3D Printing the NASA Wrench
I’ve mentioned Made In Space previously after meeting members of the team in Seattle earlier this year and the 3D printer they recently launched into space aboard the ISS.
The file for the famous wrench that was ’emailed’ to space to be printed was made public during the holidays and I had to print it.
It’s really cool to be able to print the same models that are currently being test printed in space. These parts and tools will be brought back to earth and tested against earth-based prints to see what, if any, difference it makes printing them in space.
It’s a simple, ratcheting wrench with an ingenious design with an internal mechanism that was made to be printed all in one go, without any support material.
Made In Space will be making more files available for downloading and printing on NASA’s 3D model & printables repositories. Keep an eye on this page for more cool printables…they already have a bunch of great downloads available.
Hopefully they’ll also share more details about the prints like the print settings and materials they are printing with. My prints worked perfectly the first time using PLA and standard 0.20mm layer height with 25% infill.
Will the files created for use by NASA (or other related government funded program) be available to the public?
I am a 3D printer myself and would love to print the wrench file used for the first print in space.
I kinda paid for it in a roundabout fashion anyway;)
Disregard my last comment. I missed the last paragraph in the article. My Bad:) I’m downloading it soon.
When I saw the wrench, I thought it was cool. The fact that it ratchets? Mind blown.