9 Weirdest Things People Have 3D Printed

3D printers were sold to us as the future of manufacturing. Spare parts on demand, custom tools, medical marvels, all true. But hand that same technology to the internet and you get something far more interesting. Here are nine of the weirdest things the 3D printing community has actually produced, in ascending order of “but why.”

The Benchy Armada

Every printer owner’s first print is a small calibration tugboat called Benchy. Most people print one. Some people print hundreds, in every color and size, arranging them into flotillas that patrol bookshelves worldwide. There are Benchies the size of a thumbnail and Benchies you could nearly sit in, and not one of them floats with dignity.

Articulated Everything

Dragons, axolotls, lobsters. If it has a spine, someone has printed a flexible, hinged version of it, and that version is currently living on an office desk being fidgeted with during video calls. The articulated dragon is the pet rock of our era, except it took nine hours to print and its owner will tell you about all nine.

The Single Replacement Wheel

Somewhere out there is a person who fixed their dishwasher rack with a printed wheel that cost four cents in plastic, and they have mentioned it roughly once a day since. Printing one spare part grants a lifetime supply of smugness. As far as we can tell this is the technology’s true killer app.

A 3D Printer, Printed

The community’s ultimate flex: printers that print most of the parts for another printer. Machines all the way down, a robot family tree where every generation comes out slightly wonkier than the last.

Full-Size Garden Gnome Platoons

Why buy one gnome when you can manufacture an army overnight? Longtime readers know our position on gnome-based lawn intimidation. We stand by it.

The Lithophane Portrait

Flat white plastic that reveals a photograph when backlit. Equal parts Victorian ghost technology and thoughtful gift, guaranteed to make a grandmother cry at holiday gatherings.

Chain Mail, for Some Reason

Printable fabric made of thousands of interlocking links. Wearable, shimmering and utterly useless against swords. Which is fine. Sword attacks remain rare, and if one ever does happen, the chain mail owner will at least go down historically dressed.

The Musical Instrument Section

Working violins, flutes and full pipe organs, printed at home. They sound about 85 percent as good as the real thing, which is roughly 85 percent better than anyone expected.

Miniature Furniture for Pets That Ignore It

Tiny sofas for hamsters. Gothic beds for geckos. The animals could not care less, and the internet could not care more. One popular design is a scale recliner with a working footrest, printed over eleven hours for a bearded dragon named Kevin who has never once reclined. Kevin’s owner reports no regrets. Kevin declined to comment.

We were promised the replicator from Star Trek. We used it to make wiggly dragons and boat armies, and honestly that might be the most human thing we’ve ever done.