This is why I have a 3D printer

[David]

One of our window screens broke because the injection molded corner pieces have become brittle.
Fortunately one of them was still intact so I used it to model a new piece.
From left to right:
First one for fit in the screen extrusion.
Second one for corner extension fit.
Third one to add the little ribs to seal up the corners.
Fourth is the original.

 

[David]

And the result.

 

[jcdammeyer]

Nice job. I've done repairs like that too. I showed the results to SWMBO. Her comment was "a lot of you all use 3D printers. Do any of you actually do any metal working?"

 

[Dan Dubeau]

Nice job, ya can't beat that!

 

[PeterT]

I made an improved part for a kitchen pull out towel rack. The old one was a bad design & driving me mental. Its good when you can just bang stuff off.

PS I've been reading about PLA in outdoor environment & sounds like 'not so great'. Apparently degrades, gets brittle, UV affects it... Has anyone made things & extended the life with spray coating or not that simple? Our plus-40, minus-40 torture chamber is hard on anything.

 

[Arbutus]

This was as far as I can tell PLA or a close relative. I mean seriously who would think to use PLA for a window security part that is constantly bombarded with UV?

 

[Doggggboy]

David's use case could easily be for a window with an indoor mounted screen like mine. With a UV resistant window I can't there being a big problem.
If one does get brittle in a few years, press print and have a beer.

 

[David]

David's use case could easily be for a window with an indoor mounted screen like mine. With a UV resistant window I can't there being a big problem.
If one does get brittle in a few years, press print and have a beer.

It is an inside mounted screen. UV resistant glass? I doubt it as they are many years old. But these should last a while. If they fail I’ll redo them in petg

 

[Doggggboy]

It is an inside mounted screen. UV resistant glass? I doubt it as they are many years old. But these should last a while. If they fail I’ll redo them in petg

Our UV resistant windows are 20 years old now.
ASA is the way to go for outdoor prints. I did some Purple Martin gourds that look like new after a couple of years.

 

[Tobho Mott]

There's a 2 year old printed thingiverse PLA impeller in one of my bathroom fans, still chugging along surprisingly. The new fan kit didn't fit in the old hole in the ceiling when it's old motor died, so rather than butcher another drywall job I put the new motor into the old frame. The old impeller would have fit, but it immediately broke into pieces when I tried to remove it from the old motor...