Many people begin to use a 3D printer for making toys, models, jewelry and art. These are more aesthetic than practical. But there are many practical ways to use a 3D printer around the house or workshop.

Making repairs and replacement parts is a great way to use a 3D printer. Things like knobs and handles can be printed easily. This is particularly useful if a replacement part is no longer available. Among the more popular designs on Thingiverse are phone stands and cases.

On a more advanced note, increases in printing speed will soon make it possible for your dentist to make replacement parts for you. These include crowns and inlays, printed in under ten minutes while you wait. But please, don’t try this yourself!

In your workshop, you can use a 3D printer to enhance your tools. A good place to start is to get more performance from your rotary tool. There are lots of designs on Thingiverse for Dremel attachments.You can even use a 3D printer to make parts to assemble a small drill press.

If you are an electronics hobbyist that builds circuits, you can use a 3D printer to make custom boxes, enclosures or component mounts. This is especially so if you lack experience in working with metals, or the right tools for doing so. It’s easy to use a 3D printer to make an enclosure with holes placed exactly where you need them. Here’s an example.

Boxes can be made in several pieces and screwed together, or they can be made in special shapes. You can include mounting brackets for circuit boards or other parts.

If you need to shield your enclosure, it is possible to use conductive spray coating on the inside, as described here. Another alternative might be to add a fine mesh screen.

Also, vendors are now starting to provide conductive plastic filament.

And while it is early days, the ability to use a 3D printer to make a printed circuit board may not be far away. Expect to see a number of different conductive filaments entering the market. You would probably want to use a 3D printer with dual extruders, one for the normal plastic board, and a second to add the conductive circuit traces.

In fact, you can do that right now for a simple circuit. It is possible to print a circuit board in plastic with channels or grooves which can then be filled by hand with conductive paint. Here is an example of how you can use a 3D printer to make a PCB right now.

Speaking of conductive ink, you can actually make your own, as shown in this video.  All in all, electronics hobbyists can increasingly use a 3D printer to package, mount and eventually fabricate their creations.

Lastly, hobbyists use a 3D printer to support all sorts of electro-mechanical projects. These include robotics, model cars and quad-copters. You can print gears, axles, wheels, even hands and feet.

Use a 3D Printer – About Model Design

Before you can print a plastic part, you need a CAD model of the part. This is a three dimensional representation of what you will print. Computer Aided Design is not hard. But it requires investment of time in learning how to use a CAD program.

If you are lucky, someone else has already done the design for you. Check out web sites like Thingiverse or dozens of other web sites where you can download 3D models. If you need to do your own design, pick a CAD tool and learn it. Many of these are free to use on your PC or online. Here is a tutorial from Ben Heck on how to design, model and print a plastic case for an electronics project using CAD.