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It pains me to admit this, but I am a lousy woodworking dad. My oldest son (age 10) occasionally asks me to help him build something. 95% of the time, I’ve been in the shop all day, so the answer is, “Ask me tomorrow.” Over the last year or so, I have realized that maybe the best thing I can do for him is to teach him to use his hands—help him create something. I’ve tried to get him into the shop with that in mind. We started with drawknives and spokeshaves. He’s crafted an armory full of wood swords, daggers, and shields (to my wife’s dismay).
Several months back, he asked me if we could get a 3D printer to help with his building projects. My initial reaction was that I didn’t want to try to learn a new machine or software to help him with his “projects inevitably.” My compromise is to learn to model stuff using a 3D program, and I’ll buy you one. I assumed that he’d lose interest in a few hours. I was wrong, and I’m a man of my word. We ordered a mid-tier printer, and both started using it.
My perception was that a 3D printer was a gimmicky thing. You’d print knick-knacks, and that was it. It would lose the appeal. I’m brave enough to admit when I am wrong. I’ve found so many helpful shop projects to print on this thing that it may called “Dad’s printer” now. Take these little spacers shown above. I ran a batch of four different thicknesses—they’re handy when fitting doors and drawers, as set-up blocks, etc. I now have various tool holders around the shop and a complete set of drawers for all my sandpaper. And I’ve done it without building a single file from scratch. There are hundreds of thousands of free models that you can use. So, long story short, don’t be surprised if you see an upcoming article on 3D printing projects for the shop. In fact, one of our writers, Alma Villalobos, submitted an article on shop 3D printing several years ago, but I dismissed the subject. Again, admitting when I’m wrong). Don’t worry, we’ll never become a maker magazine. Instead, keep an open mind on how some of these items could help enhance your shop time. Cheers!
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
