About
What is this?
When I started getting into 3D printing, it was an exciting new field for me, full of potential and awesomeness. I would try to explain it to friends and family, and usually after a person had listened to me talk about the mechanics and possibilities of 3D printing for a while, they would eventually ask, "Sooo, what is a 3D printer actually good for?" Well, Little Plastic Things. This is the fastest way I've found to communicate the potential of 3D printing to people with no prior experience (or interest). Of course, 3D prints can be as large as houses (literally), and printers are using virtually every material (plastic, metal, ceramic, glass, meat, etc...) so as a definition, "Little Plastic Things" is GROSSLY inadequate. But it's a simple connection point that anyone can make between 3D printing at home and the world around them. When people start to see all the little plastic things in their everyday life, and when they realize an affordable, run of the mill 3D printer can make most of these things cheaper, better, and on demand, then they can start to appreciate how revolutionary these devices can really be.
Why is this?
Little Plastic Things is a personal blog which I started so I could share some of my "maker"-ing experiences, and hopefully share some lessons I've learned along the way. Most of my projects involve 3D printing in some way so that will be the main recurring theme, but I've also done projects with computer keyboards, arduinos and basic electronics, 3D printed keycaps, midi interfaces, and a bunch of other random things. I'd ultimately also like the site to be a place where people can discuss their own projects and get input from other problem solvers...though I haven't solved for how that would actually work yet...
Who is this?
My name is Daniel Benton. I got started with 3D printing as a hobby about 3 years ago. I've got a good handle on the basics, but I'm still learning things all the time. I've printed a lot of things, I've read a lot of things, I've designed a lot of things. I've tried a lot of things. I like to talk to people about 3D printing, and I like getting newcomers excited about it. With these things in mind, my goals for this site are
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To share some projects I've done, hopefully encouraging other people in things they want to do/make/create
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To bring up things going on in the printing world that I think are noteworthy
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To always keep the information accessible, but meaningful. I want my content to be understandable and interesting to people who are just beginning to see all the Little Plastic Things around them, but I'm also hoping that every now and then I can say something useful that other enthusiasts or professional printer people can get something out of.
There are a lot of amazing experts talking about 3D printing and other Maker topics on websites and youtube. I don't see myself trying to become another one of those, but I'm happy to help whoever I can in whatever way I can.