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Posts tagged "basics"

12 posts

• A T-handle for any hex key, and the key sizes behind it11 October 2026

  How the Hex Key Handle Generator sizes a printed T-handle, screwdriver grip or lever sleeve from the number stamped on an L-shaped hex key, with the ISO 2936 and ASME B18.3 arm lengths it uses.

• 3D printed hose adapters: stop buying, start measuring10 October 2026

  A 3D printed hose adapter fits on the first try when you measure the right surface of each end. Here is which one, with real port sizes for shop vacs, sanders and saws.

• "Cookie cutter walls, magnet pockets and keyholes: the rules a printable part checks while you type"30 September 2026

  Every generator page on alpaco.it now checks your numbers before the preview asks the server. The rules that matter most for cookie cutters, miniature bases, wall hooks and spacers, and the broken preset that testing turned up.

• Why is Gridfinity 42 mm? What Zack Freedman said, and what the number does for your drawer28 September 2026

  Gridfinity is 42 mm because the number divides many ways, which makes bins nest into storage and plates nest into drawers, and because a microscope slide fits a bin as a window. The Hitchhiker's Guide joke is real, but it is the smallest of the reasons.

• A mount for any box and a window vent insert, two generators I built from Reddit threads27 September 2026

  The Device Mount and Rack Panel Generator holds a router, power brick or mini PC under a desk or in a 10 or 19 inch rack, and the Window Vent Insert Generator turns a window gap and a hose size into a panel cut into tiles for your bed.

• A 3D printed phone stand in five shapes and five patterns, with a third of the plastic27 September 2026

  The phone stand generator now draws a folded ribbon, a curled arch, a truss frame, a charging ledge that floats above its base or the classic block, ripples it with waves, zigzag, ridges or facets, and still prints on its side with no support.

• Lithophane from a photo: thickness, size and light for a gift that actually glows25 September 2026

  How a lithophane turns a photo into wall thickness, the numbers that decide whether it glows or looks like a grey slab, how big it can get, and how to print and light one before the holidays.

• Fillet or chamfer: which edges to round, which to cut at 45 degrees, and why the bottom one is different18 September 2026

  The bottom edge takes a chamfer, the vertical corners take a fillet, inside corners take the biggest fillet you can afford, and the reason is the same every time: a printer builds upward in layers, so the shape of an edge decides what hangs over what.

• Gridfinity specs and dimensions explained: the 42 mm grid, 7 mm units and where the magnets go17 September 2026

  Every number in the Gridfinity standard, from the 42 mm pitch to the 6.5 x 2.4 mm magnet, with the bin sizes that fit common printer beds and a generator that builds any of them.

• PET bottle thread sizes: PCO-1881, PCO-1810 and the 38 mm neck, and how to print a cap that fits17 September 2026

  The three neck finishes on almost every plastic bottle, with the diameter, pitch and thread height of each, and the clearance a printed cap needs to screw onto a molded neck.

• "Printed threads: when they work and when to give up"6 September 2026

  Three of my generators cut threads, from jar lids to M3 bolts, and each one taught me a different rule about pitch, depth and clearance. Here are the numbers that survived contact with plastic.

• Supports are a design smell30 August 2026

  The 45 degree rule, bridges, chamfers and teardrops: most support material exists because the model asked for it. Here is how to design it away.