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      Tuesday, January 19, 2021


craftstuff
09:50 AM - 01/19/2021

The topic: About the containers for stamp pads

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I have an Ender3 Pro 3D printer.

I have a big container full of all of my stamp pads. Some are pretty old. Some are pretty new. But they were all just thrown in the storage box. I tried stacking them, but they'd fall over. Using plastic ziplock bags were fine for the smaller pads, but not for the regular sized pads.

I got to thinking that maybe I could make little storage containers for the stamp pads and I checked out thingiverse.com (I have an account there, the stuff is all free - my user name is....wait for it....lisaviolet), going through the pages and pages of patterns. And I found one.

This one. The thing that grabbed me about this one is that it's customizable. You can change the size according to your needs. And it's stackable! The problem is the thingiverse customizer doesn't work. So, here's what happened.

I had to do a little research. I found a website forum where one of the users explains how to change the sizes without using the customizer.

First, I needed to click on the customizer link on the thingiverse page, then download the changed code. But the code wasn't changed. Which I realized after I started my first print. Boo. I'll post the code here since the thingiverse customizer page no longer comes up. And it didn't work anyway. This is the code for Ranger Mini Ink pads.

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// Length of Box (X-Axis)
Length=127;        // [20:500]

// Width of Box (Y-Axis)
Width=39;        // [20:500]

// Height of Box (Z-Axis)
Height=58;        // [15:500]

// Wall Thickness
Wall=2;            // [0.5:0.1:5]


difference()
{
    union()
    {
        cube([Length, Width, Height - 5 - 2]);
        translate([0, 0, Height - 5 - 2]) hull()
        {
            translate([0, 0, -1]) cube([Length, Width, 1]);
            translate([-Wall, -Wall, 2]) cube([Length + Wall * 2, Width + Wall * 2, 5]);
        }
        translate([0, 0, Height]) cube([Length, Width, 2]);
    }
    
    translate([Wall, Wall, Wall]) cube([Length - Wall * 2, Width - Wall * 2, Height + Wall]);
    
    translate([-0.4, -0.4, Height - 5 + 0.1]) cube([Length + 0.8, Width + 0.8, 7]);
}

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Copy the text between the dashed lines in its entirety. Save as a TXT or SCAD file. I use MS notepad to make the necessary edits to only the top three measurements - the ones in red (height, width and length - all in millimeters). Leave the rest of the code as is.  If you save as a TXT file, all you need to do is rename it SCAD to get it into a converter. I use anyconv.com to convert the SCAD file to STL, which is what the Ender3 uses.

I figure out the size that I want in inches, then use an online converter for inches to millimeters. My first mistakes were not taking the actual dimensions of the finished print. I was only doing the empty places when figuring out the size I need and was really confused why my pads wouldn't fit. You know, okay, this little box is 1.5" x 2", so let's do the conversion and start the print!

Yeah, 1.5" x 2" would be the INSIDE dimensions. Duh. No wonder it didn't fit. (And sadly, it took me a while to figure out why I was having this problem.) So, don't be like me and make that mistake.

Then I use the Cura software that came with my printer.

I didn't mess with any of the other measurements, I could have since these don't need to be heavy duty or anything, but I still haven't figured out how to do supports (being clueless about supports, my first attempt at a print that needed supports turned out quite badly - it was a glow in the dark weenie (dick) whistle for a friend, ended up in the trash). So many pies, so few fingers, yanno?

Anyway, if you have any questions I'll try to answer them. I'll try.

Here are some pictures of what I made in use.  The larger ones took about twenty hours to print, the smaller took about ten hours, but I printed two at a time, so it was around twenty hours. As usual, there are larger images when you click on them. Over on my photo site. For more detail. Or something. I dunno, I'm lost.


This was printing when the power went out (and I was getting low on filament). You can see a line above the pinkish area. This is where the print resumed (yay!). A couple of hours later I changed out the color filament for black, since the color filament had almost run out. I was surprised how smoothly it went.


My ink stash, all nice and neat. The Colorbox cat eye inks are just stuffed in a bag. They're pretty old and dried out.


Ink pads stacked. And there's room for more! The pads at the right are Tsukineko inks, and they're fine in their little cases that they came with. Most of the other inks are Ranger.


The containers. I used some rainbow filament that I had that I didn't really care for the color, so it was great I found a use for it.

So, that's it. That's my storage fix for my pads. Brian suggested putting ink on the edges of the inks so I can see what color is there. I think that's a great idea. I'll put the ink on a small sticker and place it on the edge of the pad.

storage    photos    ink pads    hobbies    craftstuff    3d printing   



that is totally neat! WAY beyond me ... but I really appreciate you putting all that info! I really like the rainbow color. I would have never thought to make my own boxes ... I’d better be careful or I might end up with a new hobby (gasp!!)

Posted by Turtle Lover @ Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - 4:51:16 PM

lisaviolet's avatar

Yanno, I hadn’t planned on getting a 3D printer. Yeah, it looked pretty cool, but what would I use it for? The first ones I saw that weren’t thousands of dollars made tiny projects.

Then meh.com had one up for sale that made a decent size project. In the forums, other mehmbers said “don’t buy that one, get this one on sale over on woot.com right now, it’s a lot better quality for the same amount of money.”  It was about $230.00.

I mentioned it to Brian and he said “get it”, because he’s been working with one of his suppliers and he thought I’d be able to make a prototype of what he needed them to make.

Okay, I’m up for it.

When the printer got here, I opened the box, looked at the pieces, glanced through the assembly book and said “nope” and put it back in the box. On top of my sewing machine in the living room. That was in February. In May, I took another stab at it and this time, I got it together. Took me a weekend. Cats have a way of slowing things down.

No place to store it, though. Not safely. So, I ended up cleaning the extra room (there are before and after photos somewhere here) and had a place for the printer that was safe from cats.

Once I made my first little things, I was excited to see what else I could do. I made a couple of kitties with the glow-in-the-dark pink filament that I bought to make the penis whistle, then some trays and boxes. I’m pretty good a box type things at this point. lol

But you can only make so many boxes. These little storage units are the first thing I made because I needed them.

I was really surprised how easy it was.

I did get some new rainbow filament that has the colors closer together. With the small projects I was using them on, like straps to hold masks on the heat without making Dumbo ears, there would only be one color a strap. And the colors are pretty dull, but I guess it wouldn’t matter much if no one saw them.

Anyway, this is one of the latest pies I stick my fingers in. Right now, my new addiction is Lawn Fawn dies and stamps. So much fun. Check out their YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAO6QNv81mR_6qFzpeyMbfw). A rabbit hole that you’ll be in for weeks…

Posted by lisaviolet @ Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - 5:29:42 PM

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lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

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