Little Everyday Things

One great thing about rapid prototyping and personal fab is the little everyday uses.  Thingiverse user Cliff Biffle (who also has posted an awesome chess set) shows us a quick use that saved a lot of irritation on a shelf installation!

While we’re still using 3D printers as niche fabricators rather than primary manufacturing, I think we’ll increasingly see accessory designs published in association with manufactured products like these shelves.  Soon, there just might be enough users and designers running personal fabrication systems that many products (especially the big name ones) have an associated bundle of printable objects on thingiverse or even the products’ site itself that can be used to extend functionality.

Various factions of widget-makers may be harmed by all this, but I think in the end the benefits far outweigh the costs.  After all, the stated goals of the RepRap foundation are much MORE ambitious on this front…