Hot take: 3D printing toys kinda sucks

Submitted ⁨⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨squaresinger@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨3dprinting@lemmy.world⁩

I used to print quite a lot of toys for my kids, but I stopped doing that, since it feels mostly like a waste of plastic.

3D printed toys are rarely enjoyable. The toys are usually either not interesting enough (think static, non-movable, single-color figurines like the low-poly-pokemon series), or not durable enough or both at the same time.

My kids liked the printed toys when they got them, but they barely looked at them after like 10 minutes and then they ended up rolling around the house until they broke, usually very soon.

I love 3D printing, I use it a lot for all sorts of things, but toys are just not a very good application for 3D prints, in my opinion. It’s just not worth the plastic.

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aard@kyu.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
Like always in 3D printing you need to understand if something is worth printing. There are enough toys that work as 3D print, and enough stuff that either will not survive the load, or not be played with (like those figurines). For those categories (especially the figurines) commercial ones might have the same fate, though, so just printing one to shut the child up may have smaller footprint/costs.

A small list of toys that work very well 3D printed:

This propeller pull toy last longer than the commercial ones with pull string.

This stomp rocket also works great, and if the kids listen to instructions will last ages.

This kind of logic game has similar durability than commercial ones.

This kind of balloon toy also is pretty nice - we used to build those from wood when I was small, but 3D-printing here offers quite a bit more options for experimentation together with the kids. (The author has different models in his profile)

From that there’s pretty much a direct line to 3D printed RC models, where the main problem is that many are in the classic model builder mindset where you have to live with the parts you can buy, and due to that end up with a BOM containing dozens of different screw types. This one is an easy to build example not making that mistake, and there are some others as well.

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RheumatoidArthritis@mander.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Yup. Most of the time yes. Parts to repair toys were useful, though. Especially one time when the part that broke was a plastic horse (part of a bigger toy) and there’s no way I could make one without the printer, or buy in the scale I needed.

Toys that worked for my kid:

kazoo, it’s a shitty instrument but pretty fun

logic puzzles, not a favourite toy but used once in a while
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peregrin5@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
most toys that aren't 3d printed are usually plastic waste also

but i understand your point.

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HugeNerd@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
3D printing was always 99% garbage, sorry.

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- Evotech@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
  Yeah, most of the time it’s not necessary. It’s just generating trash because they want to print stuff
  
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tenacious_mucus@sh.itjust.works ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I’ve learned this as well. But printing parts to supplement existing toys…now that’s been great. Hot Wheels accessories is a really good example…

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- Bananigans@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I really like printing toys that are different sets work together, like duplo train track adapters.
  
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  - wjrii@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    My kiddo is 11 now, but I beleive the old bag of Brio in the toy box has at least one Duplo Adapter I printed on my old Monoprice Mini.
    
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- redbr64@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Yeah, brio style train tracks in my case. Or missing parts for existing toys - fixed a lot of my toddler’s toys that way: pieces of shape puzzles, etc
  
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- owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Yeah, I’ve designed and printed extra parts for the wooden Melissa and Doug train sets. No more wobbly bridges for us!
  
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RedEyeFlightControl@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I can count on one hand how many “toys” I’ve printed. I have printed thousands of useful/needed items, though. That tool is indispensable to me. It’s crazy how far prototyping tech has come.

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- TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  On one hand I think “wow I want to develop this skill”, on the other hand it seems like quite the time suck of a hobby, with quite a high barrier to entry.
  
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  - squaresinger@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    That’s mostly outdated. Sure, you can still get an Ender 3 in 2025 and spend years fixing it up and upgrading it, but you can also spend €200, get an Anet A1 Mini and be done with it.
    
    These things print almost flawlessly out-of-the-box and are dirt cheap.
    
    €200 for the printer, €20 for a roll of filament and you are set.
    
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  - BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    
    it seems like quite the time suck of a hobby, with quite a high barrier to entry
    
    That’s printer building and maintenance
    
    3D printing in 2025 is easy: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBQ-QfcY3Qs
    
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cecilkorik@lemmy.ca ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
You’re right, and it’s the same reason 2d printers didn’t destroy the book publishing business. It only really makes sense to print things that are either highly situational one-offs for our own purposes or things that someone else created but that aren’t economically justifiable to physically distribute to us.

Commodity items like toys are made to a ridiculous level of cost and process optimization with large and highly sophisticated equipment and molds, which won’t pay for themselves until they’ve sold a hundred thousand toys or more. 3d printers are not competing with that at all. The goal is not to do the same things they already do at scale. The goal is to do the things they won’t and can’t do at scale, that would be cost-prohibitive to set up the process and molds for, that you don’t have time to set up a whole process for because you need it right now. That’s where 3d printing shines. Even companies are using it for rapid iteration because it would simply take too long to keep changing the setup on a traditional process. But it’s never going to replace or “beat” traditional manufacturing and distribution for most things that are done in bulk.

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- squaresinger@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  And yet on basically any convention that has anything remotely to do with making or toys or anything like that, there will be someone with a box full of low-poly-pokemon distributing these garbage-level toys to everyone willing to take one.
  
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phcorcoran@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
To some extent I agree, however I do have some examples with staying power:

bath toys, like boats and stuff

video games props, like pokeballs, Pokédex, ocarina flute, majoras mask prop, wind waker wand

For the latter, it was a father-son project to sand and paint them, so that probably has to do with it. For bath time, it’s probably because the selection is more limited in the first place.
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- Evotech@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
  Hot take but video game props just for having them, is just trash
  
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MxRemy@piefed.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Yeahhhh, the makerspace I work at gets constant requests for these kinda things and it irritates me to no end... Totally feel your frustration.

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- squaresinger@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I get the same from friends. Just last week someone asked me to print a bunch of low-poly-pokemon as a gift for some kid. And I know the kid’s gonna look at them for 5 minutes and then toss it in a corner to rot.
  
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NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
The fragile part is easily fixed by changing the print material and/or infill percentage. You’re right on all other points though.

3d Printing can lose it’s luster over time if you don’t make the effort of learning 3d CAD software and making new designs. -This is my current struggle as FreeCAD is a painful piece of software to use.

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- squaresinger@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  
  The fragile part is easily fixed by changing the print material and/or infill percentage. You’re right on all other points though.
  
  You can make it clunky, but then it’s not appealing any more. That’s why I said that it’s a trade-off between clunky and not interesting on the one side and fragile and not durable on the other side.
  
  infill percentage
  
  Btw, perimeters do a huge amount more for stability than infill.
  
  3d Printing can lose it’s luster over time if you don’t make the effort of learning 3d CAD software and making new designs. -This is my current struggle as FreeCAD is a painful piece of software to use.
  
  I’ve been 3D printing since 7 years now, and I mostly design the things I print myself. For functional parts and prototyping, 3D printing is amazing. I am specifically talking about toys here.
  
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  - NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Fair enough. I guess I can’t relate to that.
    
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owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I think it’s actually that the “toys” that can be easily printed are simple novelties, and lots of us get caught up in that. They look super cool online, then you eventually realize that they’re usually worse versions of happy meal toys.

But when there’s a broken part on our train set, or we have a dollhouse that needs another chair, printing is super great.

Printing is easy. Choosing something worth printing is hard.

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neclimdul@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Couple of thoughts.

First, what you described sounds like most of the toys I’ve bought my kids growing up so if it brought them joy, probably about as valuable as anything else.

Second, my experience is a bit different. My sons have 3d printed nick nacks displayed on their shelves and both have fidget toys they play with on the regular. Also I’ve got a chain fidget in my pocket I’ve been playing with all day.

I’ve also got a box of less successful toys I’d love to recycle if I could but definitely some wins too. So I think there are a lot of toys you’d be right about but also a lot of them are actually pretty interesting and fun to the right person

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dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I much prefer printing mechanical things, and stuff that does stuff (or fixes stuff) is where it’s at for me. For me to print a static model it has to either be sufficiently hilarious or fit with some inside joke in my household (penguins and ducks feature prominently) or I ain’t doing it.

A word to the wise for anyone printing static models or figurines for your kids, or whatever. Print these in TPU instead of PLA. TPU is functionally indestructible except via heat, can’t shatter, won’t hurt as much if you step on it in the dark, and its moderate amount of squishiness means that it’s significantly less likely to deal damage when younger brothers throw it at older sisters.

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PlasticExistence@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I agree, but with exceptions. More complicated projects made of several separate parts (especially ones not 100% 3D printed) can be hella cool.

Heat set screw inserts, embedded hardware (nuts, magnets, springs), electronics, etc. can all be used to create toys that can’t be purchased.

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MissJinx@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I think it really depends.

I print a LOT of barbie furniture and items for my nieces in PLA and it works great, they love it. I also print barbie shoes and jewelry in flex resin, and it’s really perfect.

I also use Resin to print other action figures like the bluey family, a peppa pig lamp for their room etc. But for action figures I have to paint them.too. Sometimes I just let them paint it themselfs and they love it.

Any toy is a “waste” of plastic in the end, it will all eventually break

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Shadow@lemmy.ca ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Most of the stuff people print, is crap that will go in the garbage in a week. I get it, I went through that phase when I got my printer too.

If you learn how to design your own stuff, suddenly it becomes a really useful tool.

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- squaresinger@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I got into 3D printing 7 years ago and I design most of the things I print myself, so I know what kind of useful tool it can be.
  
  The reason I am posting this is because pretty much everyone I know who has a printer and kids prints toys all the time, and any time I’m at any event where someone can shoehorn a box of give-away low-poly-pokemon in, there is one there.
  
  And all that is plastic waste and nothing else. These things often make a happy-meal-toy look like quality by comparison.
  
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BakedCatboy@lemmy.ml ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I don’t think this is a hot take at all. This is the main reason why I’ve printed fewer than like 5 non-functional prints in my entire life, and most of them were requests from friends. I make lots of custom mounts, replacement parts, custom cases, shims and jigs, custom measuring tools, etc.

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Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I don’t even want to think about all the microplastics created when people sand their builds they’re going to throw in the trash or ignore after a week. Small comfort that most people are too lazy to even do that. People are more careful around wood dust than microplastics, it’s nuts. And like, wood dust isn’t harmless either! Don’t breathe any of it, but definitely don’t breathe the plastics!

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- squaresinger@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Total agreement.
  
  Btw: If you want to smooth your prints, get a hot-air soldering station. Set it to 300°C and carefully melt the surface. Then use a flat piece of metal and carefully push it to the molten surface. You have to be careful to only melt the outer perimeter without melting the inner structure, so that the shape stays intact. It smooths much better than sanding while at the same time annealing the plastic and creating a much stronger layer bond.
  
  And it’s much faster than sanding.
  
  In general, these hot-air soldering stations are perfect for reworking plastics, not only 3D prints.
  
  The sauce shelf in my fridge cracked apart due to too many sauces being jammed into it. I used the hot-air soldering station to weld the broken pieces together.
  
  I paid around €50 for mine, which is a very nice temperature-controlled one that goes up to 480°C. Can only recommend.
  
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- cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  It’s fairly minimal compared to the amount of microplastics that go down the drain every time someone washes a load of laundry made from synthetic fibers. At least PLA dust will break down a bit faster than many of the other microplastics.
  
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  - Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Synthetic fibers are a fucking nightmare too, just actively sanding it and creating all those microplastics right there, without even washing it away, possibly BREATHING it!! gives me the heebie jeebies after learning about how much plastic is in our brains.
    
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twinnie@feddit.uk ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I printed one of those octopuses with flexible tentacles and my daughter still plays with it like 6 months later. I think she broke the rest.

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monotremata@lemmy.ca ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I dunno. I agree with this to some extent for sure–I don’t print a lot of the meme models that are everywhere on 3d printing forums. But there are toys that would not exist without 3d printing that I think are pretty great.

I designed a kaleidoscope that reflects things not to tile a plane, but instead to tile the surface of a disdyakis triacontahedron: imgur.com/gallery/i-made-kaleidoscope-P4atHey I had to cut the mirrors from acrylic by hand, but the templates for them and the shell that holds them in place are all 3d printed. And that thing is a pretty great toy.

This thing: imgur.com/…/make-of-cyclidial-iris-by-vergo-henry…

is a math sculpture that I didn’t design, just printed, but it’s completely beautiful, and it’s had real staying power as both a toy and a decoration. It sits out on our coffee table all the time, but my niece plays with it every time she’s over here.

And this puzzle box I designed: imgur.com/…/i-made-puzzle-box-nieces-birthday-U1q…

was a big hit with her too. I’m not sure if she’ll continue to play with it long-term, but based on my own tendencies as a kid, I think she might end up investigating the mechanisms involved for some time to come.

Things that you could buy at the store you’re generally better off buying at the store. But there are things it’s not economical to mass produce, and it never used to be possible to design and make your own toys. Both ideosyncratic toys and bespoke toys are pretty great uses of 3d printing in my opinion.

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- StellarExtract@lemmy.zip ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  That kaleidoscope is awesome! I kinda want to make one.
  
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  - monotremata@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Thanks! I haven’t actually published these pieces yet. (Well, the slide-glide cyclide thing was published by someone else, but I think it was later taken down–there may be plans for the original mathematician to sell them?) The puzzle box is just a little too kluged together to really publish; I modified a lot of things after the fact to get it together, and I’m not comfortable publishing it in that state, but I also don’t really want to put in the work to finish it. The kaleidoscope would actually be okay, but it’s limited–it’s a bit tricky to actually cut the mirrors, and it really only works to reflect things right up against it. I want to design an adapter for it that will hold an acrylic sphere (which you can get inexpensively from China) so that you can use it to look at scenes as well. But I haven’t actually gotten around to that yet either. I’ll give some thought to publishing it as-is, though.
    
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