Hello everyone!

A few days ago my uncle got a brand spankin' new, fully assembled Thing-O-Matic 3D printer in the mail. There's a few kinks right now, and we haven't quite printed anything perfectly yet, but we should have it up and running soon enough. The detail of the prints is quite nice, I believe it prints in 1 mm increments. It prints in ABS, and is very similar to the Shapeways Grey Robust printer quality. I am unfortunately not sure of what the minimum wall thickness is, but I think it can handle around 1mm on small parts. (EDIT: Just checked Shapeways, and Grey Robust has a 1mm min. thickness. I'm putting that constraint on files.)

So, that being said, I have pretty much as much access to this printer as I please. I know many of you probably have unprinted designs you would like to see come to life, and if the file is simple enough I'd be willing to do that.

At this time, I will not be selling/distributing any puzzles, including your own designs. There are a lot of details that need to be worked out first. However, in the future I am hoping to offer some sort of prototyping service exclusive to TP. The puzzle I print from your file would, more or less, become part of my personal collection. If you allowed me to use some of your files, of course, you would end up being first priority on any kind of future 3d printing sales.

If you want to send me a file, contact me through PM here on TP. I'm looking mostly for puzzles that are not too simple and not too complex, so I can see what this printer is capable of for myself. I already know it won't be suitable for a 17x17, but it might be for, say, a master skewb, or something like that. Even when/if this printer is running perfect, don't expect a perfect puzzle; this isn't a $75,000 SLS Printer.

I'm only looking for established designers here. You don't have to be putting out a puzzle a week like Oskar, but I'm not going to print an unfilletted 3x3 that someone with no experience made in SketchUp. I'd suggest having at least one successful puzzle print.

So, to summarize: Send me a file and I'll tell you if I think it's good to print. I will eventually, hopefully print something of it that is of acceptable quality. I'm not doing any sales right now, but I will hopefully be able to offer you one copy of your puzzle some time in the future for a low price (lower than shapeways prices.)
Again, there's a lot of ifs and this is still in a very, very early stage. I hope something will come out of this which will allow me and other members of TP to print their puzzles at a low price.

I'm not here to steal anyone's designs and I won't make any unauthorized distributions of your files. Perhaps in the future full sized runs of puzzles could be possible, but that would be for the designer to decide.

Feel free to ask any questions at all you might have about this.
Thank you in advance!

Usually, FDM printing is not a good process to make puzzle parts. The parts need a lot of post-processing (mostly to smooth them out) before they can be used.

But it's pretty awesome that you have access to a new toy! Have fun with it!

-Eitan

Just saw this thread. I have access to a a solido printer, so if anyone has files that they are willing to share, I would also be interested.

I have files for a slightly pillowed 4x4x6 i designed a while ago (4-5 months)... Someone had acess to a printer that actually broke at some point so the 4x4x6 wasn't made but the STLs remain and it's designed as an add-on to a mini ES 2x2

If it's not too much to ask though, I'd like a copy if you print it cheap or free, and then we could always work out something to make it available for a low price to the forum members

Low price? Forum members? Sign me up!

And when I say that, I mean I want to buy it eventually but have nothing to contribute to the actual building of the puzzle

Wow that was a quick response. I cant print anything currently as it is being used for none puzzle relate purposes at the moment. Solido printers tend to have noticeable stair stepping on curved surfaces, I'm not sure a pillowed design would come out the way you intended. Thanks for the offer I'll defiantly look into it.

Hello everyone.

The good news: the printer is working!

The bad news: I cannot do any prints within my schedule until a week from Saturday. I also have limited computer access at this time so don't expect quick replies.

Keep sending PMs. Ive gotten some really cool puzzle stls so far and might be willing to try yours.

Hello again everyone.

While I'm not completely sure, there is an extremely high chance that we will be doing our first puzzle print today. I'm finishing up downloading the STLs for it now, and hopefully we can start printing this afternoon.

If you can send me files within the next 3 or 4 hours or so, there's a chance they may be printed today. PM me for details.

Thanks!

Can I send you the files for a petaminx?

Do the owners of the STL's get an examplar of the puzzle for just shipping costs ? ^^

(I have a babyface 2x2x3 if you want)

Keep in mind who the owner of those files will be...

Well definitely not you considering you made me make those files for you for 30 bucks and just told me to keep em once I finished them...