The idea for my Midnight City Street Book Nook came from the MakerWorld Limited Kit Challenge. I didn’t want to create only a model with lights. I wanted to build a small scene that looks like part of a city at night.The atmosphere was very important to me. A narrow street, tall buildings, glowing street lamps, a light-up Coffee sign, and a vehicle with working front and rear lights should create the feeling of a quiet city at midnight.From the First Idea to the Final ModelThe whole model was designed in Fusion 360 and is my biggest design project so far. One of the biggest challenges was getting all the sizes and tolerances right. The buildings, the road, the frame, and the electronic parts all needed to fit together well and be easy to assemble.At first, I wanted to design a normal car for the scene. But during the first tests, I noticed that the car would not fit the scale of the scene. To make enough space for the front and rear LEDs, the car would have needed to be much bigger.That is why I decided to design a truck instead. Its bigger and bulkier shape gave me more space for the LEDs (see Figure 1).Figure 1: Final truck designLighting as the Heart of the ModelThe lighting is one of the most important parts of the model. The truck has working front and rear lights. There are also two light-up street lamps and a glowing Coffee sign.These different lights give the street its special nighttime atmosphere. Depending on the filament and LED colors, the scene can look warm and realistic or bright and colorful.The print profiles include pauses at the correct layers for placing the LEDs inside the truck and the street lamps. This means the LEDs can be added during printing.Modular DesignAn important part of the design was keeping the electronics easy to reach. The road section can be removed, so the wires and electronic parts are still accessible after assembly. The top section of the Book Nook can also be removed.The buildings are also placed into the model separately. This makes printing and assembly easier and allows you to try different color combinations.Figure 2 The Finished ModelMany improvements, changes, and test prints were needed before the final version was finished. Many parts were changed, printed again, and tested several times until the size, lighting, and assembly worked well.The project was a fun challenge and helped me improve my Fusion 360 skills.Finally, I would like to thank MakerWorld for their support and for giving me the opportunity to bring this project to life!I hope you enjoy the model - you can check it out here.Thank you for your support, and have fun printing and assembling it!

You drop your bag in a hotel room. A campsite. The back of a van. And then you start turning that random space into yours. That moment is the whole contest. Hello! I’m Michele and I’m hosting Basecamp Anywhere, a MakerWorld creator contest for compact, practical prints that make a temporary space actually work, and I’d love to see what you build.🎒 What I’m looking forPrints that solve a real problem the moment you arrive:Hotel & Airbnb — cable organizers, bedside caddies, door hooksCamping & van life — clip-anywhere spice racks, lantern diffusers, compact organizersBeach & picnic — sand-stake cup holders, wind-resistant condiment stationsTravel hygiene — drip-proof soap cases, fold-flat drying racksPack-and-deploy — flat in the bag, useful when it opens. The transformation is the design.🚫 What to avoidBe honest with yourself here, it saves us both time:Generic carabiners, hooks, keyrings with no travel contextPlain boxes and trays with no scenario or pack/deploy logicHome organizers and anything needing screws or adhesiveAnything that doesn’t fit in a backpackThe test: would you actually pack it? Would it make your setup noticeably better the moment you arrive?🏆 Prizes - $850 total, 10 winnersPlacePrize🥇 1st$250🥈 2nd$150🥉 3rd$100⭐ Honorable Mention ×7$50 eachAll prizes transferred as MakerWorld Points from my own balance.Judged on: Utility (40%) · Originality (25%) · Printability (20%) · Presentation (15%)🎁 Plus: Community Favorite AwardBeyond the main prizes, there’s a Community Favorite Award running alongside the contest:Share the story behind your design in the MakerWorld Community, images, text, or video.Tag it #Contests #Hostedbycreator #BasecampAnywhereDrop a direct link to your model in the post description.Reward: 200 points to one winner after results are finalized, plus official promotion and boosted platform visibility for standout entries.📅 The essentialsStarts: July 27 · Ends: August 28 · Winners announced: September 4Up to 3 entries per makerOriginal designs only, no remixes, no AI-generated geometryEach entry needs print profile Drop a comment with what you’re planning, I’ll be reading every one of them. Let’s see what the community packs. 🔥

I was recently asked by one of my followers if I could share some tips on designing and publishing models so here are my top ten tips: 1: My first tip is just to design models. It doesn't matter what software you use or if it looks like trash just design models, practice makes perfect.2: Don't sweat about equipment. All you really need is a pc, the camera on your phone, and a printer.3: Once you have made a few models, experiment with different trends and model types. The Creator Center is a great place to find inspiration and learn what's trending.4: Once you find a topic/trend of model you like or is popular, make models that fit within that theme. It's fine if you make models that differ from that theme, Make sure to have fun.5: Tags. I cannot stress their importance enough, with the right tags your model will get TONS of views. When putting in tags make sure to put lots that fit your model or the theme.6: Pictures. Make sure you have Real photos of the final product. Only put Real print photos of your model as the thumbnail. I see lots of models where it's just screenshots of the model in Bambu Studio, or Tinkercad, Or Orca Slicer you get the idea. Make sure your photos are taken in good light without much in the background to distract from the model. Good lighting is critical.7: Editing. I use editing software like ClipChamp and Designer to crop my pictures and add text to them.8: Ignore mean people. This is the internet. There Will  be haters, like it or not we're stuck with them. Just remember all the good. For instance: that guy who left a good review, or that time you got a Boost, or that really encouraging comment.9: Don't forget to go outside and touch grass every once in a while. Mental health is important.10: Remember that there is a God who loves you and cares for you. It doesn't matter what people think of your models, it doesn't matter whether you're getting points or not, God loves you just as you are.Shout-out to @PrintRevs5Star for suggesting I make this article! they're just getting into making models so take a look at their models!

"FRACTURED" by Fiornova — Kit Challenge - Magnetic Levitation DIYHAMBEMUS LEVITATION!! WORK IN PROGRESS #2  One month ago I showed you a frozen moment: a Calla Lily, a vase sliced in two, water splashing everywhere. Back then it only existed in Blender. Today, the top half of that vase is physically floating above the fracture! Last time I mentioned there would be some "troubleshooting".Oh boy…… there was, A LOT!Magnetic levitation looks like magic, but getting there is pure trial and error: weight, balance, center of mass, everything matters, and everything fights you.Let me show you the casualties. The digital graveyard                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            The Filament graveyardThe filament graveyard The breakthroughSo what finally made it work? One simple idea: separating the vase from the float.In all the early versions, the vase and the floating base were one solid piece, joined with a snap fit. It seemed elegant until you try to balance it.  With everything locked together, the center of mass is fixed: if it's off, even by a hair, the whole thing tips, wobbles, and falls. And it was always off.Now the two parts are separate. The float levitates on its own, and the vase simply sits on top of it. The balance? You find it by hand. Slide the vase a few millimeters until it settles It's suprisingly easy.  What's nextWith the levitation nightmare finally behind me, I'm now working on my comfort zone: flowers and leaves. The very first prototypes are coming off the printer as we speak, and I can't wait to show you the Calla Lily taking shape."Fractured" launches very soon!Follow me so you don't miss it.  Massimiliano Fiornova#Kitchallenge #Maglevdiy

For a while now, I’ve wanted to try modelling and 3D printing a miniature version of Dalaran, the floating city from World of Warcraft. Since the city seemingly defies (or defied) gravity in-game, it felt like the perfect candidate for Bambu Lab’s Magnetic Levitation DIY Kit. Here are some of the challenges I faced in bringing the idea into a 3D-printed reality.The Centre of EverythingThe key to making a good levitating model with the MagLev kit is ensuring the model’s centre of mass sits on the same vertical axis as the floating magnet. If the centre of mass is too far off-centre, the model will tilt—or not levitate altogether. This is relatively straightforward for symmetrical models, where the centre of mass lies neatly along the central axis. But where exactly is the centre of this thing, let alone its centre of mass?! In-game Dalaran Luckily, working out the centre of mass is only a few clicks away in most CAD software, and there are similar add-ons available to do so in 3D modelling software such as Blender. Once most of the modelling was complete, I created the cut-out and holder for the floating magnet so that it aligned with the model’s calculated centre of mass. Magnet placed on the same axis as centre of mass BUT. That would only be correct if the model were printed with 100% infill density. Working out the actual centre of mass is more complicated. A printed model consists of wall loops, top and bottom shells that are effectively solid, and lower-density sparse infill. This means smaller but more geometrically complex sections often contain proportionally more walls and can end up denser than larger sections. Aware of this potential setback, I went ahead and printed anyway. Unsurprisingly, the model tilted to one side while floating.  To fix this, I just added more mass to the model on the opposite side by increasing the infill density. The three little adjacent floating islands were ideal for this. Since they are the furthest part of the model from the centre, even adding a little mass, makes a big difference to help balance the model. Their position can also be moved slightly with how they’re connected to further help distribute mass for balancing. At this point, I should probably mention that Bambu Lab also sells a version of the MagLev kit that includes little steel balls specifically for balancing models. But if I had used that version of the kit, I obviously wouldn’t have had anything to write about for this article. A Balancing ActIf you’ve ever used the Bambu Lab MagLev kit, you’ll know that getting a model to levitate for the first time can range from tricky to extremely challenging. Getting something this large and oddly shaped floating would have been practically impossible without some form of assistance. There were two possible solutions. Option 1: Create a temporary cradle that holds the model in exactly the right position relative to the base when first placing it. I briefly considered making a cradle in the shape of the crater Dalaran flew out of in-game. Option 2: Create a small floating magnet holder that levitates easily on its own, then slide the rest of the model over it afterwards. Option 2 seemed like the wiser choice. Floating magnet holder over which the rest of the model fits MOAR SPIRESOne of the more challenging aspects of the project was 3D printing the long, thin towers. Even though I modelled them to be thicker than their in-game proportions, they still tended to wobble during printing, which led to poor print quality or even print failures. For models with tall, slender vertical features, reducing print speed and increasing the number of wall loops can help minimise issues caused by parts flexing during the print.  In this case, increasing the Z-hop when retract, from the default 0.4 mm to 0.8 mm also led to a big improvement. This gives a little more leeway when the printer nozzle moves from part to part, and so when the printer starts depositing filament again the part hasn’t moved or bent from the printer moving to it. This is a printer or filament setting however that each user must set themselves when downloading and isn’t applied if printing from Bambu Handy. While the spires were able to print like this, they are still fragile and easy to break. I eventually decided it would be best to separate them altogether and have them print as independent parts. This means, if someone (me, someone is me) breaks one, they can reprint just the spire rather than having to reprint large portions of the model again. Final ThoughtsThere were plenty of other design decisions involved in adapting Dalaran for 3D printing: deciding which details to preserve in a model of this size, determining how to split the model to minimise supports, and ensuring it could be printed in full colour using a single AMS. Overall, I’m really happy with how it turned out, and I hope some others enjoy making and displaying their own little floating cities. Checkout the model here!:https://makerworld.com/en/models/3044527-dalaran-floating-city-of-the-kirin-tor  TL;DR for Horde players: Many design challenges faced especially to make model levitate and to print tiny details. End result good. Grunts

Hello There! This design was such a blast! Thank You to @Markerworld for making this possible and giving me supplies and helping me on this project I wouldn’t have been able to do without them. I faced many challenges in this design but I loved every bit of it the challenges and the process. That’s what makes 3D printing so fun even though there are hiccups that just makes you push farther and gives you even more ideas like a hiccup gave me the idea to add a real spark plug. It just adds even more fun and that why I love doing stuff like this and Makerworld platform is the best for it. Here is the versions I did.  👇 Floats V1: I made a simple not very detailed spark plug I originally wanted to just do a spark plug but realized it was going to be to hard and impossible to put the float base inside a spark plug and make it float so I got a splendid idea put a base over the main base that held a spark plug upright when I had this idea I originally did not think about how the lights would light it up but when it lit it up I amazed and realized this route would be the best route.V2: Now that I knew that my design and its lights from previous V1 worked I decided it was time to do the more detailed version with a few updates I made where a more realistic sparkplug added a less shallow base so it didn’t stick below the main base float. I also switched dovetail connection points to a dowel. I ran into one issue though the spark plug wasn’t strong enough at the bottom.   V3: I added reinforcement to the bottom and added a pin/dowel to the bottom to hold in place instead of just glue.  V4: I also got the idea just now that I could make a real spark plug float. I added even more reinforcement and it proved strong enough.  Real Spark Plug  V1: I added a hole to my finished base float. It worked the hole was just a bit small because of the layer spreading and filling in the hole on layer one.  V2: Added a bigger hole it worked. Main Base V1: I designed a simple piston. It didn’t  the most realistic though and somewhere I messed up on measurements so it was way too big and would not work. (Left one in filament graveyard pic.) V2: I studied the best way to make a realistic piston without showing all the  piston head with minimal supports. I made it as small as possible and it worked and looked amazing.Finished Product  Filament Graveyard:  Click here for the model. 👇