My Favorite 5 Practical Uses For 3D Printing (Most Without Requiring CAD Modeling)
3D Printers are becoming more easily accessible, more affordable, and easier to use, so this is the perfect time to get into it (if you haven't already).
3D printing unlocks a level of home manufacturing previously only available with a garage stocked with expensive tools. Parents (or fun aunts and uncles) can quickly print thousands of figures perfect for little hands—or, if we're being honest, ourselves. But once the obligatory 3D Benchy ship, some cute articulating animals, and fidget toys have been printed, most people look for practical applications.
When we purchased our 3D printer in 2024, we wanted it to be a tool to help us, not just print fidgets, so these are my favorite practical print categories.
Practical Use 1: Custom Drawer Organization
IKEA drawer units are awesome for getting things out of the way, but can quickly become over-stuffed and a nightmare to open as things shift around with every open.
No practical list would be complete without Gridfinity, which is a system of grids printed for the drawer, and custom holders for stuff. Thousands of gridfinity organizers already exist, but Makers have also added extensions for Fusion 360 to make modeling your own easy and compatible with the system.
My favorite Gridfinity organizers are for my SD cards, the 3D printer extruder parts, and a custom large bin for my label maker.
Practical Use 2: Custom Cable Management
Maybe it's the previous life in theater audio and lighting, but I cannot stand exposed cables and sometimes zip ties or velcro wraps just don't cut it.
Any home office desk setup has tons of cables by necessity, but few good ways off-the-shelf to keep the tidy, yet functional. With 3D printing, organizers can find hundreds of options and cheaply iterate to find what works best for their specific use-case.
My favorite cable organizer is a set of microphone boom arm clips I modeled and printed to fit an odd shape while also adding a hook for extra cable.
Practical Use 3: Scale Model Reference
For Makers who want to scale up projects in their workshop, reference photos sometimes don't do justice to how things look in reality.
For those larger projects, especially for theming after something like Star Wars, printing a small-scale model you can look at and immediately reference is amazing. The model gives you a way to move it around and see how components interact immediately.
My favorite scale model is a Viper droid (the probe droid on Hoth from Empire Strikes Back) that I used for a larger project (to be shared soon).
Practical Use 4: Themed Lighting Modifications
I have made no secret about my hatred of overhead lighting.
My initial dive into custom home lighting, beyond holiday lights, was into smart bulbs like Hue (although I don't recommend that platform if you're getting started anymore). Bulbs that can change colors and coordinate into a theme are amazing for setting the right mood in your space.
Specifically, I have some Hue Play bars behind my monitor for backlighting, but off to the side, I added a cover to one to make it look like a small light from an Imperial Star Destroyer.
Practical Use 5: Tool Jigs
Jigs are essential kit for any Maker, but can be time consuming to create yourself.
Fortunately, 3D model makers are Makers as well and use their modeling skills to produce printable jigs to help around the workshop. 3D printing is also much more accurate than any hand cutting can be (at least for my skill level), so your projects get added accuracy.
My favorite 3D printed jigs are router templates for exact angles, cutouts, and round overs.
As you can see, there is a theme with practical uses for customization.
Custom models can be created using slicer settings to merge or slightly modify existing models, but the world gets unlocked when you learn to create your own models with CAD programs like Fusion 360.
