This year I participated in IC3D’s 2022 Toys for Tots program. IC3D is a company that uses 3D printing to make manufacturing more accessible. They offer a range of services, including custom equipment and design, as well as their own line of 3D printing filament.
I was introduced to this program by a colleague of mine who owns and operates several 3D printers of their own. Initially, I was a bit wary of the program. I knew that 3D printed parts were great for prototyping and creating a foundation for future products, but I was unsure whether 3D printed toys would be desirable to children. Despite my doubts, I decided to give the program a try.
IC3D provided a variety of different toy models to print, and I chose to go with the “mini wrangler”.
I selected this model because I felt it struck the perfect balance between functionality and simplicity. The car and wheels had to be printed separately, but once they were finished, they simply snapped together. After that, I spun the wheels a few times to reduce the friction between the two plastic parts.
I was able to print roughly 81 cars using blue PLA and recycled orange PETG filament. The blue PLA was provided by my colleague, and the orange R-PETG was provided free of charge by IC3D. Using some tips and tricks from a video by HackMonkey on YouTube, I was able to print a batch of 16 cars in 8-9 hours.
I printed all the cars on my Prusa i3 mk3s+. I had previously assembled the printer myself using their DIY kit and the extremely in-depth guidebook. The cars were printed in batches of 16, and every first layer came out perfectly thanks to the Prusa’s mesh bed leveling.
Once I was finished printing, I gave the fully assembled cars to my colleague, who also served as an IC3D toy hub for the local area. They then delivered the toys to the nearest Toys for Tots location.
In conclusion, I am satisfied with my participation in IC3D’s Toys for Tots program. Thanks to the helpful video by HackMonkey on YouTube, I was able to learn some valuable tricks for faster 3D printing, which greatly improved my productivity and allowed me to participate in the program more efficiently. Overall, this has been a very rewarding and enlightening experience, and I highly recommend giving 3D printing toys a try.
I used OpenGPT from OpenAI to proof-read this blog post and generate the title.