Everything started when I had less opportunities to go out or travel and I was looking to take on something satisfying as well as show something new to my son. Ironically this happened during the pandemic lock-downs. I picked up a pencil, ruler and a sheet of paper and started designing structural parts for toy-sized buildings. A little later I’ve ordered 300gsm block of paper so my structures were stronger and nicer. Then I added a specialised blade to my tools and things got even more precise and I went into more complex creations. I ended up having a project of my imagined modern house at scale of 1 to 43, which I haven’t fully completed because I had too many ideas and they were too time consuming to be doing them by hand using paper, pencil and the blade.

The turning point

Driven by the curiosity I started looking at how professional architects do things – found plenty of content on YouTube. There were different approaches, different materials used, and my approach seemed increasingly complicated. Then I realised things could be 3D printed – this seemed a completely new world. I call it “The world of 3D”. And that was where my world started to change and new ideas and visions were rising from this new realisation.

The first thing I’ve modelled was stairs for my incomplete project. I asked my friend, who had a 3D printer to print it for me. And when I picked it up and placed in my house project – I understood that his is completely new level! And so many new ideas seemed so realistic as never before. No more long hours with a blade and a pencil on the sheets of paper. Now I’ve got a new aspiration. Based on my experienced friend’s recommendation I started learning Autodesk Fusion 360. Plenty of good free online lessons on YouTube. I’ve started picking up skills and got up to speed with modelling my own ideas and creations. And this is where I’m at today. Bought myself a 3D printer, figured out how a hundred different settings and now printing with PLA plastics at home. Lately I’ve started ordering electric components from AliExpress, wiring, soldering them, powering up via USB and being able to achieve some truly satisfying results in combination with 3D printed parts!

My free 3D printable models for download

I have published some of the things I’ve created, so that anyone can download and print them for themselves. My chosen platform for sharing 3D printable models is Printables.com – you can find my models here. I’m also sharing the links to some of the 1:43 scale models present in the gallery of this blog post:

Snapmaker 2.0 modifications and accessories I’ve designed:

Please like and follow me on Printables.com if you enjoyed the models! You may share your makes on Printables platform too.