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.

Edit: Just for context: I’ve been around the block with 3D printing. I started about 7 years ago and I’ve been the 3D printer repair guy for my circle of friends ever since, fixing up everyone else’s printers. I design most of the things I print myself. 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.

IMO, this is all plastic waste and nothing else.

  • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    22 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.

    • squaresinger@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      52·
      19 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      That’s mostly outdated.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.

        • fishy@lemmy.todayEnglish
          4·
          12 hours ago

          I recently got a flash forge adventure 5m and was printing in 30 minutes with no prior experience. There’s definitely a learning curve but if you can get a paper printer working, you can do a 3d printer

        • squaresinger@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          31·
          11 hours ago

          It’s a good printer if you just want to print and don’t care for hardware modding. If you fit into that profile, yes, get it.