Francesco Centemeri’s blog

3D printing a hook

I have no idea what I am doing.

screenshot of a 3d printing software

Soo.. it all came up together because a determined set of events occured in my life:

  1. A friend of mine during high school used to have a 3D printer in the bathroom
  2. My mum gifted me a 3d printing pen for christmas when I was a child because she saw this cool device in a toy shop. It wasn't really good, probably because it was a toy, but thanks mum :)
  3. At the office in Geico there is a 3D printer as a benefit for workers (as long as you provide the filament)
  4. I saw my super cool boss use it, and I suddenly realized how cool 3d printing can be.

Why a hook

I started wondering what to print with the 3d printer in Geico. Most people there print phone holders, but that's too basic and I hate having the phone on the desk. So I made a list:

I started with the most useful thing on the list: the hook. This decision was made mostly because I actually needed a hook, in fact in my house my family literally drops caps and beanies on a desk at the entrance making it look messy. If I can 3d print a hook, I can later 3d print a set of hooks and make the entrance look better. 3D printing a hook! How hard can it be?

Learning stuff

Turns out 3d printing is quite complicated. There is a lot of stuff to know, like "infill", material qualities, skirts and brims, nozzles types and sizes, various 3d softwares and how to properly clean the "bed" so that things stick to it and your model doesn't slip away ruining your result.

I found most of the stuff on YouTube, fortunately, and also asked two friends of mine who had worked in a 3d printing center in the past. ChatGPT was kinda useful, but it was clear that it had no 3d space awarness so I quickly abandoned it.

Buying the material

I bought PLA from Amazon, the cheapest one at the moment of purchasing. Around 13€, for 1kg. Orange.

My friends later suggested me that PLA was not the best material for a hanger, but still is ok because it is an easier material to start with.

Finding a parametric model of a hook

I was into 3d software a few years ago, using Blender and FreeCad even before the stable version was available. But I don't have much time nowadays so I looked for a parametric model of a hook online. A parametric model is not just a normal model. Is a 3d model with variables you can set, and that adjusts itself according to the values of the variables you set. Fortunately, I found one:

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/home/customizable-u-hook

Customizing it was pretty straightforward, and I decided to use nails instead of screws because that would need less work on the wall.

Also I love using my hammer.

Slicing the model

If you want to print a 3d model, you have first to compute the instructions for the machine that would print it. For what is my understanding at the moment, instructions are in the format of G-Code, but it may be (and probably is) that there are multiple formats. This process is called slicing. The printer in Geico is called "Prusa" and that brand offers a software called "Prusa Slicer" that given a 3d model is able to create G-code instructions for the printer. I downloaded the software, set all the parameters according to what I remembered from past experiences, learned online and from my friends, and hit "Slice it!".

Printing

I went to work prepared with my shiny orange filament. I had to wait until mid-afternoon because other people were using the printer. Then, I loaded the filament and cleaned the nozzle. I uploaded the file on the printer using the dedicated SD card, cleaned the bed and hit "Print it!".

Prusa Slicer had warned me that it would take 1 hours and a half to make my hook with 15% honeycomb infill, and triple outside layers. It also calculated 65 cents of material cost.

The print went smoothly while I was in a meeting with other people.

At the end of the meeting I ran upstairs and here is what I found:

picture of a 3d printer with a hook printed

I was very happy. It came out perfectly.

Final result

I brought it at home and put it on the wall using 2 nails and my big hard hammer. I wasn't sure it would have stayed on with just nails but it looks quite strong. Also I'm just using it for caps, hats, beanies and small garments.

Here is what it looks like:

picture of a hook on a wall

I am probably going to print more, maybe in white. I'll let you know!

Let's keep in touch!

Hey, if you read the whole article, you might enjoy my content. I'm currently trying to avoid using big tech websites because they are supporting the war in palestine with multi-billion-dollars deals such as noted for Microsoft here, then Meta in this article and Google with project Nimbus. Therefore, I kindly suggest you to add this website to your bookmarks instead of following me on social media. Thanks. Also install linux, get rid of your pre-installed app store and start your own nextcloud instance to have free unlimited cloud storage and send a strong signal that technology should serve its users, not its "masters".

I am not pro-palestine neither pro-israel, I am just anti-one-person-ruling and pro-human-rights. The question is.. what are you?

Also see in the "home" of this blog where you can find my stuff.

Byeee!!!

Francesco Centemeri.