Monday, January 26, 2026
I got a 3D printer recently, and got to work using it. When I shared one of the first things I made in a private Discord, someone commented that "This is the most niche thing I've ever seen someone design/print." That, my friend, is the point: that we can make exactly what we need. And that's true for making software just as much as it is for 3D printing.
Upon getting a 3D printer , you often start by printing a little boat that's used a benchmark to see if the printer is working right. And after that, you might print out some tools and accessories that are helpful for using your printer: a little scraper to get prints off the bed, a bin to collect waste filament. And then after that... what?
After that you get to choose your own adventure. You can either print things that someone else designed, or you can design something yourself (including modifying someone else's model). I do think it's really cool that we can print things other people designed, and there are so many designs out there that are amazing. The whole Gridfinity organization system is an example of this: you get a modular system that you can use to organize things, and you print just what you need, when you need it.
The thing is, most of the time, that ends up being not much different than ordering an item. You save on shipping costs, and you can usually get it you want much more quickly than if you ordered it. But... it feels in a lot of ways just like it's very fast shipping. You browse a website, click a button, and then a few hours or days later, an plastic widget is in your hands. Convince me that this isn't equivalent to incredibly good shipping. (It does make it sustainable to share extremely niche things that you could not otherwise handle the logistics for. So: extremely good shipping.)
For me, that's a side benefit. If I could only print things that I've designed myself, I'd be happy with my 3D printer still (though, likely, less happy). The main show is being able to get a niche solution that's been tailored to my exact use case. To get a solution that no one else has thought of, because no one else has that exact problem. This is all the same for software. We'll circle back to the software side of things, because this runs into things I see my consulting clients deal with regularly, but let's dive deeper from the 3D printing perspective first.
My first very niche design
The first thing I printed, after the obligatory hello-world Benchy, was to help me with a daily medical procedure. I won't go into details on it here, but part of the recovery from a surgery I had requires me to do physical therapy. A lot of physical therapy. It takes a couple of hours a day, and it involves some equipment.
This is, well, a lot to handle when you're recovering from surgery. Heck, it's a lot to handle even once you're past the initial more intense recovery phase! And if you throw travel into the mix, then it just gets really hard to keep all your supplies organized and tidy and accessible while you're doing your PT.
Enter: designing the most niche thing my friend has ever seen someone design/print.
... continue reading