32, 25, 49, 6

It's been a full day of 3D printing here.   And things related to 3D printing.   I print a lot of things that are pretty, fun, interesting, and that my daughter can use related to her blindness.   One of the things people sometimes ask me is, "What do you print that's useful?"  I think it's a reasonable question.   The models I like to showcase 3D printing technology to people are usually interesting, but not necessarily useful.  And while I do print out a lot of things that don't do anything other than look pretty, I also spend a lot of time printing out things I use. 

My daughter's pill every morning along with her eye drops are in a 3D printed container in the shape of a low poly skull.   I have a candy dish on my desk beside me that is both beautiful and functional (and frequently refilled as my son and I frequent it.)  I have a smattering of small containers I use to hold various little things and I would go so far as to say one of my favorite things is to print out containers that are just right for a thing I need to store. 

Today, I needed something to keep the Micro SD cards organized.   I went online and found several free options that people created and uploaded which people can print for free.   There are millions upon millions of free objects available for printing. 

I created a logo of a children's modeling site and printed one of them out for each of the students in my son's class, sort of like a 3D printed business card.   Today was all about helpful things I needed relating to the filament I print with. 

Filament typically comes in a 1Kg spool, but you can sometimes get samples, which come twist-tied in a bundle.   For shipment, that works well, but when it comes time to print, the bundle will tangle itself up or droop down into the print area without some filament management.   I looked around and found some small filament sample spools and have been using my filament to print filament spools.   Little spools that fit just that small sample amount. 

It's been a long day and I'm looking forward to going to bed, but I'm waiting for the printers to finish their last jobs of the day so I can turn them off for the night.   The number of minutes remaining one each printer before their jobs are done is 32, 25, 49, and 6.   A few minutes less now since I've started typing this post.  

I don't know if the printers are tired, I know I sure am.   They never seem to complain about being asked to work long hours. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son was playing with some things in his bedroom the other night when I came in before bed.   He looked up and told me, "Hey mom, do you know what I used to do for a living?  Pokemon card organization.   I would take them all and lay them out and put them in order by [insert organizational scheme description that I can't remember] and then I'd mix them all up and do it again."   This is exactly what he would do.  He was obsessed with Pokemon cards for a long time. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter came into the bedroom and was chatting with me late in the afternoon on Thursday.   She said, "Sometimes I wonder if my whole life is just a dream.   I can't imagine how long I've lived.   Alexa, how many is three-hundred-sixty-five times nine?"