Well I could listen to this guy talk all day.
Is there a program somewhere between TinkerCAD and Fusion?
this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2026
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I love this dude so much
I think this is exactly why several states are trying to pass laws to basically kill the 3d printer market... It's never about safety, it's about right to repair.
There should be a law that if any part is discontinued the 3D CAD files should be in a public database.
One thing I think he missed, in my experience, is many of the critical dimensions may be in the user manual as a drawing. For example, the hole spacing for mounting the drives is standard so either the mount or the drive manufacturer might have called out the position and size. This would be way better than measuring, especially if they are using metric and you dimension in inches.
Great vid though.
The few 3d models I've posted, if they require extra hardware I almost always post the mcmaster link. Not because they are the best hardware supplier, the cheapest, or they pay me.
No, because all their hardware has dimensional drawings for it. So the person looking at it can find their own that matches the spec.
Or find a 3d model of a drive and see how that matches up before you print anything.
Damn, that's a really good point.
In this specific situation, looking up the specs for hard drive screw mounts means you can skip a lot of the manual measurements.
You can certainly still measure to double check specific placements, but the spaces between the holes, and the height above the deck should be standard.
Heck, just knowing the measurements of the hole spacing and the internal dimensions of the hard drive space can be used to double check all your other measurements and have more points of reference.
If you are reverse engineering something like those used sleds, it's unlikely you are going to have any kind of paper to give you those critical dimensions. As he said, those sleds were bought second hand. You ain't ever going to get any kind of manual with them.
As far as measuring goes, It's all G20/G21. I'm pretty sure the overwhelming vast majority of 3D printing people own a 6"/150mm digital caliper. Metric or US Customary numbers are available at a mere push of a button. And you should also own a 6"/150mm stainless steel scale. Evem Mitutoyo are less than $20. Though I prefer Shinwa brand myself because I find them easier to read with my old feeble eyes. Buy one or several. But to be honest, just about everything in the US these days is metric. We just don't brag about it.
Those are the 2 basic tools you need at your desk when you are reverse engineering a part or design something the new the world has never seen. Add a pencil and a sketch pad and you are set.
The sleds might not have a dimensional drawing, but the drives that go in them with all their screw holes would. There might even be an existing 3d model of a drive that they could have used to check interference of their design against in fusion.
Damn this was the best video on the subject. I could find zero faults with his method.
I love how he did the thin slice method to check all the numbers. I love how he wrote all over the prototypes. I love how he called out specific checkpoints to revalidate.
Perfect tutorial. 10/10. No notes.
Zach Freedman always has quite thouroughly thought out videos. Not always interesting for me personally, but quite a few bangers.
And he launched Gridfinity into the ecosystem it is today.
Zach is a national treasure.
I like his rant about brain rotting watching vertical videos.
Agreed. One may be able to use a scanner to avoid pains making quality pictures.
I really liked the video and the way he explained the process. Loved the tip about using translucent/white PLA in the first few test prints and making notes with permanent markers.
Apparently the legality stuff is iffy according to YT comments and the tips in the video should not be construed as legal advice.
Firstly, never take legal advice from youtube or even here. And it's very unlikely you would ever be caught doing it as long as you don't sell the parts. Nor should you ever reverse engineer life threat level parts. Because you ain't that smart or good. And if you are that smart, you know better than to do so.
Meh, f*ck'em :)
Nobody's going to know what you're printing at home unless you're using one of those spyware filled, cloud connected printers.
You mean the most popular brand of all aka Bambu? I can‘t recommend them even if they don‘t snitch at you right away. The ecosystem they‘re setting up is bad for consumers as is.
That's why it gets the "can't see the internet" VLAN.