3D Modeling Challenge: Print-in-Place Designs

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

WINNERS

The votes are in! Like all of our challenges, this challenge included many incredible entries. Be sure to check them all out – download and print your favorite ones from Thangs.com!

Special thanks to everyone who participated in this print-in-place challenge. We look forward to seeing your creative ideas in the next one! The October 2021 3D Modeling challenge will be posted tomorrow!

1. Grand Prize – Transformer Chess Piece

This print-in-place chess piece transforms into any of the six chess pieces: pawn, rook, knight, bishop, king, or queen.

See here for video: https://youtu.be/0cj6SbYCWAs

Each of the side sections flip up and lock into place to form a rook, knight, bishop, king, or queen. Leave them all down and you have a pawn. Print sixteen in each colour and you’ll have a set! OK, not to most efficient way to acquire a chess set, but super fun to change a pawn into queen when your opponent isn’t looking.

2nd Place – Candy Corn Pal

You may hate candy corn or be insane enough to love candy corn like I do, but I think both groups of people can agree on one thing… Candy corn is apart of the fall tradition whether it is used purely as a decoration or its enjoyed as a sweet treat!

Candy corn pal was made with the love of fall in mind as well as these wooden anthropomorphic fruit shelf sitters that always seemed to haunt me at my parent’s house.

Candy corn pal will help to decorate your home this fall. There are several different models to choose from: 2 with jack-o-lantern style faces and 2 that have no face. 2 of the models have a removable plug that allows you to put a LED tea light in it so it can glow! They all have legs that are grown with the part so no need for assembly! The legs bend down to allow you to sit him on a shelf.

The models that have the tealight feature can be grown with supports so that it will function correctly. The removable plug has a slot for a coin/flathead screwdriver to open/close onto the model.

3rd Place – Map Sliding Puzzle

I’ve made a detailed tutorial on how to design such a puzzle that you can find here: https://www.instructables.com/Map-Sliding-Puzzle-3D-Printed/

These puzzles are a great way to spend some and learn a bit of geography! Additionally, the 3D texture makes them accessible to visually impaired people too!

You most likely are accustomed with Sliding Puzzles but for those who are unaware they are a combination puzzle, usually made from wood or plastic, that challenges a player to slide pieces along certain routes (usually on a board) to establish a certain end-configuration. The pieces to be moved may consist of simple shapes, patterns, sections of a larger picture, numbers, letters or in this case maps! The pieces cannot be lifted out of the frame or rearranged in any way, except by sliding them into an empty space. But how is this achieved? Well, the blocks cannot fall because they have a built in angle that allows them to interact with the frame and the other blocks simply by sliding.

4th Place – Ratchet Spanner Wrench 15mm

A ‘print in place’ ratcheting spanner/wrench.

Inspired by the freewheel mechanism on a bicycle, I designed this tool to be compact and strong but most importantly it can be printed in place, already assembled.

The internal gear rotates in one direction depending on which way round the tool is engaged.

The spring latches into place perfectly to engage when tightening but slides over the teeth when spinning the opposite way.

All parts have been designed with 3d printing in mind with no need for support material. The 45-degree angle internally not only makes this easily printable, but it also locks the turning sprocket inside the frame.

5th Place – Print in Place Chain (plus belt accessories)

This is a print in place chain that I designed from scratch – it requires no supports and comes off the bed approximately 1m long.

To build on the original chain design I also made some additional accessories:

I first made a hook so that lengths of chain can be attached to each other to extend the overall length

I also realised this hook could be used to attach one part of the chain to another and (just for fun) made some extra accessories so that it could be used as a decorative belt or jewellery – the charms simply hook onto the belt using the same hook mentioned previously.

I also wrote an instructable detailing the design process so if anyone is interested int that or would like to make a custom chain either in terms of link shape or length of the overall chain, I go into detail on everything here: www.instructables.com/3D-Printed-Chain-Belt-Tinkercad-Tutorial/

6th Place – Floating Ghost

This is a floating ghost tensegrity ornament that is print-in-place. I have removed the need to add string or wire by designing a model where a single strand of filament is printed instead.

When printing uses the 0.3mm layer height and make sure ‘detect thin walls’ is checked. When sliced you should be able to see the single strands of filament and there should be no empty layers.

7th Place – Dino pencil attachment

A fidget toy that attaches to (almost) any pencil shape. The handle is printed by means of a small bridge, and the small resistance from the flexible spring makes the toy very satisfying to play with.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Here are some of the judge’s favorites (in no particular order) that didn’t place.

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• Among Us Imposter – View on Thangs
• Print-in-Place Tape Holder – View on Thangs
• Bike Wall Mount – View on Thangs
• Print in place articulated timelapse cam mount – View on Thangs

THE CHALLENGE

Theme: Print-in-Place models are fun and unique 3D prints because they use various hinges, links, and joints to create moving parts that are printed in a single take. For this challenge, we’re seeking your creative ideas to design a #3Dprint that includes at least one (or more) Print-in-Place feature.

Here are some ideas to get you kickin’ – animals with hinged legs, various boxes or parts with hinges, collapsable tubes (i.e. lightsaber!), gears, adjustable phone stands.

Criteria: Entries will be voted on by 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

New to designing for Print-in-Place parts? No worries!

Here are some great resources to help you get started:

• Print-in-place hinges – Tutorial on PDO YouTube
• Moveable/Bendable Print-in-place parts – Tutorial on PDO YouTube
• Print-in-place tongue and groove – Puzzle Instructable for Fusion 360
• 20 Print-in-place model examples – All3DP Article

PRIZES

• Grand prize: $200 Amazon Gift Card* + Lifetime membership to the PDO Academy ($599 value)
• 2nd place: $100 Amazon gift card* + 1 year access (annual membership) to the PDO Academy ($229 value)
• 3rd place: $75 Amazon gift card* + 1 month access (monthly membership) to PDO Academy ($60 value)
• 4th place: $50 Amazon gift card*
• 5th place: $50 Amazon gift card*
• 6th place: $25 Amazon gift card*
• 7th place: $25 Amazon gift card*

Special thanks to the wonderful folks at Thangs.com 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
**T-shirt and hat are available to ship only to U.S. Residents. Non-US Residents are still eligible for the Amazon gift card or equal prize.

CHALLENGE DEADLINE

• Submissions – accepted until Friday, October 8th, 2021 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time.
• Winners – announced Friday, October 15th, 2021 on this page and Thangs social media.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

• Create an original 3D Model that includes at least one “print-in-place” part. Be creative and solve a problem/invent something new!
• No limit to the number of entries per contestant
• Submit Entry – upload your 3D designs to Thangs.com including the hashtag #3Dprint in the model’s description
  • Note: put the hashtag in the description and NOT the title of the model
• Include 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 #3Dprint, #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, October 15th, 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 #3Dprint 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, October 15th, 2021.
• The prize is not sponsored by Amazon or any Amazon subsidiaries.
• Promoter: Thangs, 30 W. 30 Street, Floor 5, Cincinnati, OH 45202