The two ways of fighting profiteering

ArtieShaw

One doesn't buy a 3D printer to make a knob. One is suddenly presented with a need for a knob (or a thingy, or a flangle, or a twizzlet...) and suddenly remembers, "hey - I have a 3D printer." Followed by "I wonder if there are any matching designs in one of the several massive free databases of models."

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It's true that you should not expect to save money in the short or long run with 3d printing as a hobby, but if it's your thing then it's nice to have a hobby that's occasionally useful. Also, autodesk fusion is free for consumer use.

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lol when i was an asshole kid i did that with guitar volume knobs

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Now THAT is a life hack.

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Depends on the type of filament used and temperatures that are actually present at the knob. I would say no since the temperature required to melt (or warp) the knob would have to be high enough to cause some pretty severe burns if you touched it with your hand. if the knobs on the oven/range are getting that hot, there is a lot more to worry about here than the knob melting.

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I wouldn't say I've made back my investment on 3D printing in the past half a decade I've done it. But in terms of "prints for friends" like this one above I may be close. Plus there's just something nice about going "I need a measuring cup for dog food" and printing one to the exact serving size.

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What's the melting point of the regular filament? You're supposed to touch the oven knobs it so it's probably not much higher than 50 degrees.

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*eyeliner

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What food-safe printing materials do you use?

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Software is free if you aren't using it for commercial use. Fusion 360, onshape, etc. are all free for personal use. And that's assuming someone didn't make it already and share it free.

Filament costs $17 for 1kg of perfectly fine plastic. You'd probably use 100g at most for this, so $1.70.

A Bambu A1 mini is $200, and is a modern, high quality printer that would be fine for this project.

So you only need like a half dozen of these projects to come out ahead.

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I just use PLA. PLA itself is good safe, but occasionally the additives aren't, so I don't use any for human related stuff. It's also worth considering that the layered approach can allow for bacterial growth, so unless you treat it (e.g. epoxy seal it), you'll need to wash it fairly frequently to curb buildup.

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50 degrees? How do your oven knobs even get that hot? Mine don't change temperature at all, always room temperature. If your oven knobs get recognizably warmer (yet to spend of 50°) something seems to be awfully wrong with your oven!

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On software SIDE, kinda criminal not to mention FreeCAD, it's FOSS and runs on Linux, unlike the non-free freemium and paid alternatives

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That frequent washing is what leaks out the nasty chemicals from the plastic fyi. Heat and mechanical stress are the main way plastics leach

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But it's got a long way to go before it's at usable as the others. Definitely not a good place to start learning cad.

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What does makeup have to do with this?

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Nah it's a great place to start learning, it's super easy to start modelling your first simple models in part design.

It's the more complex designs where it starts to struggle (or maybe I'm just dumb)

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To be clear, I'm the last one to say one shouldn't invest in money saving innovation. But the breaking even should be number one priority. I, for instance have all kinds of energy savers in my house that have cost me several hundreds. They'll only be returned in a few years and I need to manage them properly.

dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️

I just grab the serial number from a recently sold one and file a warranty claim on it.

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Glass transition temp of PLA is around 55-60C - that’s when it starts to get malleable. I’d be pretty surprised if the oven knobs get that hot.