3D Printed Pen Segment Jig

[JoeyGee]

With the recent discussion on using 3D printers to print replacement parts, I figured I would share a jig I made with a 3D printer. Keep in mind, I am no expert and am using a fairly bottom of the line 3D printer--a Cubify Ekocycle

http://www.3dsystems.com/shop/support/ekocycle/videos?redirectFrom=cubify

I wanted to create a checkerboard pen blank, so ~3/4" square by 5", so I needed to glue a series of 3/4" squares together that were perfectly square to each other so the squares would line up. Since I was using wood, I needed it to be non-stick for wood glue. Sure, this could be cut out of something like HDPE or something, but I had the printer and wanted to learn how to use it, so that's what I did. I'm not even sure what the filament is exactly, but I believe it's made from recycled plastic. I could be wrong.

It's perfectly square and non-stick, so it works perfectly. Somehow, though, the baseplate of the printer developed bumps, so the bottom is not perfectly flat, but the interior edges that need to be flat are.

I made two pieces to "cradle" the segments, then used rubber bands to "clamp" the two pieces of the jig together, if that makes any sense at all.

**Note I was testing with this blank and my walnut and maple were not equal thickness, so that's why the squares don't line up.

[leehljp]

There's more than one way to "skin a cat" so they say. And coming up with different ways and jigs to create something is awesome. I hadn't thought of a couple of jigs like you created to do that. But that is a very simple way to do it. Congratulations on the 3D printing. Great checkerboard blank!

3 or 4 years ago, I could not imagine using a 3D printer in a small shop setting. I also didn't see the precision to which they could print. As others mentioned on the other thread, there are limits on the cheaper ones, but as I learned with early dot-matrix printers and ink jets, if you know their strength, you can create amazing things.