Several years ago I wanted to build a MASSIVE Arduino project for my home. I'm talking one so megalithic, that Darth Vadar himself would be jealous.
I called it Gooniebox, which is part time piece and part escape room puzzle box! It was featured by Apple, Make magazine and many more, but that's a funny story for another time!
While I was building GoonieBox, I needed more than just a 3d Modeled version of the part.
I needed that actual part, but I didn't necessarily want to buy the part because I wasn't sure if it would work.
Well... these guys (servocity) give you the .stp file so that you can print out the part you need for a dry fit test.
For example check this part out. I used this throughout GOONIE for a ton of different motor assemblies.
Printed they were strong enough to do the job till I got the actual parts in.
Here is where to find the .stp file!
Now just take the .stp file and print it out. I use my trusty old Makerbot Replicator 1.
It has over 500 hours of print time, this thing is a beast!
I did this for all of the mechanical parts which eventually ended up being the metal versions from servo city.
Here is a full blown version of the innards of Gooniebox. Take a look at all the metal parts.
If it weren't for servo city's free .stp files, it would have cost me a fortune to make goonie.
This is a huge service they provide, highly recommend!! I hope you found that helpful!!
Don't forget to check out our other blog posts, "What can you do with Arduino", "What's Better Raspberry Pi Or Arduino", "What exactly is Arduino?", "Dr.Duino's Reactive Lighting Engine", "can you sell a product with an Arduino in it?"