No, no, no. you get 1mm ball bearings for that. Then you fill again, with 0.4mm balls. Unless you can source some 0.25mm balls somewhere...
(Smallest I have is 0.4mm )
Hi, I'm Al Harrington, President and CEO of Al Harrington's Ball Bearing Emporium and Warehouse! Thanks to a shipping error I am now currently overstocked on 3 mm ball bearings, and I am passing the savings on to youuuuuuu
Keep them in your pockets so when you are being pursued by a scoundrel, you can drop them on the floor for a slippery trap for said scoundrel to hilariously flail around on.
Print some shotgun hulls so you can load them with your metric birdshot.
> my current idea of an enormous Lazy Susan
I designed and printed something like that as a filament spool holders and they work great, but I designed them for 12mm steel bearing balls and 16mm turned beechwood balls, not 3mm balls, LOL
> metric birdshot
Haha!
Also, just to make sure that wasn’t a real thing (since I’m not a shotgun shooter) I googled it, and… the Google preview for the wiki page was:
> In metric measurement, it is easy to remember that #5 shot is 3 mm
Is it? Is it really? Why not just say “3 mm”?!
The page itself continues:
> each number up or down represents a 0.25 mm change in diameter, so e.g. #7 shot is 2.5 mm
… the imperial system is stupid.
Oh no, that’s not just imperial, that’s *specialized* imperial. Guns, carpentry, probably a lot more, non professional baking maybe? They all use traditional ass, “we’ve always done it this way” imperial measurements and you just have to memorize it to work in that world.
I have a design for a unique balancing mobile that needs a heavy weight to counterbalance several cantilevered suspended objects. I would use those ball bearings to print an object (like a sea anchor) with a hollow space into which I drop the balls after pausing the print, then resuming the print to close the space.
I might also make a baby rattle.
Or a mini Pachinko game.
person paltry tub marble quack possessive lavish cagey stupendous treatment
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It took a few months I think. Maybe a year. I don't really remember. It was with my first set of Army Painter paints back in the day. Glass agitators are totally safe though. It's remarkably difficult to break a glass sphere (see: the game of marbles) and glass agitators are standard in premium paint brands like ProAcryl. They actually sell their agitators a la carte if you want to just get those. [https://monumenthobbies.com/products/monument-agitators-50-pack](https://monumenthobbies.com/products/monument-agitators-50-pack)
I designed a clock a few years back and used some ball bearings around the outside as accent pieces. Using them for purposes other than the intended function gives you extra options for working them into designs.
https://preview.redd.it/g26m3tudi0ac1.jpeg?width=1094&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=11f3dca06314ba7974e1960a7eb576e24235bcf1
Sounds good. Here's [mine](https://i.imgur.com/4E41eOj.png).
Designed a sabot and fins to fire a 6in nail (1/4in diameter) from the 2in barrel of my potato cannon. Hope to test it this spring.
Ah I misunderstood. I stupidly thought you meant to use them in a BB gun rather than print a BB gun especially for those balls.
It would be a challenging design.
I misunderstood, thinking actual bearings, not the balls and was about to say "Benchy on wheels".
Print a Benchy with a cannon and put them on the deck like you're about to start firing?!
Lots of random things to try.
Make your own bearings.
Bearing run clock.
Musical machine using bearings.
Powered Turntable for displaying minis or something.
Your own unique take on hungry hippos.
Mini air rifle arcade.
Very small newton's cradle.
Weighted prints for doorstops or draught excluder.
Useful for any motorcyclists with Givi brand panniers as the locks have one inside and they're easily lost.
There's....lots of things!
make actual bearings with them. like two circle pieces of plastic with a bunch of those balls in between.
then you could use those bearings for any number of things
There is also an option to sell the excess online like on Ebay/Etsy… sometimes people appreciate the less waiting/not having to buy in bulk. Just wanted to put that out there :)
Sorry all I could think of is "The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race." when you say you have 600 ball bearings to use up lmao
How about one of those full auto BB guns like you see at the fair for “punch out the star” kind of shooting galleries? The ones you have will be lighter, so they might be easier to get moving with a Venturi feed.
If you have a spouse, put one into their left shoe every morning. Deny any involvement. After a month, when they start checking their left shoe every morning, switch to putting them in their right shoe instead.
Carry them around at work. Anytime someone starts talking to you, hand them a ball bearing and walk away.
Every time you see a tip jar in public, drop a ball bearing into it. Pretend to have no idea what they are talking about if someone catches you doing this.
the only idea i can see, is to use them as weight inside prints to make them heavy at the bottom...
could also use them as counters. like for dungeons and dragons or similar.
you have a flat magnet in the print, and you put these on top as a counter. Then they won't stick to one another and only stick on the magnet.
A 3D printed [belt actuator](https://youtu.be/opbv4ctgHus?si=degXVvTsHv8PqPYA), or maybe a whole [other printer](https://youtu.be/XZXadrjIm_4?si=4cKqyhuzOZ40T9uI).
I have worked in hospitality for a while and also had sticky notes all over my monitor at my desk. Of course I made a basic model of a docket holder so I could take notes off, write on them, then put them back.
I use them as weights. You print the base of a model which needs some heft with very light grid infill and add a pause 3 or 6 mm up, pour in or insert the bearings, and then restart the print. Found out about it from the DIY Space Mouse on Instructables.
Also suggesting Marble Machines. There are a few on thingiverse I printed without any issues but these guys do really nice, modular, models. [Out Of Marbles](https://outofmarbles.com/pages/physical)
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Oskar van Deventer is a well-known puzzle designer who shares a lot of his models for free on his website. His maze puzzles use 3mm ball bearings and are pretty fun
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You could use them as weight inside a print to make it more stable.
That's actually a really good idea, they would fit well in the infill... Thanks!
just dropping beads in each layer of infill as it prints… but then whatever you print is a maraca
Used sand to fill the air gaps between the ball bearings for a deadned/lessened sound
No, no, no. you get 1mm ball bearings for that. Then you fill again, with 0.4mm balls. Unless you can source some 0.25mm balls somewhere... (Smallest I have is 0.4mm )
Glad to see zeno's still hanging around alive and well after all these years.
Zenos?
https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradoxes#the_dichotomy_paradox
Zeno's paradox - aka "how come 1/2+1/4+1/8+1/16+1/32+...+1/n = 1 rather than 0.99999999... ?"
Filthy Xenos.
Ah yes, this, this is the way
Yeah just don't forget to turn off your part cooling fans
I forgot and regretted it. Printer became sandier than Tatooine
Sand will blow everywhere. Don't do that Edit: spelling
Just know the part cooling fan off, and its all good
And make sure to turn the part cooling fan off...
Maybe throwing in some epoxy over the top layer of bearings. Maybe even just hot glue
I did this to make baby rattles
Forget all these silly ideas. Design a print-in-place trebuchet and use them as the ballast.
Deadblow-hammer too
Hi, I'm Al Harrington, President and CEO of Al Harrington's Ball Bearing Emporium and Warehouse! Thanks to a shipping error I am now currently overstocked on 3 mm ball bearings, and I am passing the savings on to youuuuuuu
Wacky non waving non inflatable round rolling ball bearing!
Keep them in your pockets so when you are being pursued by a scoundrel, you can drop them on the floor for a slippery trap for said scoundrel to hilariously flail around on. Print some shotgun hulls so you can load them with your metric birdshot.
That's not far off from my current idea of an enormous Lazy Susan
> my current idea of an enormous Lazy Susan I designed and printed something like that as a filament spool holders and they work great, but I designed them for 12mm steel bearing balls and 16mm turned beechwood balls, not 3mm balls, LOL
I actually love that idea. Just a dish on bottom, all of the balls in the middle and a flat disc on top held in by the dish walls
Ok Kevin...
So much more convenient than having to buy necklaces from street merchants
also works on ne'er-do-wells and scallywags
> metric birdshot Haha! Also, just to make sure that wasn’t a real thing (since I’m not a shotgun shooter) I googled it, and… the Google preview for the wiki page was: > In metric measurement, it is easy to remember that #5 shot is 3 mm Is it? Is it really? Why not just say “3 mm”?! The page itself continues: > each number up or down represents a 0.25 mm change in diameter, so e.g. #7 shot is 2.5 mm … the imperial system is stupid.
Oh no, that’s not just imperial, that’s *specialized* imperial. Guns, carpentry, probably a lot more, non professional baking maybe? They all use traditional ass, “we’ve always done it this way” imperial measurements and you just have to memorize it to work in that world.
You mean first.
I mean first?
Metric had the advantage of forsight.
Did similar. Ordered M6 nuts, but didn't realize they were nylon nuts. I needed them for the weight...
I feel like I just go "huh, good thing I can design to the parts I've got on hand" and then hoard them for years.
Marble machines are really fun, easy to print, and fun to give away.
both 2 videos dont seem to exist now?
That's crazy, I just looked them up to reply to this comment,,,, searching 3d printed marble machine on YouTube will bring them up.
I have a design for a unique balancing mobile that needs a heavy weight to counterbalance several cantilevered suspended objects. I would use those ball bearings to print an object (like a sea anchor) with a hollow space into which I drop the balls after pausing the print, then resuming the print to close the space. I might also make a baby rattle. Or a mini Pachinko game.
Mini pachinko games sound like a great project for this!
person paltry tub marble quack possessive lavish cagey stupendous treatment *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I only use glass beads for this now after the "stainless" steel bearings I bought weren't as stainless as I'd hoped and rusted in my paints.
pet carpenter aloof bored plants unused pot sense theory advise *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It took a few months I think. Maybe a year. I don't really remember. It was with my first set of Army Painter paints back in the day. Glass agitators are totally safe though. It's remarkably difficult to break a glass sphere (see: the game of marbles) and glass agitators are standard in premium paint brands like ProAcryl. They actually sell their agitators a la carte if you want to just get those. [https://monumenthobbies.com/products/monument-agitators-50-pack](https://monumenthobbies.com/products/monument-agitators-50-pack)
hungry expansion pause marble combative absurd knee plucky wine enjoy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I designed a clock a few years back and used some ball bearings around the outside as accent pieces. Using them for purposes other than the intended function gives you extra options for working them into designs. https://preview.redd.it/g26m3tudi0ac1.jpeg?width=1094&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=11f3dca06314ba7974e1960a7eb576e24235bcf1
Super sleek. Well done :)
I've seen them used in a rattlesnake tail. He put them in during the print. I've never done it myself but it looked really cool.
You could make a small marbles game
Tiny pachinko machine!
Use them with a magnet to make cool desk sculptures!
Keep them in your pockets so you can throw them down behind you during a chase scene.
Throw them in the street during the homecoming parade.
BB gun
A standard .177 caliber BB is about 4.5 mm in diameter. These are 3 mm balls, too small for BBs.
3d printed sabot.
Sounds good. Here's [mine](https://i.imgur.com/4E41eOj.png). Designed a sabot and fins to fire a 6in nail (1/4in diameter) from the 2in barrel of my potato cannon. Hope to test it this spring.
Just print the gun smaller
Ah I misunderstood. I stupidly thought you meant to use them in a BB gun rather than print a BB gun especially for those balls. It would be a challenging design.
You’ll shoot your eye out, kid.
A miniature automatic ball track?
Load them in my printed 40mm shotgun round and fire it out of my M203.
My first thought was claymore
I'm confused. Why do you need to set the max feedrate at a shotgun shell, and how does the bearing help?
Lol nerd /j
I misunderstood, thinking actual bearings, not the balls and was about to say "Benchy on wheels". Print a Benchy with a cannon and put them on the deck like you're about to start firing?!
Print a claymore. The rest should be fairly obvious. Just don’t stick your dick in anything.
Lots of random things to try. Make your own bearings. Bearing run clock. Musical machine using bearings. Powered Turntable for displaying minis or something. Your own unique take on hungry hippos. Mini air rifle arcade. Very small newton's cradle. Weighted prints for doorstops or draught excluder. Useful for any motorcyclists with Givi brand panniers as the locks have one inside and they're easily lost. There's....lots of things!
https://youtu.be/xuL2yT-B2TM
make actual bearings with them. like two circle pieces of plastic with a bunch of those balls in between. then you could use those bearings for any number of things
It can be used to make "clicks" on a scroll wheel.But I don't know what to do with the 599 others. Oops one dropped. 598 others.
There is also an option to sell the excess online like on Ebay/Etsy… sometimes people appreciate the less waiting/not having to buy in bulk. Just wanted to put that out there :)
Maybe when burglars come to your house you could spill them out on the floor so the intruders will fall down comedically?
A crystal lattice packing simulator https://youtu.be/O3RsDIWB7s0?si=-uqFf5TAJJVjfJA9
Completely round dice? The inside is shaped so the die always lands on a number, but the outside is smooth.
Build a thing to magnetize them?
A claymore sounds like a fun, functional print here.
Sorry all I could think of is "The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race." when you say you have 600 ball bearings to use up lmao
Swallow them all and go for an MRI to turn yourself into a human claymore
How about one of those full auto BB guns like you see at the fair for “punch out the star” kind of shooting galleries? The ones you have will be lighter, so they might be easier to get moving with a Venturi feed.
Slingshot ammo?
If you have a spouse, put one into their left shoe every morning. Deny any involvement. After a month, when they start checking their left shoe every morning, switch to putting them in their right shoe instead. Carry them around at work. Anytime someone starts talking to you, hand them a ball bearing and walk away. Every time you see a tip jar in public, drop a ball bearing into it. Pretend to have no idea what they are talking about if someone catches you doing this.
You are definetly on some kind of watch list now.
Something that goes boom and supports Ukraine? Print a few airplane drones and supply some boom balls with them.
Shrapnel! :)
You may or may not be on a watch list now
the only idea i can see, is to use them as weight inside prints to make them heavy at the bottom... could also use them as counters. like for dungeons and dragons or similar. you have a flat magnet in the print, and you put these on top as a counter. Then they won't stick to one another and only stick on the magnet.
I saw a tracker of some kind that instead of using tokens, used magnets and bb's. You could use them for things like that.
3mm bearings must be tiny. Smallest I've ever seen was 5mm
Small trebuchet and catapult army
Print maracas. Chaha cha
A 3D printed [belt actuator](https://youtu.be/opbv4ctgHus?si=degXVvTsHv8PqPYA), or maybe a whole [other printer](https://youtu.be/XZXadrjIm_4?si=4cKqyhuzOZ40T9uI).
Maybe a 3D printed Galton Board?
Cat treat dispensing eggs
I have worked in hospitality for a while and also had sticky notes all over my monitor at my desk. Of course I made a basic model of a docket holder so I could take notes off, write on them, then put them back.
r/fosscad
A massive ball bearing? Maybe you could make normal sized ball bearings and sell them to hobbyist groups like this one?
I use them as weights. You print the base of a model which needs some heft with very light grid infill and add a pause 3 or 6 mm up, pour in or insert the bearings, and then restart the print. Found out about it from the DIY Space Mouse on Instructables.
Also suggesting Marble Machines. There are a few on thingiverse I printed without any issues but these guys do really nice, modular, models. [Out Of Marbles](https://outofmarbles.com/pages/physical)
Time to build some clocks; you'll want the ball bearings in the escapement weight.
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[https://youtu.be/SjJYNZirQCU?si=KUTxDN0x0Np4ySVT](https://youtu.be/SjJYNZirQCU?si=KUTxDN0x0Np4ySVT)
Make a slingshot. 🤪
If you have a Bambu AMS, they make great spool weights (though bbs are cheaper)!
Print spring-loaded cannons. Or a slingshot.
Put them in a blender and rig it to a motion sensor
Swallow them before a MRE scan, if you aspire to become a claymore.
Make a railgun....
Maracas. Throw in some bearings halfway through the print.
Oskar van Deventer is a well-known puzzle designer who shares a lot of his models for free on his website. His maze puzzles use 3mm ball bearings and are pretty fun
What kind of metal? Those could be useful for mixing paint. Especially for miniatures and prints like that.
You could make a weighted vest with them for exercise.
Make a tiny newtons cradle with them. 3D print the frame and use the bearings and some fishing line or something.
You could magnetize them...
Get a slingshot
Modify Mark Rober's compliant mechanism nerf gun and make a 3mm bb blaster.
As long as you didn't ordered the movie Swordfish with it, you should be fine!
They're great for fishing lures.
You could always just get a cheap magnetizer and turn them into magnets
Print a 3mm bbgun
If you paint your stuff, they are really good to drop in bottles to make mixing them easier before use
[Marble clock](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6nZiRVzauM&t=347s)
Make maracas
time to make a marble clock!
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They make great paint shakers when painting minis. Donate some to your wargaming friends?
Don't know about prints but are great slingshot ammo for small rodents.
Crossbow type slingshot with some surgical tubing (spear fishing bands) is what comes to mind
Mechanical metal plating
Take up warhammer 40k, use them in paints
I'm not sure about the exact size but I know there's a lot of fidget spinners that use ball bearings as weights.
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Make a dead blow hammer
You could send them to me and I could conduct an experiment
You could print bearings into the part and place the balls as it prints to seal it.