapeways.com, but haven’t found the right piece to try it with that wasn’t too big and WAY too expensive. I thought something the size of a nickel that can be used as a golf ball marker shouldn’t be too bad. Bronze pricing is fairly reasonable in this size and looks very good compared to the more blob-like medallion that is the plastic nylon version.

I don’t know the details, but wherever it was that we used to order paper towels from no longer works. The closest we have to the rolls of paper towel that fits into the paper towel dispensers is the correct width, but the inner diameter of the tubes is far too large. I designed a 2 stage adapter that fits on both ends of the paper towel tube and allows the dispenser to function as intended.

While working on the 3D printed battery cover for IS33, I thought to myself: “I really don’t know if my cheap ass digital calipers are that accurate”. The little tabs that holds the lid in place are less than 1.0mm thick. So, I designed a simple calibration block with steppings at 1″, 3/4″, 1/2″ and 1/4″. Turns out my caliper is plenty good for my purposes. This block of plastic cost me ~$16 at the time. WAY cheaper than getting actual gauge blocks. It’ll at least give me a rough idea if the measurement readings are sane or not.