Your printer. Your idea. Our next project: 3D printing ideas brought together.
Every printer setup has one.
That little thing you keep working around.
A spool in the wrong place. Tools scattered around the workbench. Space under the printer that could actually be useful. A filament setup that has become… more complicated than originally planned.
You look at it and think: “Someone should design something for that.”
Well, tell me about it. That could be where our next project starts. 🙂
I’ve been rebuilding the community and testing sections of CC3D Projects to make it easier to turn everyday problems into ideas, conversations, and projects we can develop together.
It began with “I’ll just improve a few pages.”
Apparently, that’s the website equivalent of “This will only need one prototype.”
💡 A place for your 3D printing ideas
The Project Ideas page gives your 3D printing ideas a place to grow—from a shared problem to a project we can develop and test together.
You don’t need to know CAD. You don’t need a finished design. And you definitely don’t need a twenty-slide presentation explaining why your Allen keys deserve a drawer.
Start with something practical:
What problem are you trying to solve?
Which printer or setup is it for?
What would make it easier to use?
Can a photo or sketch help explain it?
Maybe it’s a better spool holder. A storage solution that uses an awkward empty space. Or a drying setup that fits the way you actually handle filament.
Ideas begin with a private review before being opened to the community.
Start with the problem. We can explore the solution.
Already shared an idea with me? Please bring it here, too.
Some of you have already sent me suggestions through messages or email. Thank you—and I’m sorry I haven’t always given those ideas the follow-up they deserved.
When suggestions are spread across different conversations and inboxes, it becomes difficult to keep track of everything. That’s one of the reasons I built this new system.
If you’ve shared an idea before, please submit it again through Project Ideas.
I know that means a little extra effort, but it will give your suggestion a dedicated place where I can track it, follow up, and keep the next steps clear.
The goal is a more organized and transparent process: you can follow your idea’s status, keep the discussion together, and understand the decisions along the way.
I can’t promise every idea will become a project. But I want the ideas you take the time to share to be easier to track—and their progress easier to understand.
❤️ Help good ideas get noticed
You can explore community ideas, vote, and save your favorites so you can find them again.
The Top 5 section highlights ideas receiving support, while categories help you discover suggestions that interest you—from storage and organization to filament management and drying.
Votes help me understand what people want. They don’t automatically turn a suggestion into a promised product: feasibility, development time, and testing still matter.
But they answer a very useful question:
“Am I the only person who would find this helpful?”
Often, that’s where a worthwhile project begins.
And if you know someone with the same printer—or the same frustration—you can share an idea with them. A public summary lets them read about it before deciding whether to join and participate.
🤝 Your experience can help shape the design
Sometimes a vote isn’t enough.
You might own the printer involved. You might be able to take measurements, explain how you use your setup, or spot a problem that isn’t obvious from a photo.
You can request to collaborate on an idea, giving its author or the administrator a chance to bring you into the team. A shared discussion keeps questions, suggestions, and progress connected to the project.
You don’t have to be a designer to contribute something valuable.
“This needs another 0.5 mm of clearance” can be an extremely important contribution. Usually discovered just after a very long print. 😅
The goal is to keep the original idea, the people helping develop it, and the conversation connected as the project progresses.
🚀 From a shared idea to a real-world test
Project Ideas and Available Tests are connected parts of the same journey.
When an idea is selected for development, the next step is to work toward a design that can be printed and evaluated. Once it’s ready, it can move into the testing area as a project with files, requirements, and feedback from people using real machines.
The people who helped shape the idea can also contribute to testing, provided they meet the project’s requirements—including owning the right printer and having verified tester access.
Imagine suggesting a drawer for an awkward space under your printer, helping clarify the dimensions, and then printing a prototype to see how well it fits.
That’s the connection I want to build: your suggestion can become something you help develop, print, and improve.
Not every idea will reach testing, and votes alone won’t determine which ones do. Feasibility, available resources, and readiness still matter.
But the goal is to give promising ideas a clear path beyond the discussion—and find out whether they work as well on a workbench as they do on screen.
🧪 Find out what’s coming—and where you could help
The Available Tests page gives you a clearer view of projects at different stages: coming soon, looking for testers, being tested, or moving toward completed documentation.
Project cards bring useful details together, including progress, tester places, and compatibility information.
For example, you might find a drawer project looking for people with the right printer, while a spool accessory is already being evaluated by its testing team.
You can see where your equipment and experience could be useful, then open the project to learn more.
Because being excited about a project is a great start. Having the printer it needs to fit also helps quite a lot.
💬 Keep the files, feedback, and conversation together
Once you’re involved in a test, the Test Detail page brings the project information, files, team, and discussion into one place.
The aim is to make the practical side of testing easier:
Find the files. Print the parts. Share what happened. Add photos. Discuss what needs to improve.
I’ve also been working on the smaller details that make longer conversations easier to follow, such as replies beside the message you’re answering, paginated discussions, and clearer activity indicators.
Within Project Ideas, change requests have a distinct purpose: a proposed change should receive a clear decision and explanation, rather than getting lost among ordinary messages.
Less time hunting through a conversation means more time working on the actual project.
You’ll still have to find the screw you dropped under the workbench yourself.
🖨️ Your profile helps connect you with the right projects
Your community profile and registered printers help explain what equipment you have and where you could contribute.
That matters because a design that looks right on screen still needs to work on a real machine.
Contributing an idea and applying for a test have different requirements. Test participation involves additional eligibility checks, including the required printer and verified tester access.
The updated Testing Guide explains the steps, helping you understand what to complete and how to get involved.
You shouldn’t need to reverse-engineer the website before helping test a drawer.
Why put this much work into the website?
Because my workshop is only one workshop.
I design and test projects here, but I don’t own every printer. I don’t use every material, organize my tools the same way you do, or encounter all the problems you notice in your own setup.
Your experience adds something I can’t reproduce just by spending more time in CAD.
A photo can reveal an obstacle I hadn’t considered. A measurement can prevent a poor fit. Feedback from a printed prototype can turn a promising design into something much more useful.
I wanted a clearer path between those contributions:
A real problem → a shared idea → a discussion → a design → a printed prototype → a tested project.
A place where suggestions remain easy to find, feedback stays connected to the work, and people can see how to participate.
That’s the idea behind these changes.
What would you like us to build next?
Think about the small inconvenience you’ve stopped noticing because you deal with it every day.
The thing you keep moving out of the way. The tool that never has a home. The workaround you’re slightly proud of—but would happily replace.
Bring it to Project Ideas.
Whether it’s a brand-new thought or something you sent me months ago, give it a place in the new system.
Explore other suggestions, support something you’d like to see developed, or find out where you could help with testing.
Your next useful printer upgrade might start with a problem you haven’t shared yet.
Explore the community and testing sections at CC3D Projects.
— Enrico CC3D Projects
P.S. I’m going back to CAD now. Unless I notice one more “small improvement” the website needs.
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