Quelle: Pixabay

Personalized and on demand – Christmas gifts from the 3D printer

15. December 2021 Published by Raphael Doerr

We can guess from the festive fare that seems to creep onto supermarket shelves earlier and earlier, and yet it comes as a surprise every year: Christmas is just around the corner! So many friends, acquaintances and family members, but so little time to go shopping for gifts. If you don’t want the hassle of rushing around town or scouring the expanses of the Internet to find a gift for everyone, you need a new idea. We present the ultimate suggestion: Christmas gifts from the 3D printer. Oh yes!

If you already own such a device, you can make personalized, creative Christmas gifts on your own very simply. And if you’re unfamiliar with this subject, you can order 3D printed gifts directly online, for example, from providers such as Rapidobject. Or even better: Gift yourself such a printer and then really get cracking.

Let your imagination run riot and have fun: From a mini Einstein to Darth Vader as a chess piece

3D printers come with all price tags and in all performance categories. You can now snap up good models relatively cheaply. And they also deliver great results. Whether red, green, yellow, neon pink, fluorescent or a wood look: With the right filaments, the materials used in 3D printing, you can choose the color and – in some models – even the properties of the objects.

Whether a self-made Einstein with his typical frizzy hair for the desktop or great gimmicks for favorite board games – Christmas gifts from the 3D printer are bound to surprise your loved ones. But where do the ideas, design and – most importantly – the data for printing gifts yourself come from?

Scan and get cracking: 3D printing can be this easy for beginners

If you’re a real 3D printing expert with enough time, you can create the data using programs for that. If you feel ambitious, you should try 3DC. It’s made for schools and claims to be “the simplest 3D design app on the market.”

However, there are lots of other recommended ways for newcomers or the impatient. Scanning things yourself to get the data set you need is especially fun. That can be a figure from a board game, ring, sneaker, pet cat or even your own hand. It sounds complicated, but in fact it’s very simple and can be done on the smartphone, for example, with apps like Qlone.

Access and enjoy: 3D recipes from a master chef

There are also platforms such as T hingiverse or MyMiniFactory that offer ready-made 3D printing files to download. You can picture them as a sort of master chef for 3D printers. Like in a cookbook with a wealth of recipes, you can find a variety of products from a wide range of different categories there: from games and decorative items, components and gadgets, to fan art and clothing. Some are very useful, many are funny and sweet, and some are wonderfully absurd. Everything is open source, you can download the data free of charge, share experiences, and rate the objects and data sets. Below, we present our favorite Christmas gifts from the 3D printer. Enjoy giving them!

Moon lamp

A moon like a glowing mandarin orange: Such delightful small lamps are exactly the right Christmas gifts from the 3D printer for anyone who is moonstruck, an astronomy fan or a deco nerd.

https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-moon-lamp-57556

Golden Snitch

This object is ideal as a gift for anyone who loves immersing themselves in the magical world of Hogwarts. If you don’t know what the Golden Snitch is, the person you gift it to will doubtless explain.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4920807

Mini Einstein

The ideal gift for fans of intelligence and eccentricity. The small bust of Einstein has frizzy hair just like the man himself. And if you sometimes like to tear your hair out at the desk, you can do that on a small scale and in the best of company.

https://www.myminifactory.com/prints/3d-print-hairy-einstein-2893

Star Wars chess set

Winter is the time for board games and epic film series. And the Star Wars chess set combines both. This gift requires a bit of patience to print, but it also makes a big impression.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3249190

Wonder Woman bracelet

Yes, the diadem of Elsa, the Ice Queen, can be printed for girls. We find this variant even more beautiful: a cool Wonder Woman bracelet!

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:818290

Michelangelo’s David

The famous statue of David in a handy format for the home is just right for friends of art and la dolce vita. Of course, what would really set it off is adding a travel voucher to Florence. Christmas gifts from the 3D printer also go down well when accompanied by a cool add-on.

https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-michelangelo-s-david-in-florence-italy-2052