3D Modeling Challenge: DIY – Don’t Buy!

• The Challenge
• Learning Resources
• Prizes
• Winners
• Challenge Deadline
• How to Participate
• Share your Designs
• Judges
• Questions?
• FAQs
• Terms & Conditions

WINNERS

The votes are in! Remember, this challenge has three winners and three runner-ups based on the following categories: Costume DIY, Holiday DIY, and Household DIY. challenge Be sure to check them all out – download and print your favorite ones from Thangs.com!

Special thanks to everyone who participated in this DIY; Don’t Buy challenge.

Check the Challenges Page for our latest 3D modeling challenges.

Category: Costume (Cosplay) DIY

1. Grand Prize – FHW: Jupiter Pattern Inquisitorial Bolt Pistol (Cosplay)

Hello Tribe, You all humble me in a way I can’t even explain, this will be my personal cosplay play blaster. I hope you enjoy

Cheers
Maker Millwright

Runner-Up – WATCHAFLY

1. #custom
2. This was birthed by the fact that time flies just like a butterfly. Just a year ago we were hit by the coronavirus and now we are recovering, and growing, adjusting to the change the pandemic brought in our workplaces, schools, and in life generally. Time flies and time heals. Grammy Award winner Burna boy in his song Time flies says, “time flies like the dream of the night”.

Category: Holiday DIY

1. Grand Prize – Spherical Advent Calendar

Technically it’s a 30-sided rhombic triacontahedron. Five of the sides are used for the base, leaving 25 compartments to stash your advent treats!

The snap mechanisms for the lids are designed to be snug, so you’ll have to pop them in and out a few times to smooth out the nubs and remove any imperfections. Use some sandpaper if you want them even looser, but make sure they don’t get loose enough to fall out inadvertently!

This model is compatible with the “Coronavirus Advent Calendar” found here: https://thangs.com/DaveMakesStuff/Coronavirus-Advent-Calendar-35493

This model is submitted to the November 2021 “DIY: Don’t Buy 3D Modeling Challenge” in the “Holiday DIY” category.

Runner-Up – Jack O’ Coaster (6 Face Designs!)

Hello everyone! For this Halloween, I had a number of guests visiting and needed something for them to put their drinks on. I came up with the solution to design and print off my own coasters rather than purchasing some from the store – which ended up being cheaper too! The coaster area where a drink can be placed is 90mm in diameter and has a small 2.5mm lip, so any spills or condensation will be caught within the coaster and not ruin your table.

The coaster has several different face designs that can be printed separately from the background color (backing plate) and the frame. This allows for a multitude of different color combinations. Everything can be printed on a single-color 3D printer. All parts have a 0.5mm gap so they should print and fit together on any printer.

Print Settings: (0.4mm nozzle, 80mm/s overall speed, Slicer: Ultimaker Cura 4.8) Wound up going with a lower quality as I needed to print a lot of them out quickly. Still turned out good-looking. Of course, you can lower the layer height and line width settings and get a higher detailed model.

Frame, Stem, Backing Plate, & All Faces: 0.3mm layer height, 0.5mm line width, 2 walls & 3 top & bottom layers, 10% zigzag infill, 80mm/s print/infill speed, 45mm/s top/bottom speed, 50mm/s outer wall speed, 60mm/s inner wall speed, no support needed, skirt only. Printed in Matterhackers PLA.

Assembly Video Link: https://youtu.be/7k5BaReIhsg

Category: Household DIY

1. Grand Prize – Keep Ants Away From Cat Food

The problem is ants! We want to be kind to them, but then they go marching in the cat food bowl on the floor, ruining the food for the cat and resulting in an ant armageddon, there seems to be no other choice. But there is! Here is a compassionate answer: a disc that has a labyrinth inside (that lies underneath your cat food bowl shown here in black porcelain). The ants smell the cat food, climb in the lip gap to get to it, but then get lost in the maze, and never find their way to the food. It actually works! I have one and it has made it so that I no longer have to flush cat food or ants down the toilet. I wish I could say that I was the one to invent this concept but others came up with this idea long ago, I don’t know who to credit. However for the Thangs DIY contest (#custom) I did create this design on Fusion 360, inspired by one a friend gifted to me but instead with the goal being to make it easy to 3D print one on a standard print bed size, with no supports required, and in two parts that can be printed separately. In this file I also have included a cat bowl in case you need one. I hope you enjoy it. And may the ants find some other food elsewhere. 🙂

Runner-Up – Customizable clock calendar with phone stand.

This is a calendar with a phone stand and a clock. You can customize it and choose the parts you want, they just click in each other.

Things you will need:

3D printer Quartz clock mechanism (search on Amazon, or take apart an old clock as I did). 3 Keyrings I used PLA for the numbers and months and PETG for the stand, base, and clock. Your choice really with what you got at hand.

Printed in 0.2mm with 4 walls. Infill 5-10%. Supports on side of the clock.

You should stop the print after 2 layers for filament change and after the filament change, it will print 2 more layers for the text to keep them thin.

The stand just slides in the holder, might need a bit of push depending on your printers accuracy. The clock should just slide in the same way.

THE CHALLENGE

Theme: 3D printing puts DIY solutions on another level!

For this challenge, we’re seeking your creative ideas to design a #custom 3D print that fits into one of the following three categories:

1. Costume DIY – wearable accessories, masks, Halloween costumes, props, or related.
2. Holiday DIY – design and customize a 3d printable decoration for your favorite celebration or festival.
3. Household DIY – solve a need around the house by creating something you cannot buy (or don’t want to purchase).

We’ll select a winner and runner-up for each category. Entrants may submit a design for each of the three categories. There is no limit to the number of models you enter.

Criteria: Entries must be related to one of the three categories and will receive votes for their creativity, uniqueness, ability to solve a problem, and the story behind them.

*your entry does NOT need to be 3D printed but should consider the limitations of various 3D printing methods and materials.

LEARNING RESOURCES

Here are some great resources to help you get started:

• DIY with a custom 3D printable dice – Tutorial on PDO YouTube
• DIY a custom phone stand – Tutorial on PDO YouTube
• DIY with a custom orange peeler – Tutorial on PDO YouTube
• DIY with some custom cable clips – Tutorial on PDO YouTube
• DIY your holiday cookies with custom cookie cutters – Tutorial on PDO YouTube

PRIZES

We’re switching things up for this challenge! Each category will have a grand prize and a runner-up. Increase your chances of winning by submitting entries to all three categories.

Costume DIY

• Grand prize: $100 Amazon Gift Card* + 1 year access (annual membership) to the PDO Academy ($229 value) + 3 months access to PTT.Live Membership – Blender Courses ($60 value)
• Runner-Up: $50 Amazon gift card* + 1 month access (monthly membership) to PDO Academy ($60 value)

Holiday DIY

• Grand prize: $100 Amazon Gift Card* + 1 year access (annual membership) to the PDO Academy ($229 value) + 3 months access to PTT.Live Membership – Blender Courses ($60 value)
• Runner-Up: $50 Amazon gift card* + 1 month access (monthly membership) to PDO Academy ($60 value)

Household DIY

• Grand prize: $100 Amazon Gift Card* + 1 year access (annual membership) to the PDO Academy ($229 value) + 3 months access to PTT.Live Membership – Blender Courses ($60 value)
• Runner-Up: $50 Amazon gift card* + 1 month access (monthly membership) to PDO Academy ($60 value)

Special thanks to Thangs.com and Print That Thing for sponsoring this challenge and providing the prizes!

*an equivalent and equal prize will be rewarded to the winner(s) if Amazon is not available in your area.

CHALLENGE DEADLINE

• Submissions – accepted until Friday, November 12th, 2021 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time.
• Winners – announced Friday, November 19th, 2021 on this page and Thangs social media.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

• Create an original 3D Model that matches one of the DIY: Don’t Buy! categories above. Be creative and solve a problem or invent something new!
• No limit to the number of entries per contestant
• Submit Entry – upload your 3D designs to Thangs.com including the hashtag #custom in the model’s description
  • Note: put the hashtag in the description and NOT the title of the model
• Include at least 2-3 sentences explaining your design.
  • The more detail included in the story, the more the judges will understand your idea!

SHARE YOUR DESIGNS

Sharing your designs on social media?

Use the hashtags #custom, #thangs3d, and #pdo and we’ll share them with the community!

JUDGES

Entries will be judged on quality, creativity, adherence to the challenge theme, and suitability for 3D printing.

• Kevin Kennedy from Product Design Online
• Thangs.com team members
• Fusion 360 team members

Winners will be announced the following Friday, November 19th, 2021 on this page and Thangs social media.

QUESTIONS?

Join the PDO community and post your questions, comments, share progress, and more.

FAQs

TERMS & CONDITIONS

• No purchase necessary.
• By entering this competition, entrants will be deemed to have accepted and agreed to the conditions.
• No stealing or ripping of models available on the Internet, all entries must be original works created by the entrant.
• The judges’ decisions are 100% final. In case of dispute, no correspondence will be entered into.
• Winning entries (models) will be documented and may be used for promotional purposes on social media.
• Contestant’s models must be uploaded to Thangs.com and tagged #custom in the model description to be considered as an entry.
• The contest and prizes are not open to Physna/Thangs employees or their families.
• Winners retain all Intellectual Property as per Thangs’ Terms and Conditions.
• The winners will be contacted by Friday, November 19th, 2021.
• The prize is not sponsored by Amazon or any Amazon subsidiaries.
• Promoter: Thangs, 30 W. 30 Street, Floor 5, Cincinnati, OH 45202