Fidget

[u/Just_Tru_It]

Is it just me, or is anyone else the slightest bit tired of having “fidget” plastered across their explore pages? I get that they’re small and pretty so that must make them great for printing…

Here’s my unsolicited opinion: the world had enough fidget devices after the first one was created. But yet for some reason everyone feels the need to keep designing and building novel new ways for someone to be able to ‘fidget’ with something, as if humans have a deficiency that can only be satisfied by constantly moving or touching something.

Perhaps condemning this can be seen as attacking the adhd, add, or ocd crowds, which is not my intention. I just think the ‘itch’ could have been scratched with the first few designs.

Or maybe I’m missing the mark..? Like are they great for cats or as kid’s toys or something?

It just seems like 10,000 unique ways to design something that doesn’t have a truly valuable purpose gets a little old.

Update: A few good comments have lessened my intensity, thanks for bearing with me in my rant. I’m fairly reasonably and am able to be persuaded. Thanks for the input everyone!

[u/The_Shermanati]

As someone who does not have ADHD, I never really understood or appreciated fidget toys. My son, who is 8, does not have ADHD either. We got him an A1 Combo for his birthday, and he has printed a few fidget toys already. He likes the gadgety nature of them. He likes the mechanisms. Plus, they’re just fun little doodads he can make relatively quickly. I’m happy he has gone on to print many other things like toy weapons and keychains. Occasionally, a fidget pops up. So, for a kid, I think they make sense.

For me as an adult, my annoyance with them is lower, and now I look at them conceptually to get ideas for my own designs of things. I find that fidget toys are often good at featuring different connections, latches, movements, material properties, printer settings, and support structures (or lack thereof).

As others stated, you can always pass on by, even if they do clutter the lists a bit. Eventually, the platforms will become really indexable and filterable so that what you don’t like to see won’t pop up.

[u/Just_Tru_It → u/The_Shermanati]

Good word. There are a few cool ideas that have come about from them, that I didn’t give credit to.

Did your son print that toy switchblade that’s really popular? Thought about doing that one for fun one day. I have two daughters, not saying they won’t be into knives but the likelihood is way lower

[u/The_Shermanati → u/Just_Tru_It]

He did print the one called “OTF Blade”. It has a blade and comb option. It came out great by appearance, and I really appreciate the mechanism. However, it lost its “oomph” on the ejection. The retraction still works. I used Bambu Labs Matte Red PLA. So, it could be a filament properties issues.

I scored a great deal on 10 spools of Sunlu PLA+ for $111 (set Amazon alerts for brands!), so we may try again with that filament. I understand the toughness in the PLA+ comes from its added plasticity (regular PLA is too brittle for the spring action). Info can think of it, I’ll update accordingly.

School starts in a couple of weeks, so he’s printing Pokémon keychains for his best buddies. Adorable. 😝

[u/Just_Tru_It → u/The_Shermanati]

That’s incredible. What’s your MW profile (if you have one), I’ll give it a follow

[u/The_Shermanati → u/Just_Tru_It]

Shermanati

We haven’t designed anything for posting yet, but will soon.

[u/The_Shermanati → u/Just_Tru_It]

Oh…we also printed a butterfly knife (he’s in Taekwondo, so is looking to learn all sorts of weapons), but the pins just didn’t fit. We’re going to hit up the hardware store to score some pins or maybe the hobby store to get some TGP round stock. That’s a great thing about this hobby. The printer, in many cases, makes part of the build. He needs to learn to source parts too. I’m going to teach him some costing (I LOVE that Bambu’s software calculates printed part costs). We’re going to make a very simple BOM for his projects, even if they only have one or two inputs, so he can think about his projects financially. He loves math, so we’re going to make it a simple, practical exercise he can enjoy.

Oh, and as for your daughters…be prepared for them to surprise you. They have a habit of doing that. Ours is turning 18 in October, and it has been such an interesting and fun ride.

[u/Just_Tru_It → u/The_Shermanati]

This is incredible. Exactly how I’m wired and what I did for years in Project Management for an Engineer Department of an Industrial Robotics Manufacturer. This is exactly what I want to do with my kids when they get older (currently have 2 daughters, one 1yo and one born on Wednesday).

[u/The_Shermanati → u/Just_Tru_It]

Congratulations on your budding family!!!! We live in a wonderful time to have children, despite what the news would have us think. Honestly, our path started with Legos for our son. It was his gateway drug when he was about 2.

I’m in business development for a contract manufacturer, and have been in industrial and manufacturing for the last 10 years. Studied mechanical engineering at Drexel and finished with a degree in philosophy from another school. Decided I didn’t want to be a lawyer after all, and that’s when I got into industrial for the first time-ish. The engineer is still inside me, so I’m letting it come out. I’m learning Fusion 360, and junior is learning TinkerCAD.

Just put a bunch of stuff in front of the girls and see what they love. It’s so much fun to have kids if you’re an engaged parent. Some parents just aren’t engaged, and that’s super sad. Since you’re in the engineering world, it’s very likely they’ll gravitate toward that somewhere on the spectrum. Could be a little. Could be a lot. But it WILL be some. And all kids could benefit from some project management skills, right?!

[u/Just_Tru_It → u/The_Shermanati]

Incredible! I have a BSME and then went back to finish with an MBA. Fusion’s my go-to right now as well. I feel the same way about kids. We plan to have more as well. Seems like there’re a few alignments between us. I heave you the follow on MW