3D printing is, without a doubt, one of the most exciting developments in modern technology. If you’re a Princeton student eager to try out this incredible new form of synthetic manufacturing, you’re in luck! The Digital Media Lab in Forbes has a 3D printer which students can use—with permission. We’ve compiled this list of awesome things that Princeton 3D printing enthusiasts can create, but, just to be clear, quite a few of these are keychains. We figured it was best to be upfront about that.
1. A Keychain
It may be hard to believe, but you can synthesize your own keychain right here on campus in the Digital Media Lab. As far as things to 3D print go, keychains are stylish, useful and one that we’ll be relying pretty heavily on over the course of this list.
2. A Doorstop
With Princeton’s automatic-locking, difficult-to-open doors, a good doorstop is a crucial addition to any dorm room. Having trouble finding a good place near campus to purchase one? Craft your own, using the magic of 3D printing in the Digital Media Lab!
3. A Bigger Keychain
If the keychain you printed after reading #1 on the list was too small to accommodate your key-related needs, you can easily head back to the Lab to print a larger one. Remember, we told you right off the bat that this was going to be a pretty keychain-intensive list.
4. A Thing That Keeps Your Earbuds From Getting Tangled
Okay, this one is really cool. This pocket-sized clip miraculously solves the once impossible problem of earbud cord tangling. It’s modern, innovative, and, best of all, not a keychain. 3D print one in the digital media lab today!
5. A Bottle Opener
Carrying a bottle opener is a great way to make friends on campus–after all, any college party is going to be a pretty sad scene if nobody remembered to bring a bottle opener. You may notice that this is the second consecutive non-keychain item on the list. Pretty impressive, but don’t get too excited; after this one, it’s more or less keychains from here on out.
6. A Keychain That Is A Different Color Than The First Two
We probably should have mentioned this earlier, but remember those first two keychains? Those can be whatever color you want. Cool, right? Now imagine another keychain that’s in a different color altogether.
7. An “I Stand With Israel” Keychain
Obviously how appealing this design is to you depends on your political views, but if you’re someone who sides with the state of Israel in the ongoing conflict over the disputed territories of Gaza and the West Bank, you could totally make a keychain that represents that. We’re not saying this is our view, but if it happens to be yours, the wonders of 3D printing technology are at your disposal. If we hadn’t given you fair warning that you were in for more than your fair share of keychains, this would be a pretty weird thing to include on a list of fun things to 3D print on campus. But, since we did warn you, you really have nothing to complain about.
8. A Keychain That, At First Glance, Makes It Look Like Your Keys Have Human Arms
Look, to be honest, we didn’t have too much time to plan this list, and a lot of us came up with “keychain”. We’ll be the first to admit we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one, but please don’t let that diminish your opinion of 3D printing, which is without a doubt one of the coolest technological innovations of the past decade.
9. A Small Box To Put All Of Your Keychains In
Pretty self-explanatory. This will come in handy if you try to print everything else on this list.
10. A Keychain Shaped Like A Mouse Or Tomatoes Or Something
This one was Bill’s idea, but he scrawled it on a sheet of loose leaf paper that he left on his desk right before he went out of town for two weeks. We’re guessing it was some sort of preliminary brainstorming that he was hoping to finish up once he got back. Unfortunately, we had to go ahead and publish the article while he was still out of town, so we decided to just work with what we had. Not too sure what this one means, but a good 3D printer could probably figure it out.
-MF ’19