This Printed Zipper Repair Requires No Unsewing

March 14, 2026 by Donald Papp 13 Comments

If a zipper breaks, a 3D printer might not be the first tool one reaches for — but it’s more feasible than one might think. [MisterJ]’s zipper slider replacement is the kind of 3D print that used to be the domain of well-tuned printers only, but most hobbyist printers should be able to handle it nowadays.

The two-part design allows installation without unsewing the zipper ends. Note the print orientation of the green part, which maximizes the strength of the peg by making the layer lines perpendicular to the load.

What really sets this design apart from other printed versions is its split construction. Putting a new slider onto a zipper usually requires one to free the ends of the zipper by unsewing them. [MisterJ]’s two-part design instead allows the slider to be assembled directly onto the zipper, without the hassle of unsewing and re-sewing anything. That’s a pretty significant improvement in accessibility.

Want to make some adjustments? Good news, because the files are in STEP format which any CAD program will readily understand. We remember when PrusaSlicer first gained native STEP support and we’re delighted that it’s now a common feature in 3D printer software.

[MisterJ]’s zipper slider design is available in a variety of common sizes, in both standard (zipper teeth face outward) and reverse (zipper teeth face inward) configurations. Naturally a metal slider is more durable than a plastic one, but being able to replace broken parts of a zipper with a 3D printer is a pretty handy thing. Speaking of which, you can also 3D print a zipper box replacement should the squarish bit on the bottom get somehow wrecked or lost.

Ebike Charges At Car Charging Stations

March 5, 2026 by Bryan Cockfield 18 Comments

Electric vehicles are everywhere these days, and with them comes along a whole slew of charging infrastructure. The fastest of these are high-power machines that can deliver enough energy to charge a car in well under an hour, but there are plenty of slower chargers available that take much longer. These don’t tend to require any specialized equipment which makes them easier to install in homes and other places where there isn’t as much power available. In fact, these chargers generally amount to fancy extension cords, and [Matt Gray] realized he could use these to do other things like charge his electric bicycle.

To begin the build, [Matt] started with an electric car charging socket and designed a housing for it with CAD software. The housing also holds the actual battery charger for his VanMoof bicycle, connected internally directly to the car charging socket. These lower powered chargers don’t require any communication from the vehicle either, which simplifies the process considerably. They do still need to be turned on via a smartphone app so the energy can be metered and billed, but with all that out of the way [Matt] was able to take his test rig out to a lamppost charger and boil a kettle of water.

After the kettle experiment, he worked on miniaturizing his project so it fits more conveniently inside the 3D-printed enclosure on the rear rack of his bicycle. The only real inconvenience of this project, though, is that since these chargers are meant for passenger vehicles they’re a bit bulky for smaller vehicles like e-bikes. But this will greatly expand [Matt]’s ability to use his ebike for longer trips, and car charging infrastructure like this has started being used in all kinds of other novel ways as well.

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Computer Terminal Replica Inspired By 70s Hardware

March 1, 2026 by Bryan Cockfield 11 Comments

Not so long ago, most computer users didn’t own their own machines. Instead, they shared time on mainframes or servers, interacting with this new technology through remote terminals. While the rise of cloud computing and AI might feel like a modern, more dystopian echo of that era, some look back on those early days with genuine fondness. If you agree, check out this 70s-era terminal replica from [David Green].

The inspiration for this build was a Lear Siegler ADM-3A terminal seen at a local computer festival. These machines had no local computing resources and were only connected to their host computer via a serial connection. The new enclosure, modeled on this design, was 3D-printed and then assembled and finished for the classic 70s look. There are a few deviations from a 70s terminal, though: notably, a flat LCD panel and a Raspberry Pi 3, which, despite being a bit limited by today’s standards, still offers orders of magnitude more computing power than the average user in the 70s would have had access to.

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Robot Looks Exactly Like A Roll Of Filament, If Filament Had Eyes

February 26, 2026 by Donald Papp 2 Comments

[Matt Denton]’s SpoolBot is a surprisingly agile remote-controlled robot that doesn’t just repurpose filament spool leftovers. It looks exactly like a 2 kg spool of filament; that’s real filament wound around the outside of the drum. In fact, Spoolie the SpoolBot looks so much like the real thing that [Matt] designed a googly-eye add-on, because the robot is so easily misplaced.

The robot’s mass rotates around a central hub in order to move forward or back.

SpoolBot works by rotating its mass around the central hub, which causes it to roll forward or back. Steering is accomplished by tank-style turning of the independent spool ends. While conceptually simple, quite a bit of work is necessary to ensure SpoolBot rolls true, and doesn’t loop itself around inside the shell during maneuvers. Doing that means sensors, and software work.

To that end, a couple of rotary encoders complement the gearmotors and an IMU takes care of overall positional sensing while an ESP32 runs the show. The power supply uses NiMH battery packs, in part for their added weight. Since SpoolBot works by shifting its internal mass, heavier batteries are more effective.

The receiver is a standard RC PWM receiver which means any RC transmitter can be used, but [Matt] shows off a slick one-handed model that not only works well with SpoolBot but tucks neatly into the middle of the spool for storage. Just in case SpoolBot was not hard enough to spot among other filament rolls, we imagine.

The googly-eye add-on solves that, however. They clip to the central hub and so always show “forward” for the robot. They do add quite a bit of personality, as well as a visual indication of the internals’ position relative to the outside.

The GitHub repository and Printables page have all the design files, and the video (embedded just below) shows every piece of the internals.

The kind of hardware available nowadays makes self-balancing devices much more practical and accessible than they ever have been. Really, SpoolBot has quite a lot in common with other self-balancing robots and self-balancing electric vehicles (which are really just larger, ridable self-balancing robots) so there’s plenty of room for experimentation no matter one’s budget or skill level.

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Panoramic Film Camera Made From 3D Printed Parts

February 20, 2026 by Bryan Cockfield 5 Comments

Even though digital cameras have lowered the barrier of entry to photography dramatically, as well as made it much easier for professionals and amateurs alike to capture stunning images without the burden of developing film, the technology behind them is considerably more complex than their analog counterparts. In fact, an analog film camera (not counting the lens) can be as simple as a lightproof box and a way to activate a shutter. Knowing that, any kind of film camera could be built for any number of applications, like this 3D-printed panoramic camera from [Denis Aminev].

The custom-built camera works by taking a standard roll of 35mm film, which is standardized to take 36 pictures, and exposing a wider section of the film to create a panorama. This reduces the number of pictures on the roll to 19. This is the fifth version of this camera, called the Infidex 176 V, and has everything a standard film camera would have, from an exposure counter, pressure plate for the film, a winder, interchangable lenses, a viewfinder, and a tripod mounting point. It does take a bit of work to assemble, as shown in the video linked below, but the final result is impressive and delivers a custom finished product not easily found or reproducible in off-the-shelf cameras.

The path to creating this camera was interesting as well, as [Denis]’s first custom film camera was a pinhole camera. From there he moved on to disassembling an SLR camera and attempting to reproduce all of its parts with 3D printed ones. With that in hand, he was able to modify this design into this panoramic camera which he likes because it reproduces the feel of widescreen movies. Although this camera reproduces all of the bells and whistles of a high quality analog camera, not all of these features are strictly necessary for taking pictures on film. Have a look at this minimum viable camera as well.

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Auto-Reloading Magnet Dispenser Can Feed Itself

February 20, 2026 by Donald Papp 3 Comments

Magnet placement tools are great because they remove finger fumbling while ensuring correct polarity every time. [EmGi] has made a further improvement by making a version that auto-feeds from an internal stack of magnets.

That is a trickier task than one might imagine, because magnets can have a pesky habit of being attracted in inconvenient ways, or flipping around and sticking where they should not. [EmGi] solves this with a clever rack and pinion mechanism to turn a single plunger press into a motion that shears one magnet from a stack and keeps it constrained while the same magnet responsible for holding it to the tip takes care of dragging it down a feed path. It’s easier to see it work in action, so check out the video (embedded below) in which [EmGi] explains exactly what is going on.

This design is actually an evolution of an earlier, non-reloading version. This new one is mechanically more complex, but if it looks useful you can get the design files from Printables or Makerworld and make your own.

The only catch is that this reloading design is limited in what sizes of magnet it can handle, because magnet behavior during feeding is highly dependent on the physical layout and movements. For a different non-reloading placement tool that works with any magnet size and is about as simple as one can get, you can make your own with little more than a bolt and a spring.

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Gimmick Sunglasses Become Easy Custom Helmet Visor

February 5, 2026 by Donald Papp 6 Comments

[GizmoThrill] shows off a design for an absolutely gorgeous, high-fidelity replica of the main character’s helmet from the video game Satisfactory. But the best part is the technique used to create the visor: just design around a cheap set of full-face “sunglasses” to completely avoid having to mold your own custom faceplate.

One of the most challenging parts of any custom helmet build is how to make a high-quality visor or faceplate. Most folks heat up a sheet of plastic and form it carefully around a mold, but [GizmoThrill] approached the problem from the other direction. After spotting a full-face sun visor online, they decided to design the helmet around the readily-accessible visor instead of the other way around.

The first thing to do with the visor is cover it with painter’s tape and 3D scan it. Once that’s done, the 3D model of the visor allows the rest of the helmet to be designed around it. In the case of the Satisfactory helmet, the design of the visor is a perfect match for the game’s helmet, but one could easily be designing their own custom headgear with this technique.

With the helmet 3D printed, [GizmoThrill] heads to the bandsaw to cut away any excess from the visor, and secure it in place. That’s all there is to it! Sure, you don’t have full control over the visor’s actual shape, but it sure beats the tons and tons of sanding involved otherwise.

There’s a video tour of the whole process that shows off a number of other design features we really like. For example, metal mesh in the cheek areas and in front of the mouth means a fan can circulate air easily, so the one doesn’t fog up the inside of the visor with one’s very first breath. The mesh itself is concealed with some greebles mounted on top. You can see all those details up close in the video, embedded just below.

The helmet design is thanks to [Punished Props] and we’ve seen their work before. This trick for turning affordable and somewhat gimmicky sunglasses into something truly time-saving is definitely worth keeping in mind.

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