this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2026
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3DPrinting

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[–] Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I've been using openscad to create a dual-filament direct drive print head for my Ender 3. Got the whole thing printed but I have to run a couple more wires up the cable harness to control the new servo and read the filament runout sensor.

[–] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Nice! I've used a lot of other people's work to make my dice chandelier, and a handful of other stuff, but I've mostly been using it to model wood panels for a few cabinets, I made a simple module that takes in panel size and makes the panel, but also prints it on the console, so I can make a cutlist later.

[–] Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz 2 points 4 days ago

It definitely help for re-world modeling, getting things figured out in advance. In the Spring of 2024 I decided to finally build a utility trailer I've been thinking about for years, and I modeled the whole thing in OpenScad down to the wiring and generating material lists (and yes, we got it built and have been using it through this past Summer). The fact that you can't incrementally update variables makes some tasks stupidly difficult requiring a lot of needless redundancy, but I do like being able to write stuff out as code.

Maybe some day I'll try Build123 or something else, but most of my projects are things where I just need to whip out a quick model, so I don't want to deal with learning a whole new system at the same time. Case in point -- yesterday I picked up a keyboard fro the thrift store but realized it was missing one of the folding feet (this one has two different sized stacked feet that fold out from each other). Half an hour later I'm making my first print, and another 15 minutes I'm ready to test the second foot piece. And I could have done it faster if I didn't spend so much time capturing the details of the original feet. Point is, it's hard to change when most of your needs are quickly covered with the existing software.