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.
tenacious_mucus@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks 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…
Bananigans@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
I really like printing toys that are different sets work together, like duplo train track adapters.
wjrii@lemmy.world 2 weeks 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.
redbr64@lemmy.world 3 weeks 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
FrederikNJS@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Oh yes… I’ve printed a bunch of train track parts that doesn’t exist otherwise…
For example this piece to go up and down from a carpet is indispensable: www.thingiverse.com/thing:4359335
owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Yeah, I’ve designed and printed extra parts for the wooden Melissa and Doug train sets. No more wobbly bridges for us!