3d print

123 Articles

The Water-Cooled PS3 Sony Never Made

November 6, 2025 by 3 Comments

The Playstation 3 had a dizzying number of variants from its first launch in 2006 to when they stopped selling the slim models over a decade later in 2017. Of all those, you’ve probably never heard of the water-cooled Playstation 3 Pro, for the simple reason that it did not exist until [Zac] of Zac Builds created it in a video to push the limits of the now-vintage hardware.

This hack isn’t totally unique; you used to be able to buy watercooling kits for the PS3, but like the console itself, those have long since left the market. Of course [Zac] is hacking this Playstation 3 in 2025, so he’s doing it in a very modern way: with 3D scanning and CNC machining.

After very, very carefully removing the heat spreaders from the CPU and GPU to replace the dried out thermal paste, [Zac] scans the main board to design mounts for the dual waterblocks. Those mounts are, of course, 3D printed in carbon fibre reinforced nylon. Since the mount is going to be under pressure and rather warm, he anneals the nylon for 24 hours at 85 degrees. 3D printing also comes into play mount the pump and radiator into a handsome case that nearly looks like something Sony could have put out back in the day. That whole workflow seems normal today, but would have been borderline science-fiction with the console was new. .

Note that this is not a 2007 unit. [Zac] picked the newest PS3 he could that was still hackable–each revision got more efficient as the chips moved to smaller architectures, but Sony did eventually lock down the firmware to prevent overclocking. Which is of course the point here: since the stock hardware leaves a lot on the table in terms of thermal management, [Zac] figured there would be great performance boosts available.

As it happens, [Zac] was right about performance boosts– on GPU limited titles, he’s getting upto 50% higher frame rates. (Which makes sense, given he’s overclocking the GPU by about 50%.) Loading times are also much improved with the inevitable HDD to SSD swap.

The last time we featured a watercooled playstation hack was back in 2011, for a PS3 laptop of all things. The modern workflow makes it much easier. It’s been a few years since we last posted a Playstation 3 hack. Perhaps now, as they age into becoming “retro” we’ll see a revival in that category.

Thanks to [Stephen Walters] for the tip, via Yanko Design, which seems to provide an LLM-assisted (or generated) summary of [Zac]’s video.

Continue reading “The Water-Cooled PS3 Sony Never Made” →

Dirty Pots, Meet Power Tools!

September 19, 2025 by 26 Comments

Let’s face it, nobody likes scrubbing, but what option do you have? You can’t exactly break out the grinder to clean off the remains of last nights dinner… right? Well, maybe not a grinder, but thanks to this hack by [Markus Opitz], you can use an oscillating tool.

It’s a simple enough hack: [Markus] modeled the attachment for his Bosch oscillating tool in Tinkercad, and created a bracket to hold a large metal binder clip. The clip attaches with a screw, and can hold whatever scrubbing pad your carpel-tunnel afflicted hands can’t bear to hold on to. He’s using a self-cleaning stainless-steel sponge.

One nice touch is a pair of protective lips on the jaws of the metal clip, to keep it from accidentally scratching the delicate surface under care. Of course if you have a drill or a Dremel handy you can buy attachments for polishing disks of various grits, but what’s the fun in that? Doing the dishes with a hacked-together oscillating tool just somehow seems more fun. Plus this way you can’t accidentally produce an engine-turning pattern.

We don’t seem to have featured many hacks for these fun, buzzing, multi-purpose tools, so if you’ve got one send us a tip. We did feature an oscillating cutter for CNC once, but that was fully DIY.

The crank/keying assembly

Hacking A Guitar Into A Hurdy-Gurdy Hybrid With 3D Prints

July 10, 2025 by 10 Comments

If you’re looking for a long journey into the wonderful world of instrument hacking, [Arty Farty Guitars] is six parts into a seven part series on hacking an existing guitar into a guitar-hurdy-gurdy-hybrid, and it is “a trip” as the youths once said. The first video is embedded below.

The Hurdy-Gurdy is a wheeled instrument from medieval europe, which you may have heard of, given the existence of the laser-cut nerdy-gurdy, the electronic midi-gurdy we covered here, and the digi-gurdy which seems to be a hybrid of the two. In case you haven’t seen one before, the general format is for a hurdy-gurdy is this : a wheel rubs against the strings, causing them to vibrate via sliding friction, providing a sound not entirely unlike an upset violin. A keyboard on the neck of the instrument provides both fretting and press the strings onto the wheel to create sound. 

[Arty Farty Guitars] is a guitar guy, so he didn’t like the part with about the keyboard. He wanted to have a Hurdy Gurdy with a guitar fretboard. It turns out that that is a lot easier said than done, even when starting with an existing guitar instead of from scratch, and [Arty Farty Guitar] takes us through all of the challenges, failures and injuries incurred along the way. 

Probably the most interesting piece of the puzzle is the the cranking/keying assembly that allows one hand to control cranking the wheel AND act as keyboard for pressing strings into the wheel. It’s key to the whole build, as combining those functions on the lower hand leaves the other hand free to use the guitar fretboard half of the instrument. That controller gets its day in video five of the series. It might inspire some to start thinking about chorded computer inputs– scrolling and typing?

If you watch up to the sixth video, you learn that that the guitar’s fretting action is ultimately incompatible with pressing strings against the wheel at the precise, constant tension needed for good sound. To salvage the project he had to switch from a bowing action with a TPU-surfaced wheel to a sort of plectrum wheel, creating an instrument similar to the thousand-pick guitar we saw last year.

Even though [Arty Farty Guitars] isn’t sure this hybrid instrument can really be called a Hurdy Gurdy anymore, now that it isn’t using a bowing action, we can’t help but admire the hacking spirit that set him on this journey. We look forward to the promised concert in the upcoming 7th video, once he figures out how to play this thing nicely.

Know of any other hacked-together instruments that possibly should not exist? We’re always listening for tips. 

 

 

 

Careful Design Lets 3D Print Emulate Kumiko

June 25, 2025 by 11 Comments

Kumiko is a form of Japanese woodworking that uses small cuts of wood (probably offcuts) to produce artful designs. It’s the kind of thing that takes zen-like patience to assemble, and years to master– and who has time for that? [Paper View] likes the style of kumiko, but when all you have is a 3D printer, everything is extruded plastic.

His video, embedded below, focuses mostly on the large tiled piece and the clever design required to avoid more than the unavoidable unsightly seams without excessive post processing. (Who has time for that?) The key is a series of top pieces to hide the edges where the seams come together. The link above, however, gives something more interesting, even if it is on Makerworld.

[Paper View] has created a kumiko-style (out of respect for the craftspeople who make the real thing, we won’t call this “kumiko”) panel generator, that allows one to create custom-sized frames to print either in one piece, or to assemble as in the video. We haven’t looked at MakerWorld’s Parametric Model Maker before, but this tool seems to make full use of its capabilities (to the point of occasionally timing out). It looks like this is a wrapper for OpenScad (just like Thingiverse used to do with Customizer) so there might be a chance if enough of us comment on the video [Paper View] can be convinced to release the scad files on a more open platform.

We’ve featured kumiko before, like this wood-epoxy guitar,  but for ultimate irony points, you need to see this metal kumiko pattern made out of nails. (True kumiko cannot use nails, you see.)

Thanks to [Hari Wiguna] for the tip, and please keep them coming!

Continue reading “Careful Design Lets 3D Print Emulate Kumiko” →

Head To Print Head: CNC Vs FDM

June 23, 2025 by 18 Comments

It’s a question new makers often ask: “Should I start with a CNC machine or a 3D Printer?”– or, once you have both, every project gets the question “Should I use my CNC or 3D printer?” — and the answer is to both is, of course, “it depends”. In the video embedded below by [NeedItMakeIt] you can see a head-to-head comparison for one specific product he makes, CRATER, a magnetic, click-together stacking tray for tabletop gaming. (He says tabletop gaming, but we think these would be very handy in the shop, too.)

[NeedItMakeIt] takes us through the process for both FDM 3D Printing in PLA, and CNC Machining the same part in walnut. Which part is nicer is absolutely a matter of taste; we can’t imagine many wouldn’t chose the wood, but de gustibus non disputandum est–there is no accounting for taste. What there is accounting for is the materials and energy costs, which are both surprising– that walnut is cheaper than PLA for this part is actually shocking, but the amount of power needed for dust collection is something that caught us off guard, too.

Of course the process is the real key, and given that most of the video follows [NeedItMakeIt] crafting the CNC’d version of his invention, the video gives a good rundown to any newbie just how much more work is involved in getting a machined part ready for sale compared to “take it off the printer and glue in the magnets.” (It’s about 40 extra minutes, if you want to skip to the answer.) As you might expect, labour is by far the greatest cost in producing these items if you value your time, which [NeedItMakeIt] does in the spreadsheet he presents at the end.

What he does not do is provide an answer, because in the case of this part, neither CNC or 3D Printing is “better”. It’s a matter of taste– which is the great thing about DIY. We can decide for ourselves which process and which end product we prefer. “There is no accounting for taste”, de gustibus non disputandum est, is true enough that it’s been repeated since Latin was a thing. Which would you rather, in this case? CNC or 3D print? Perhaps you would rather 3D Print a CNC? Or have one machine to do it all? Let us know in the comments for that sweet, sweet engagement.

While you’re engaging, maybe drop us a tip, while we offer our thanks to [Al] for this one.

Continue reading “Head To Print Head: CNC Vs FDM” →

Threaded Insert Press Is 100% 3D Printed

June 11, 2025 by 12 Comments

Sometimes, when making a 3D printed object, plastic just isn’t enough. Probably the most common addition to our prints is the ubiquitous brass threaded inset, which has proven its worth time and again over the years in providing a secure screw attachment point with less hassle than a captive nut. Of course to insert these bits of machined brass, you need to press them in, and unless you’ve got a very good hand with a soldering iron it’s usually a good idea to use a press of some sort. [TimNummy]  shows us that, ironically enough, making such a press is perfectly doable using only printed parts. Well, save for the soldering iron, of course.

He calls it the Superserter. Not only is it 100% printed plastic, but the entire design fits on a single 256 mm by 256 mm bed. In his case it was done on the Bambulab X1C, but it’s a common enough print bed size and can be printed without any supports. It’s even sized to fit the popular Gridfinity standard for a neat and tidy desk and handy bin placement for the inserts.

[TimNummy] clearly spent some time thinking about design for 3D printed manufacturing in order to create an assembly that does not need linear rails, sliders, or bearings as other press projects often do. The ironic thing is that if that same amount of effort went into other designs, it might eliminate the need for threaded inserts entirely.

If you haven’t delved into the world of threaded inserts, we put up a how-to-guide a few years ago. If you’re wondering if you can get away with just printing threads, the answer is “maybe”– we highlighted a video comparing printed threads with different inserts a while back to get you started thinking about the design limitations there.

Continue reading “Threaded Insert Press Is 100% 3D Printed” →

Turning Up The Heat On HT-PLA’s Marketing

June 9, 2025 by 28 Comments

PLA is probably the most-printed filament on the market these days, and is there any wonder? It’s cheap, it’s easy, and it doesn’t poison you (as quickly as its competitors, anyway). What it doesn’t do very well is take the heat. Polymaker’s new HT-PLA formulation promises to solve that, and [My Tech Fun] put those claims to the test in a recent video.

Polymaker claims its HT-PLA is heat-stable up-to 150 C, but still prints as easily as standard PLA at up to 300 mm/s. By “heat stable” they mean able to maintain dimensions and form at that temperature when not under any load, save perhaps its own weight. If you need high-temp mechanical properties, they also offer a glass-fiber infused HT-PLA-GF that they claim is heat resistant up to 110 C (that is, able to withstand load at that temperature) which is hard to sneeze at, considering you  you could print it on a stock Ender so long as you tossed a hardened nozzle on it.

Now it’s not a free lunch: to get the very best results, you do need to anneal the parts, which can introduce shrinkage and warping in HT-PLA, but that’s where HT-PLA-GF shines. If you want to see the results of the tests you can jump to 19:27 in the video, but the short version is that this is mechanically like PLA and can take the heat.

The verdict? If you like printing PLA and want to shove something in a hot car, you might want to try HT-PLA. Otherwise, it’s just like PLA. It prints like PLA, it looks like PLA, and when cold it behaves mechanically like PLA, which we suppose was rather what Polymaker was going for. There is no word yet on whether the additives that make it high-temp increase off-gassing or toxicity but since this stuff prints like PLA and can stand a little airflow, it should be easy to ventilate, which might make for fewer trade-offs when building an enclosure.

What do you think, will you be trying HT-PLA anytime soon? Let us know in the comments.

Continue reading “Turning Up The Heat On HT-PLA’s Marketing” →