3d printing ideas for home
3D Printing Guides

Best 3D Printing Home Ideas in 2021

Now that you have your 3D printer tuned and set and some filament ready, you can start 3D printing. What can you make with a 3D printer at home? In this post, we present the most popular 3D models online that you can simply download, slice, and print.

Not everyone knows how to work with 3D Modeling and CAD software off the bat. With that, you can start with various 3D models that many users have downloaded, tested, and enjoyed. Most of these models are free for download, so spending from this point on is only on high-quality filaments.


There are a ton of models uploaded to online repositories like Thingiverse, MyMinifactory, prusaprinters.org, and others. However, not every model available is tested to be optimized for 3D printing. You may want to start with our selection, which are the most popular models from Thingiverse. Soon, you may learn to create a 3D model for yourself!

High-Quality ABS Filament starts at $25.99
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High-Quality PLA Filament starts at $25.99
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Practical Things to 3D Print

A.

Planters, Pots, and Vases

The pandemic has given people to find something to keep busy with. This gave way to hobbies such as gardening. With that, here are the most popular flower pots and planters that you can make with 3D printing.

Self-Watering Planter (Small)

3d printed self planter
Self-Watering Planter (Small)
This self-watering planter allows for easier and more manageable watering for your plants. The planter has two parts, the plant pot, and the water reservoir. Just fill the reservoir with water, and you will never need to water it as often as before.
Filament Used
PLA can be used for easy printing and accurate dimensions.
Tips for Printing:
Make sure that your prints are water-tight. To print a watertight model, set your perimeters and top and bottom layers to about 3 or more. If these fail, you can use waterproof glue inside the reservoir to prevent the water from leaking.

Curved honeycomb vase

Curved honeycomb vase
This beautiful geometric plant pot can be printed using one of your slicer’s settings called Spiralize Contour/ Spiral Vase setting (more often called Vase mode). This mode prints the model on a single wall only.
Filament Used
PLA for easy and troubleless printing, especially for this large vase.
Tips for Printing:
According to the creator, printing this in vase mode will not create a watertight vase that is not recommended to hold water, but other users successfully made this watertight by setting the print at two walls.

Modern geometric Succulent plant pot

Modern geometric Succulent plant pot

This geometric flower pot for succulents comes in three variations, and more! The creator, SchulteGeileTechnik, has included the three variations of succulent pots, a thinner inner pot for each, and an STL for the base tray as well.


Each succulent pot has an inside diameter of 60-65 mm, with about 60mm height, perfect for succulents.

Filament Used
Wood PLA to create the wood-like appearance.
Tips for Printing:
If this is small for your plants, scale them up! You can maximize your 3D printer size and increase the scale of the pots.

Flower Pot

3d printed innovative Flower Pot
This unique flower pot set resembling a set of buildings not only comes with their 3D printable pots but also printable casting molds so you can make them in concrete.
Filament Used
Marble PLA or other PLA blends that mimic stone-like materials.
Tips for Printing:
Reorient your model to eliminate the use of supports.

Twisted 6-sided Vase Basic

Twisted 6-sided Vase Basic flower pot
Another 3D print created using your slicer’s Vase Mode, this basic pot can also be used for holding other objects such as pens, tools, and other small objects.
Filament Used
PLA and ABS can be used, also clear PETG if you want the transparent look.
Tips for Printing:
You can easily modify this for your specific application by scaling it as a whole, or scaling it independently along the axes. For example, you can make it wide and shallow as a dish by scaling down the z-axis and widening the x and y-axis.

Plantygon

Plantygon

Modular design is a trend in the 3D printing world, so expect more modular designs in this list. As for the Plantygon, this planter is created to be stackable with each other, not only for the sole purpose of design but also for functionality.


The planter has sloped drain holes that lead to the planters below them, so water from the topmost plant will flow down to the neighboring Plantygons.

Filament Used
PLA can be used here, as printing will need a material that can print at overhangs very well. They are also small, and will not carry too much weight.
Tips for Printing:
Take note of your printing this, especially with the overhangs. Make sure to print overhangs slower, or increase cooling. If all else fails, you can use supports.

B.

Organizers, racks, and drawers

Storage Solutions Collections

Storage Solutions Collections
modular 3d printed drawer

This collection by O3D features his modular drawer creations ready for 3D printing. This set includes 6 models, of which 5 of them are modular drawers. His most popular, however, are The Hive, and Modular Drawers 2.0 stackable drawers. The drawers have separate parts that you can print with your desired filament colors.

Filament Used

PLA is the best economical, practical and flexible option

Tips for Printing:
The drawer fits better in the stackable modules when printed at 99% scale while the modules remain at 100%.

Stackable Box V4

Opting for open containers instead of drawers? Here is the Stackable Box V4. This features trays that you can stack on top of each other and also includes four types of containers. The files include a plain container, a tray with two sections, a shallow tray with 6 sections, and a driver bit tray.
Filament Used
PLA, ABS, PETG
Tips for Printing:
Since they are made to stack, maximize the wall thickness or print with a larger nozzle to make your prints stronger.

Moidules – Create your own custom-made shelving system at home!

3d printed Moidules
Photo credit: 3Dprint.com

This project is a 3D printable connector set for creating a customizable shelf system. The files include six types of “moidules” or connectors that are used to connect boards with 9 mm thickness.


Have other board thicknesses? The creator also provided modified versions that can be used with various thicknesses, namely: 12 mm, ½ in, and ¼ in.


In case your board size is not within the selection, another creator, mike_mattala created the Shelfie, a parametric version of the Moidules. Meaning, you can modify the connectors easily using the Customizer tool in Thingiverse.

Filament Used
ABS is best used as it can resist deformation under load, unlike PLA.
Tips for Printing:
You can print one connector first and test them if it fits well with your board, before printing the rest of the connector set. Also, for the boards, it is not recommended to use ones with excessive length as they can bend in the middle.

Customizable Modular Square / Hex Shelf

Customizable Modular Square Hex Shelf
As compared to the Moidules, this modular shelf is dedicated to smaller items and all parts are 3D printed. This features two types of shelf: a square shelf, and a hexagonal shelf. The files include two joints (for square and hexagonal) and three walls, (for square, hexagonal, and one dedicated for displaying your Benchy progress).
Filament Used
PLA can do the job for this for easy fitting and printing in general.
Tips for Printing:
The walls may be too small for your requirement with the default size, but you can use the customizer to increase the length or width of the walls. Make sure to adjust the joints as well.

Spice Holder Kania (Lidl) Glass

Spice Holder Kania (Lidl) Glass
This spice holder can spice up your kitchen and bring more elegance, cleanliness, and a professional look. You can choose from a taller holder (75 mm) or a shorter one (55 mm). You can also print them from a single spice holder up to six spice bottle holders.
Filament Used
PLA for easy printing and a wide selection of colors
Tips for Printing:
You can print the six-holder variation even on a printer with a 220 x 220 mm print bed. In case your spice bottles cannot fit, you can always scale them before printing, according to your needs.

C.

Hooks and handles

Customizable U-Hook

Customizable U-Hook

Need a hook for a lot of purposes? This customizable U-hook can be what you need. Easily customize this U-hook for your specific needs.


Using Thingiverse’s Customizer, you can adjust the dimensions, add second hooks, modify screw holes and more. If you have no time for creating your own, you can also browse the remixes made by other users.

Filament Used
We recommend ABS for this project, or other stronger materials, especially when you are planning to use this for heavy duty.
Tips for Printing:
More than material selection, also take note of the orientation on how you print this hook. Printing them lying down makes it easier to print, and also makes it stronger as the weight it will carry will not be parallel to the print layers.

D.

Kitchen

Smart One-Handed Bottle Opener

Smart One-Handed Bottle Opener 3d printed

This simple print is a 3D model based on GrabOpener, a cool one-handed bottle and can opener. This project contains four versions, with the first version a full 3D printed one, and the three has a slot for a magnet, coin, and a combination of both.

Filament Used
The creator recommends PLA with the ease of printing, but you can also use ABS, PETG and other material.
Tips for Printing:
Make sure you turn up the number of walls in printing this one to make it sturdier. The creator may recommend to print in 100% infill, however we think that it will be unnecessary as long as you add more walls/ perimeters instead.

Bag Clip with Screw Cap

Bag Clip with Screw Cap in green filament

Eliminate the problem of keeping opened packages of powdered products with this bag clip and cap. This print can make your opened packages a resealable one that can be easier to keep!

This project includes four files, the bag clip, the screw insert, and two types of caps.

Filament Used
PLA or PETG works fine with this simple but useful print.
Tips for Printing:
Because it comes in contact with food, printing with quality is required. Make sure that there are no print defects such as holes in print and uneven layers, as the substances can get trapped in these imperfections, which can then be a breeding ground for microorganisms. You could also sand rough edges after print to eliminate these imperfections.

Conclusion

3D printing something based on your needs is a very cool thing to do. You can start with these models, especially that a ton of them can be fully customized to your needs! We hope this list gives you some things you can print that can help you at home. There are more models in various online repositories, but if not, you can then create your own 3D models with 3D modeling software and print them as the need arises.

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