The other day, I was talking to a friend I met when I was mentoring our high school robotics team. He is still a mentor.
I asked him what design software they were using. It's called OnShape and is online and free to use for personal use if you don't mind your designs being available to the public.
The first part I drew up was a replacement for the plastic piece that keeps the dial from rotating on a pair of calipers.
Attached FileThe black piece was the original part. I had over tightened it years ago and cracked it at the 90 deg corner.
For the new part, I added a small fillet at that corner and a rib on top. Should be stronger and will work as long as I'm not an idiot.
Part cost: $0.25
Today, I designed up a new bracket to replace one I hacked out of wood with a coping saw. The bracket is used to hold my ham radio head unit in the mount I have. The height of the radio is shorter than the minimum height the mount can hold.
Radio mounted with wood bracket:
Attached FileNew plastic bracket in mount with wood bracket on back of radio:
Attached FileComparison of the two brackets. The dowel pins and ramp features keep the bracket from sliding sideways in the mount:
Attached FileNew bracket on radio:
Attached FilePart cost: $0.50
They charge based on the amount of plastic used until you get up to a certain print time then there is an extra cost.
I'm pretty happy with both parts.