This community is too quiet! Let’s get some chatter going!
I’ve been dreaming up a 3D printed stem for the Vapcap… but I want to do a few different things that wouldn’t be possible with traditional manufacturing, like hollow sections for holding safely without burning your fingers, multiple mini air-intake holes so I can adjust airflow simply by selecting how many air holes my thumb and index finger cover, etc.
I was thinking about something crazy like 3D printing pure silver or gold for that extra bling factor.
I’d love to hear some other thoughts or wishlist ideas from other ents. If you could design your ultimate dream stem, what design elements would you love to see incorporated?
I’m thinking about my classic knurl texture - I gotta add that somewhere to the design! lol
Lol yeah 3D printing is an art-form. The idea of taking models or designs and simply hitting print then your part at home is still more of a dream than a reality - home printers are finicky PITAs. To 3D print requires a lot of things to work together in harmony. It takes years of practice to look at a 3D model, and know which orientation to print, and what settings to use to obtain a good print. It also takes a LOT of practice to learn how to read print failures to know what went wrong (if it was a print setting issue, or a hardware calibration issue, or even a low grade plastic issue).
I’ve been 3D printing daily for the past 12 years and still learning new tricks (not to mention the hardware and software continues to evolve rapidly over the years).
All that said, I’ll be honest - I do not 3D print metal at home. Instead I use a large industrial metal 3D printer from one of my partners - I pay a premium for the convenience of letting them handle the 3D printing side (and all the post-print processing needed for metal parts), but I honestly don’t have space for that machine and all related machinery in my studio.
