Leapfrog 3D Printer Giveaway Makes Father’s Day BIG

3D Printing & Imaging
Leapfrog 3D Printer Giveaway Makes Father’s Day BIG

What could make Father’s Day really feel big this year? How about a really big 3D printer for free? Leapfrog thought that would be really cool, so they’ve asked if we want to give one away. Of course we said yes.

logo-leapfrog-3d

Leapfrog has offered up a Creatr XL printer. These things are really big, with a build area of 230 x 270 x 600 mm! That is like stacking two of most printers on top of each other. Not only that, but they come standard with dual extruders. You can print in 2 colors, or even print in two completely different materials. This means you could print with flexible materials and solids to make jointed objects, or even use a material that is dissolvable for supports that disappear without a trace.

This is quite the tool to have on your workbench, and a gift that Dad will be talking about for quite some time. At least one very lucky dad will!

Creatr XL 5 (1)smallHere are the full stats for the Creatr XL:

  • Outer dimensions: 500x600x900 mm
  • Build size [LxWxH]: 230x270x600 mm
  • Max. print volume: 37.2 liter
  • Positioning accuracy: 0.05 mm
  • Layer thickness: 0.05-0.35 mm
  • Heated print bed: Yes
  • Dual extruders: Yes
  • Professional software included: Yes
  • Material types: ABS, PLA, PVA, Laybrick, Nylon
  • Weight: 37 kg
  • Electrical connection: 100-240 V
  • Extruder size: 0.35 mm
  • Speed X and Y axis: up to 350 mm/sec
  • Extrusion speed: up to 60 mm/sec
  • Power consumption: 400 W
  • Production speed: 0.42 cm3/min
  • File format: STL, G-code
  • CE Certified: Yes

If you haven’t had a chance to play with a Leapfrog printer before, you’re in for a bit of a treat. They build these things to feel extremely solid. The construction is very high-quality and precise. It comes preassembled and calibrated so it should be as close to plug and play as a 3D printer gets!

How to enter:

LeapFrog_125x125_bur1

The singular down side is that we have only one to give away. Here’s how we’re going to do it. You leave a comment here about what you or your dad would likely print with one of these. Then, the Editors of Make: will gather around and judge the comments based on creativity. Can you make us think “aaaw, I should call my dad?” Can you make us laugh? Cry? We’ll decide on Thursday, June 19th.

The person who we all agree has the most creative comment gets the printer. It is that simple. If you want actual rules written by a lawyer, you can download them here (pdf).

627 thoughts on “Leapfrog 3D Printer Giveaway Makes Father’s Day BIG

  1. ym says:

    We would print another 3D Printer so my best friend and cousin could enjoy it too.

  2. Andrew Hirning says:

    No idea what he would print. However, my dad is why I am a maker. He started early on teaching my brothers and I that we could make things – from Legos to wood and nails. We fixed cars, fences, sprinkler systems. I am a maker because my father is a maker.

  3. Matt Whitehouse says:

    I would like print a statue of my dad

  4. Mike Meyer says:

    My father passed away at the relatively young age of 53. Even though the term “Maker” hadn’t been coined when he died, he was one. Besides the typical maker tweaks around the house and his car, he was a licensed pilot and built his own ultralight. His abilities inspired everyone who knew him. The biggest regret in my life is that my sons never got to meet him.

    He would have loved 3d printing technology. I can easily picture him printing out-of-production parts instead of hunting junkyards for them, and improving them on the way. Or simply improving the parts of his ultralight.

    So, what would do with a Creatr XL essentially dedicated to him? How about printing an appropriate memorial statue for his grave each fathers day? Or using it to try and copy him, and inspire my sons and nephews to be makers.

  5. Kozi says:

    I would print repraps for kids and for some local school to get involved in 3D printing and engineering technology, because if i were there when i was young, and would show myself and kids in my age (38 now) a 3D printer, surely much more life lines mightb be closer to technology and making. I would print dreams, and opportunity.

  6. spiwrx says:

    I was fortunate to learn all my dad could share and become the DIY & person I am today. Now it’s my turn and the Leapfrog would be such an amazing way to share what I know with my son…

  7. Dan Bishop says:

    I would help my Dad improve the design for the Robohand project that provides low-cost prosthetics to those who can’t afford the insanely expensive “normal” ones. I am an industrial designer and he is fluent in Spanish so we could help people in Latin countries. It would be fun.

  8. CB Dockery says:

    I would like to be involved in or start a 3D printed prosthetics network to aid veterans.

  9. Moncef Bekhtaoui says:

    i would make payday 2 masks

  10. Rob Colby says:

    It wouldn’t be used with my Dad or my son. I would instead carry on the traditions my Grandpa gave to me and pass down to my Grandson. He’s just over a year old, so they would have to be more simple things, but I would print him all sorts of building toys. Gear shaped puzzles he can start putting together, rod and block type things, and the like. As he aged, we could expand on those toys together. Glue up the gear puzzle to be used as an actual gear with the rod and blocks involved and some rope I can start teaching him about simple machines. It would be a starting point to hopefully pass down the nail straightening skills my Grandpa taught to me. I look forward to the day he’ll be out in the shop with me. I kinda missed that with my boys, I married into the family when they were 13 and never had the oppertunity to give them a grounding in mechanical aptitudes.

  11. Bill Yeager says:

    All Godzillas from all movies. In matching uniforms for WorldCup. After that, I’d have to ask my Dad. :-) He’d probably want to do something all humanitarian or educational with it, that’s just the kind of guy he is. Be he’s totally on board with with the ‘zillas for starters.

  12. LDel says:

    I would try printing a simple brace for my daughter’s abnormal gait, and then start working on some cool play kitchen items and a custom powerwheel car. I’ve always wanted to 3D print my own scale model of a car engine as well! And I’ve got some designs for custom bodywork (aero kit parts).

    Happy early Father’s day, everyone. Especially to my dad, wherever you are!

  13. Hamza says:

    I am a Muslim. In Islam you are suppose to benefit your parents. My father has been through a lot for me. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in the age of 10.I was hospitalised for 2 months. My Dad has been with me every inch of the way. I never got to pay back my Dad. I am who I am because of my Dad. If you give me this printer I will not keep it for myself but will gift it to my Dad. Even though it will not fully repay him for everything that he has done for me, at least it will put a smile on his face. I have not seen his smile in a long time. It will also do some justice to my religion by fulfilling the rights of my parents. My Dad and I would probably make a replication of Mecca.

  14. mhmathias says:

    I would donate it to Remarkable STEAM, a not-for-profit dedicated to closing the education gap and creating jobs. Remarkable STEAM also produces the Westport Mini Maker Faire (Connecticut) and is building up programs to involve kids, dads and even moms become exposed to and excited about STEAM initiatives.

  15. Michael Horton says:

    My dad, an electrical engineer, motivated me to be a maker. Now I’m the assistant principal of a STEM school where I teach computer programming, soldering, nature photography, CAD, and Raspberry Pi design to middle schoolers. My daughter is known as Raspberry Pi Kid on her blog with almost 100,000 views. I’m using technology now to inspire hundreds of future makers a year.

  16. gfxchick says:

    My Grandpa passed away years ago and loved to tinker. He was a diesel mechanic and fixed lawnmowers for neighbors. As a result, I love the smell of diesel and mowed our yard and his yard with a variety of mowers every week. He always talking about building a perpetual motion machine. As a tribute to him, I would carry on his dream of building that machine and print the parts with the 3D printer.

  17. Zak Dutton says:

    My dad is one of the reasons I became a maker. When I was growing up we did not have a lot of money so we would have to fix things ourselves when things broke or we would just do without. My dad was always trying to fix things and never quite got there. I remember he once tried to fix the plug of our swamp cooler by wiring both wires to the positive side of the plug. At my young age I knew this was wrong and fixed it after he tried, my mom and I did not tell him.

    A few years later he left and I did not get to see him much. This made me the man of the house, as well as the handy man of the house. I learned so much and fixed or improved things around my house. I like to think I was a role model for my little brother.
    My step dad and mom have hit some hard times, and he is more of a maker then I am. I would love to give this printer to them and bring more of the joy of making to their lives.

  18. Cloud says:

    First we would print an Iron man and Batman suit, than we would print little superhero figures and than we would go and visit the children in childrens hospital, where I was hospitalized for 2 months about 9 years ago and we would give them superhero figures with their name on, so they will remember that there is someone that thinks about them. And after that we would print figures for our vagon at charity halloween parade in our city. And we would probably used it at school which I am visiting (and my dad is a teacher there), because now we have to order 3D prints from companies abroad, which isn’t very cheap.

  19. LouisDavidson says:

    I am the Dad but I would use this printer with my son to make parts for our older Heathkit products which are no longer available such as our Hero-1 robot and a GC1197 grandfather clock. We could also make replacement parts for the cars we work on. I enjoy working with my son. I am 64 years old and disabled with lots of health problems. My son comes over and does repairs on our house and does our lawn. He is 44 years old and I don’t think I will be around a lot longer and I hope to do as much as I can with him. This is not meant to be a tear jerker. I just would love to have this as we are both extremely interested in 3D printing but cannot afford one of these printers. We are both avid woodworkers and would love to build things we could add plastic parts to so that we could enhance their functionality.

  20. Horace Gregory says:

    I would have to ask my dad, what shall we print? Dad would say, it’s up to you son, and I would say, no dad. Fathers Day is around the corner, let’s print some thing together? As we haven’t done anything together in years, as you worked abroad for so long, and i missed you. God Bless You Dad. Happy Fathers Day!!

  21. Kseniya says:

    I would try print parts for a time machine, so I could travel into the past and ask my father to teach me everything he knew about electrical engineering, radio construction and fixing pretty much anything he laid his hands on…
    If that failed, I would print models to test ideas for new sustainable urban living to possibly create a positive change in our environment and continue his commitment for making things work.

  22. Bone Guru says:

    We would print/make the parts to create our own nerf gun accessories and have an all out nerf war that lasted the whole weekend or until we broke something and needed to make more parts

  23. Adam Simmons says:

    My father ran off, and then died before I could meet him. All of my making has been self directed. I guess I’ll have to wait to enter next time around when the contest is more befitting me. Good luck to the other entrants.

    1. Peter Armstrong says:

      It says “…what you or your dad would likely print…” It doesn’t say you and your dad.

      1. Adam Simmons says:

        He ran off and died without me ever seeing his face. What do you think we would likely print?

        1. Andrea Rust says:

          You OR you dad.

  24. Ed Ostling says:

    My dad was the first inventor I ever meet, having turned his passion(fishing) into an occupation(lure making) he served as an inspiration in the “see a need fill a need” maker ethos I strive to fulfill. I cannot fathom what uses he would create for this printer if he was still alive but we were always outside of the box thinkers so it would be pretty darn cool regardless.

  25. ClovisDuino says:

    I am from Brazil (where being an entrepreneur is hard) , and me and my dad want to start a company! I was always passionated by electronics and making things, and he is a passionated sales man. Saying by a combination like that (technical and sales), we will rock if we have a 3D printer: it would fuel mine to-be-opened business of making easy-and-fun-to-program little bricks (arduino-and-lego-like). It would make us both a great father’s day and the business of a lifetime!.
    Thank you,

  26. Leo Nërd says:

    This will be awesome to solve my father dentists afraid issue!
    I’ll just start printing the missing teethes.

    By the way, he just love barbecue. Is the PLA hard enough for some pork ribs?

  27. Marco Cross says:

    My redheaded and facial-haired father and I would find locations throughout the US where we could insert mini models of ourselves dressed as old timey cowboys doing things like fighting anthills, exploring a dandelion forest or eating fallen pizza scraps while sitting on a pebble. We would take photos and post them to Twitter. Little cowboy men trying to make sense of a extremely huge and extremely modern world.

  28. Michael Schipper says:

    I would try to create pieces for a model of a car that I am designing that can run virtually off of the water cycle using some new materials made by MIT and other researchers. In short this model will demonstrate the possibility that we can have completely clean cars that run indefinitely without perpetual motion but with the a natural process of the molecular structure and phases of water. This is not science fiction, this is the American ingenuity of my father and I. I just know it will work.

  29. Tom Cockeram says:

    I would make a device that would clip onto the back of his neck and waggle his glasses when he raised his eyebrows. This happened a lot when I was a kid, usually in the middle of supposedly serious discussions or a stern telling off…

  30. Tim Kemp says:

    My father has been making things since before I existed. He taught studio art at a local collage until he retired. He is a potter, a sculptor, a painter, a gardener, a programmer, a builder and anything else he has needed or wanted to be. He has slowed down some in the last few years, but I don’t think a day goes by that he doesn’t make something unique to help himself or someone else.

    I see 3D printers enabling older makers to continue innovating and making things that they are unable to make directly anymore. My father is a great guy and creative thinker who still has a lot to offer. A 3D printer would allow him to make a lot of things that in the past he would have fabricated another way.

  31. David Hallowell says:

    My father and I share a love both of children and the wild imagination that children naturally carry with them into the world. My father read to me avidly when I was a child, and I do the same for my own children. My dad and I are both in involved in caring professions where we work with children who are facing various challenges. If I were to receive this highest honor from Make, I would print like there were no end to our lives. I would use Blender to model fanciful characters from neglected gems in the children’s literary world. My dad and I and my own children would use this printer to bring tangible signs of joy into the lives of the many children we meet with on a regular basis. These figurines might make an ill child smile, or inspire that kid who isn’t a good fit for the traditional classroom to read more, or really invest in that drawing talent. In our local astronomy club, whose mission is primarily public outreach, we would use this venue to create tangible manipulatives that help children learn about the universe. Leapfrog’s Creatr XL Printer would not be an end in itself, a gift to hold tightly in our own workshop, but would be a fountain for further giving. My father started this tradition of giving by imparting natural wonder and curiosity about the universe to my brothers and I, and receiving this printer would represent an ideal opportunity to “pay it forward” through the generations around us.

  32. Dustin Hollis says:

    My son and I would print an Adventure Time vs Star Wars chess set. Just because he loves both. Plus I think Princess Bubblegum would shred Vader.

  33. Pat Dooley says:

    My dad was a thief and he would love this steal…. um deal

  34. David Bernier says:

    My dad a day I live two time zones away and don’t get to see each other very often throughout the year. If we had access to such a nice 3D printer, I would motivate him to design his own half of chess set and I would do just the same for the other half. Next time we meet we would play a game of chess together and perhaps just this once, I would be able to beat him at the game.

  35. Marcello Seri says:

    I will print a lot of Gömböc and non round wheels

  36. Ian Kobe says:

    My dad has been a wood worker all of his life. He taught me everything I know about tools and making things. He taught me there’s more pride in creating something than buying something. He’s getting older, and sadly he will be shuttering the doors of his woodworking business. I’ve been teaching him how to use sketchup and tinker cad. I would love for him to replace his power tools and chisels for a 3-d printer so that he can still create.

  37. Roberto B. Renzetti says:

    My dad loves sailboats. Since no 3D printer is big enough to print him a sailboat (yet – maybe someday) I guess we could print smaller sized sailboats that we could then assemble inside glass bottles like they used to do in the past. Would be a cool combination of new technology with old tradition!!!

  38. Marc Schaefermeyer says:

    Let me tell you the problem with this contest. You ask “what you or your dad would likely print with one of these”? That question in and of itself is like asking somebody to list just one page on the internet. The possibilities are endless. That is the answer that is always given when anybody I talk to about 3D printers asks the question of “What can you make with it?” (“Ummm ANYTHING!”) Then I quickly take them to Thingiverse’s site and let them see what others have already done.

    So my reply to this post would be just that: “Ummm ANYTHING!” the possibilities are endless. My dad and I (as well as my kids and I) love building different things.

    The one thing that we are working on right now is a articulated laminar fountain with LEDs and music (Bellagio style) for the two ponds in my dads backyard.

  39. Otto Van De Steene says:

    Things I would print with this printer? I’m quite new to 3d printing and just have ordered my first one.

    Well, I’m experimenting a lot with folding structures these days. I would love to experiment with printing structures on textiles or other flexible materials to this way create stiff area’s and folding areas on a material. I think this technique has some interesting opportunities for origami-inspired practical designs.

    I also was thinking about designing my own wooden furniture that is held together with 3d printed parts. Such a build volume would be crazy interesting for this application.

    Apart from these I also had the idea to use 3d printing to make a waterproof case for my DSLR in probably pet+ filament with a flexible silicon like 3d printed material at the inside.

    It could also come handy to prototype the to be later metal 3d printed parts I would need for that crazy foldable cargo bicycle I was designing.

    CRAP! i could go on and on… Can’t wait I get my printer handy, yet it will only ship in August. But what if?

  40. Vincent Forgione says:

    I suppose the question is : What wouldn’t I make with one of these? I often find myself with a project, and need something custom. So I spend time digging through bins and buckets of random stuff, trying to figure out what I can hack to “make it work” Chapstick tubes for AAA battery holders, makeshift swivel joints out of whatever, or anything that I randomly need, that I don’t really want to pay for. With a 3D printer – I can just print it – it’s the Ultimate gift for the Makeshift Dad.

    My recent project was simple: my 9 year old twin girls were playing Harry Potter, and they made wands out of paper twisted together. One said to the other “Man, I wish these would light up!” The other replied “Well, we just need to take an LED and run some wires and a battery…..Daaaadddddd!!!”

    So, I went to work – making wands from scratch. It was mostly papercraft with double-sided sticky tape from an old window masking kit, a couple of Joule thiefs put together with salvaged toriods from busted CFLs, pushbuttons hacked from an old DVD remote, and LEDs from some GE battery-operated motion lights I had – since they were diffused bulbs, and had just the right amount of white glow. Those Chapstick tubes I mentioned? Yep, for the wands. Everything wrapped up in misc tubes, liquid electrical tape, covered in paper (to specific 13 and 14 inch lengths, by request), 1 customized handle, and custom paint.

    Now, if I had a 3D printer, I probably would have had the kids design what they wanted, printed it, put the Joule Thiefs inside, painted, etc. Now, I know there’s other ways to make wands – but nothing’s as cool as making stuff quickly and, for the amazement of your kids.

  41. Matt Damato says:

    My father passed away when I was only 13 (20 years ago) though we cannot spend time together now, I am always thinking of him, especially when it comes to how far technology has come in this regards since he passed. He was an Electrical engineer and loved to tinker and do DIY projects, so I am sure he would have been head over heals interested in 3D printing. Because he isn’t here on earth anymore, I would honor him by continuing on his legacy of tinkering,diy, and creativity by sharing this knowledge and time with my young son.

  42. Irwin Bautista says:

    i would print all sorts of things – dinosaurs, trucks, trains for my son; swords, ninjas, and other anime figurines for my daughter; and specialized items for diy projects for myself and the wife.

  43. IAR says:

    My father would probably want to print a new son.

  44. Leri Jacobs says:

    My two teenage sons are finally interestedin computers in more than just video games. The oldest is learning to program and the youngest is working with raspberry pi hardware. To have them be like this warms my heart and makes me long for my grandfather to have been around long enough to see them with this type of technology. I started with electronics with my grandpa with a Heathkit I remember the smell of the solder the click and beeps of the machine as each part came to life. With all this new tech there is so much to learn and its exciting to be able to learn together with them.

  45. Rory Bolton says:

    My father has an unhealthy obsession with the “Handley Page Victor Bomber” aircraft from the late 1950’s, in his early years in the RAF it was his first major job on a full size aircraft as a service and repair engineer where they were kept while on the ground at . Needless to say, he quickly grew to love every part of this plane and specifically its jet turbine engine. Unfortunately the UK’s fleet of Victors were decommissioned shortly after he started and he has always wanted to see one of them fly again in person.

    With this printer I would produce a scaled model of the Victor to present to him alongside a cast aluminium display model of one of the 4 Rolls-Royce Conway turbines that they used for propulsion created using printed parts to make the moulds needed, all to help him remember his favourite days of yore.

  46. Alex Aavang says:

    My father would probably make a model of his house, complete with a model of the model of his house. The recursion will continue until the meta-model is so small, that it defies the capabilities of the printer.

    Needless to say. He likes models.

  47. Eric Hemphill says:

    Growing up, my dad was always the person I would go to when anything was in need of fixing. He has always been really great working with his hands and has worked as a self-employed carpenter for as long as I can remember. He was also the person who indirectly got me interested in becoming an engineer, with his seemingly endless solutions and repairs to all of my problems coming out of his shop. Now that I am in college and have moved out of the house, and I am now finding my own fixes and solutions, I feel like this 3D printer would be a way for the two of us to stay close even after I move out. This printer could also help him in his work to prototype designs for woodworking projects he is working on or create parts that he wouldn’t be able to make otherwise. I feel like we could share ideas, fixes and solutions to both of our problems. He is very tech-savvy and we could help each other bounce ideas off of and help design models with each other. I could be able to continue to bond with him over all of the things we would be printing even though I will be far away. He is very tech-savvy and we could help each other bounce ideas off of and help design models with each other.

  48. Ace Edmonds says:

    I think my father wold shoot me if I gave him one of these, whether it was free or not.

  49. Nic Bardea says:

    My dad has been a tinkerer all his life and at a very young age he encouraged ME to be a tinker. While I don’t have children of my own, I do have 2 nephews and 2 nieces. We (Dad and I) would love to be able to hand down the family tinker tradition. We are not just tinkerers, we are fixers. What? You’ve got some thing broken? Let me have a look at it. If we had a 3D printer?…. OH the things we could tinker, fix and BUILD!

  50. Jared Beymer says:

    I just straight up called my dad and in our casual conversation I asked him what he would do with a 3D Printer. He asked if we could print small animals out for target practice for our local conservation center before fall rolls around. Gotta love Iowa!

  51. Maria R says:

    If I won a 3D printer, I could “make” my husband stop talking about how bad he wants a 3D printer! My husband is a great dad, so I think he would use this 3D printer to replace broken toy parts for our two year old son. Toy train lost a wheel? While you are sleeping, dad will print you up a new one, like a ninja! At this age, it will just be like magic! When our son gets older, I think they’d use it to make cool things together. “Son, did you draw a cool picture of a crocodile with the head of a lion that breathes fire? Let’s 3D print it!” They could also use it to get out of trouble. “What’s that son, you broke mom’s favorite knick-knack? Let’s 3D print a new one!”

  52. John Allwine says:

    My dad has been tying knots all his
    life. Some of his fondest memories are fishing with his dad. On their
    way out to fish, he would hunker down near the anchor to avoid the
    wind. He remembers looking at the eye splice around the anchor and
    being fascinated by how it was tied. He’s been tying knots ever since
    and it’s something he’s passed on to me as well. It started with
    teaching me practical knots but has evolved into decorative knotting
    as well. Every once and a while we’ll get together and tie something
    that takes several hours to tie such as a plant hangar or this
    6-sided woven die which took about 18 hours total (left image). I’ve used my knot
    tying and programming experience, along with my visual effects
    background, to generate 3D models of knots which can then be 3D
    printed (3D printed version of the 6-sided die is the right image). I’ve mostly printed small jewelry sized knots through 3D
    printing services. I’ve been tossing around the idea of printing
    larger knots myself (since size is a very cost prohibitive through 3D
    print services) which could then be used to cast into aluminum or
    other metals, a hobby that my dad has been starting to show interest
    in. Winning this printer would certainly help make that a reality!

  53. Caitlin says:

    I don’t have a dad. I would use the printer to print a dad.

  54. Alex says:

    The best give we’ve ever given my Dad is a handheld dyson vacuume. If he had a 3D printer, he could print attachments for his prized vacuume and slay dust bunnies with extreme discretion.

  55. Ryan says:

    My dad and I are always coming up with projects for my daughters. At first, I thought he might be disappointed that I he didn’t get a grandson, but I really didn’t give him the credit he deserves. He has REALLY embraced being a grandfather, truly loves his grand daughters unconditionally, and does not limit what he does with them because they are girls. No activity is off limits, or “just for boys”.

    I think he is trying to make up for the fact that we weren’t close when I was growing up and we didn’t do a lot of this kind of stuff together when I was a kid. I’m truly lucky, now. It just goes to show you it’s never too late. He really is an incredible role model as a man, husband, and father.

    To be honest, I have no idea what we would make with this gigantic 3D printer. Since it is so huge, I think we’ll start with a model of the partially built Death Star!!! 0_0

    Thank you so much for the opportunity to win this. Stay calm, make on!

  56. Thinkyhead says:

    I’m not a dad yet, but I recently met a beautiful woman who wants to build 3D printers with me (!) so who knows where that might lead? As artist-designers we’re both extremely inspired about DIY fabrication and 3D printing. As for my part. I love being able to test designs, make useful objects, and develop new machines and tools that push the state-of-the-art forward. My partner is excited by the potential to make wearables, objects that improve quality of life (kitchen tools, bike accessories, etc.), large format art and interactive installations that incite the imagination, and objects to aid teaching in an elementary school setting. I spent my first year of 3D printing learning all the necessary skills, designing RepRap parts, and contributing code to “Marlin” firmware, and in the process I became part of a truly amazing community of visionaries who really are changing the world. My partner and I have lots of plans and designs buzzing around in our heads, many far beyond the abilities of that first RepRap I built as a learning project. A Creatr XL would allow us to bring our most ambitious visions and collaborative works into the world at a very auspicious time, propelled by the momentum of this amazing technology, and we would be truly honored to be the caretakers of this impressive machine.

  57. Shane Luthe says:

    We would print a 3d rendering of the genetic sequence that contributes to male pattern baldness

  58. punknubbins says:

    I am a father, my children are just to young to post this on my behalf. I have been saving up for a 3D printer for the last year but due to life have not reached my goal.

    The reason for my decision to purchase a 3D printer is to make custom memorial trinkets. See my mother passed away last year and was cremated per her request. And I have held onto her ashes with the plan on making custom trinkets for the family that will let each of us keep her near us no matter where we go. 3D printing seemed like the perfect solution, I could create custom trinkets for each family member that personified his/her relationship with my mother. This way I believe they could be made out of a durable plastic shell and the contents could be sealed during production, and I wouldn’t have to worry about the legality or cost of trusting my mother’s ashes to a 3rd party.

    But sometimes life gets in the way. And my budget constantly gets nibbled up for minor emergencies, This is just the way life works.

  59. Chris Wuebbles says:

    My passions include my children, aviation, gaming, and obviously making things. The first thing I would print out would be an model airplane, that is themed by my gaming background and is in the shape of a dragon. From there on I would have my son help me create future projects that can inspire his imagination as he grows up.

  60. Darcy Currey says:

    When I was growing up my dad made all sorts of things, mostly out of necessity. He fixed things around the home, serviced and fixed the car, built a trailer, designed and built a 5 1/4″ gauge electric train, designed and built electric scooters and bikes, and countless others. He was in the Royal Australian Airforce for over 20 years and each time we were posted to a new city, building a workshop was a high priority.

    Weekends usually involved me being “told” to help him in the workshop. It wasn’t until I was all grown up that I realised I had received a fifteen year apprenticeship in Making. Of course it wasn’t called making back then. I learned a broad foundation of skills in mechanics, electronics and construction which have served me very well as an adult.

    Most of my making happens in software. Even though it’s done on the computer I view it as a creative process. Sometimes it spills over into micro-controllers electronics and contraptions. I’m close to completing the build of my Shapeoko. My dad built a CNC mill for PCB construction seven years ago. At the moment he’s building his own version of a Segway.

    Other than his creativity, what I admire most about my dad is his patience. I was a curious little boy with a special talent for breaking things and an inability to cut square. Despite the frustration he must have felt, Dad kept getting me to help, kept teaching, kept inspiring. Now as a father of two young children I understanding how challenging I must have been for him. I draw on his example as I learn the patience to teach my children Making skills.

    My dad made me the man I am today. I think that is his greatest achievement in Making.

  61. scottmach says:

    My boys and I would print a 3D model of our Norwegian Elkhound for my wife. The Elkhound doesn’t have long to live, and we would like to give my wife something to remember her by.

    After that, my boys would like to print out pieces for some board games they’ve designed.

  62. Miles F. Bintz II says:

    My Dad spends his summers on Grindstone Island — one of the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River in upstate NY. This is a beautiful region of the country. He is a retired mechanical engineer having spent his career working on gas turbines and centrifugal compressors. One of the things on our to-do list is to design and print a modular RC airplane built for the purpose of carrying stereo GoPro cameras. Yeah, quad-copters could do it but I want the smoother, straighter, more organic motion of a fixed wing. The idea(s) is/are: 1. a. Modular and click-together design because there is a size limit to the parts you can print on a 3D printer, b. Modular so we can swap out parts (single camera vs. stereo camera mount, engine in the nose vs. engine on the wings), c. modular so I can break it down and fly with it (I’m in TX, he’s in NY), 2. Amphibious (water landing in case of emergency), 3. Flaps to carry the high payload for slow flying and then tuck for faster flying to chase a tuber or water skiier, etc. behind a boat. The goal is to get some beautiful aerial videography of the area.

  63. Clay Haight says:

    My dad would make a mini sailboat

  64. Mitch Cerroni says:

    My dad and I worked together on developing a safety lever for his rifle on my 3D printer so we could see if it worked before he machined it out of metal. It really helped us be able combine our skills to come up with a product. Now we are working on a VW Karman Ghia and we could replace small plastic parts on the car to restore it.

  65. Erik Hasler says:

    My father and I have been wanting to get my son interested in electronics. We’ve tried the fun little kits but he gets bored with them. I came up with an idea to build something amazing to get him really interested, and my father is ready to help. We want to build a giant walking insect that can be ridden. This is build using a Hurricane Sandy – destroyed, steel gazebo, most of a beat up car, lots of rebar, and quite a few special joints, gears, and toothed – rings made by a 3d printer. All of these things tally up to quite a bit of money, and I have already been selling a lot of my military stuff and and higher-priced equipment that I’ve built and accumulated over the years. A free, and relatively big, 3D printer would not only cement my 6 yr old son’s interest in electronics and science, but would also be a great project to bridge a good relationship gap between my father and my son!

  66. cranialscratch says:

    My kids and I love the fun and unusual. Any excuse to whip up Fin, Fry or FFriny, maybe a retro Cow & Chicken or CChowicken. My goal is to be the most awesome dad ever. Make it so. Make me awesome! You have the power!

  67. Todd Carter says:

    I really want to use this to print out the 3d ultrasound of my two daughters…

    But in reality I’d probably use it to create parts for a robot.

  68. CEady says:

    My son would like a Leapfrog
    We’ll name it Tiny Tim
    We can print out a little bathtub,
    To see if he could swim,
    We’ll let him drink up all the filament,
    And gobble up the (G)code!
    So when he tried to talk
    He would have ABS bubbles in his throat!
    Bubble,bubble, bubble. . .

    Nothing better than working on a project with your son or father.
    Happy Fathers Day

  69. Brandi says:

    It would be tricky for my dad and I to use this *together*, as we live about 400 miles apart– but I think both of us would experiment with the materials this printer can handle to figure out what possibilities we have (I, for one, could see trying out Laybrick for decorative sculptures)…

  70. Ubermeisters says:

    If my father had a leapfrog printer, I have absolutely no doubt what he would print with it. After decades of service work, homeschooling 3 tyrannical boys, all while slowly earning a degree, my mother has finally found the point in her life where she is finally free to pursue her own passions. My father is a computer tech guy, but is also very mechanically able, and a good carpenter. When my mother decided to quit her job as a midwife to open a soap making business, my father supported her completely and has done his best to give her as much assistance as he knew how, and made her some very simple soap molds. Her business is booming, people love her homemade all nature soaps, and is having trouble keeping up with the demand. The soap molds are working, but she needs more of them, and would like fancier shape molds.

    If my father had a 3d printer, I have no doubt that that he would print some soap molds for my mom, to to help to help her business grow. He would also likely integrate his missionary work (Guatemala, parts of Africa), as he had been trying to help push both clean water technology, and simple farming equipment for some time now.

  71. Kit F says:

    I would print awesome spaceship models or maybe the curiosity rover!

  72. Henry Wooldridge says:

    I never knew my father, but the male influence in my adolescent life was my grandpa. He taught me the old ways of country living. I lived with them until I was 8 and we didn’t have indoor plumbing until I was 6. He took a black plastic water line and ran it down the hill on the ground from the well to outside the house. We could fill it with water and let it sit in the sun for an hour, crack open a valve on one end, and have 15 minutes of hot water for a bath.

    On the weekends we used to thumb through his collection of Foxfire books and we would say, “let’s try that!” It might have been a simple as making a bullroar from some rope and an old cedar shingle or as complex as pine tar from some fresh wood we cut down in the thicket he had planted himself 15 years before I was born. I remember when we were working on an old car, we made jackstands from two old steel car wheels welded together. Another time we took a hickory sapling that had gotten broken down the winter before by an ice storm and he taught me how to use a drag knife to shape a spindle for a footstool that had broken.

    He was the very definition of a maker, and what gives me the drive to now teach my own son. My son is only three, but I see in him the wonder and quizzical nature that I can only imagine my grandpa saw in myself.

    I could only imagine what he would do with a 3D printer… He would be so thrilled to know that this technology is around. I know that every time my son breaks a toy, I think to myself, “I can make that better!”

    We would love to have a 3D printer to be able to teach my son the new ways, in addition to the old.

  73. 52Degrees says:

    I would ask my dad to print copies of all of the tools and “stuff” of his that I lost or destroyed during my childhood. After that, I’d ask him to print copies of the tools and “stuff” my children have lost or destroyed while exploring their world the same way I did ;-)

    OK, really, I’d ask my dad to print some really cool car and amplifier parts. Things like custom emblems and trim pieces. That would be uber-cool.

  74. Mark Esswein says:

    My Dad is no longer alive, but he was a maker in his day. He also didn’t believe in throwing things away if they were still useful. The first thing he’d probably print up would be replacements for the feet on various appliances.

  75. transceiverfreq says:

    My father has necrosis in his legs and cannot walk much. In regards to this he has gained weight and lost out on being to go into the world in his later years.

    He’s had a hard time paying for bills and surviving after being let go from his position as a graphic designer. He’s always had a love of using technology and design hand in hand and has taught me and helped my own curiosity to bloom and grow to become a designer and eventual architect regardless of coming from very meager status and class.

    I’ve tried to give him things to do as he is a kind of shut-in thanks to extremely low mobility. Steam account and video games with large open worlds to allow him to explore. I’ve recently supported the Oculus Rift so that I can share this with him and try to expand his small world and release him from his the grip of his body.

    Things like those can only go so far as eventually he has to return to his small apartment that my brother tries to keep for him, his limited mobility and his limited income. It’s grown tough and my brother and I find ways to support him in small doses but still have to sustain ourselves and our lives.

    After two strokes and one heart attack he’s started to have some difficulty in movement and speech. His health has risen recently but the long term effects just aren’t going to change. He doesn’t use a mouse anymore but instead a large trackball. He can barely type but has slowly grown back to it.

    I’m hoping that he would use a 3D printer in literally any way he saw fit. I myself have already considered ways to print objects that simply make moving around his home easier for him. Exoskeletons, grabbers, anything I can come up with. He’s always had a mind for design and introduced me to it at a very young age to the elements of engineering, design and physics. More importantly how making something of your own can give you freedom.

    I would not have become a designer and craftsman myself if it were not for him. I would not love what I love, the edge of technology, the gleam of brighter sci-fi tomorrows and the desire to inquire, ask questions and solve problems were it not for him.

    He does not have the means to solve his problems physically; like reaching for high up things, moving from room to room or even standing easily. I would love to be able to figure and design ways to alleviate the burden with him. Doing something like that as we haven’t for a long time. I have started my own family and live in a different city. He cannot visit my home but I can see him when I have the chance.

    We’ve always designed together. From a young age he said I had a natural eye for negative space. When I fought hard for scholarships and went into design school he was there every step of the way. When I had to choose between textbooks and food he found a way to help with both. I would sit over his shoulder and he would teach me everything he knew. I can only think that he would use this as a way to alleviate the burden his small life has become and share that with others to help him.

    There is a kind of freedom to 3D printing. The ability to serve one’s own needs and the needs of others without mediator. Just an extruder, a spool and your idea. When you lose autonomy a 3D printer can place the means of production in your mind and hands.

    I know his mind. We share one sometimes. I’ve seen his mind make beautiful enchanting and enlivening things but with out his ability to fashion those ideas anymore I have wanted to find a way to place this technology in his hands and say what he told me before I left home “Don’t stop growing. Don’t stop learning. Ask the hard questions but try your damnedest to answer them. Your knowledge will make you free no matter where you go.”

    I want to give him the tools to have that kind of freedom based on his knowledge and not in his dwindling health and physical limitation.

    Regardless of a 3D printer I want him to be free.

    1. Jonas Paaske Hansen says:

      That is so, so beautiful. I considered for a while whether or not to do an entry. My dad has been a maker since before I can remember, even though he most likely has no clue that the term exists. He has a growth in his brain that has caused minor epilepsy, which means he is no longer allowed to work alone, and had to give up his small farm.
      Reading this, however, I realize how lucky I am that he has still got all his basic functions and mobility – he forgets stuff sometimes, and every now and then he speaks gibberish, but those scary moments are few and far between. He is still very capable of using his hands to create, and in truth he never did have much trust in technology. I’d much rather this goes to someone where it might truly make a difference, rather than end up on the shelf. Best of luck to you and your dad!

  76. Tommy Swetman says:

    My Father has always tinkered or fixed things my entire life. I remember stories of when he and his father built a boat, or fixed an engine. I’ve learn so much from my father. I want to be able to show him how amazing 3D Printing is. I’m sure he would have a thousand things for me to try and print for him. He has so many old things that they don’t make parts for, it would be amazing to be able to fix them with him, like his father did.

  77. George C. Bragg says:

    I want to print an army of robots to take over the world and re-make it in my image. It’s what my dad would have wanted. You know, if I bothered to pick up the phone to ask him. Because, really, what father doesn’t want his son to build a robot army to take over the planet? And this would be better than stepping on stray Lego bits in the process!

  78. Jonathan Hodges says:

    My dad passed on last year. I’d like to make a Marine plaque to put on his tombstone.

  79. Robert Harold Juliano says:

    I want to use this printer to teach kids Making skills. On a more personal level, I want to use this printer to make a series of mechanical logic-driven toy blimps and toy robots.

  80. João Guilherme Camargo says:

    My father would print another jaw after his jaw dropping Creatr XL printer incident!

  81. Hotsacoman says:

    Ok so this is a pretty funny story. Back when my dad was younger (mid-20’s), he lived in the Middle East (Lebanon) and he used to live by the beach. Now around that area, there were a lot of entertainers and performers (he had hoped to become an entertainer himself one day) and he was taking a walk, enjoying the fresh air. He bought a banana from a vendor and sat at a bench and was preparing to eat it. A couple of meters to his right was man with a trained monkey, kind of like those “organ grinders” but without the organ. This monkey was trained to do different tricks whenever the owner snapped his fingers or clapped or whatever. My dad is sitting pretty close to it, close enough so that the monkey can clearly see the banana in his hand. So my dad is getting ready to peel it when the monkey runs over to him and tries to take it. My dad pulls the banana away. He must have pulled it away at least 3-4 times and all the while the owner is trying to call/signal his monkey back. The monkey gets so frustrated and wild that it bites my dad in the leg very hard. Now my dad is a really nice person and would never hit an animal in his life if he didn’t feel he had to protect himself or forcefully end an unpleasant situation, ha. But naturally, he gets really pissed and while the monkey has its teeth clamped around his thigh, he lifts his arm and hits the monkey on the head. The monkey drops to the ground, gets up and staggers its way back to its owner. The owner apologizes while my dad finds a new place to enjoy his banana lol. So long story short, I would probably print a monkey and either keep it on his shelf as a reminder of the unpredictability of nature or I would just let my dad repeat history and hit it on the head, smashing it to pieces. Either way, we both win lol.

  82. Chris W. says:

    Doctor Octopus arms. For my kids. So they can fight over chores.

  83. Keith Schincke says:

    A cephalopod themed case for an arduino project.

  84. Elizabeth Bell says:

    Dad is quiet and reserved. But every once in a while he gets a little tipsy…he takes the restaurant napkin, wraps it around his fist and ‘becomes’ YODA! It is the only time he let’s go and really talks to us and laughs with us. Of course it is YODA, not dad ;). I would print a napkin-based version and surprise him at dinner for his birthday (73!) go dad! And much later when we are telling stories about dad, we have something to use :)

  85. Justin Ross says:

    My dad is retired and has started getting back into making… things. When I was a kid, he made miniature tack for model horses, chairs, etc., but then, of course, he had to go and get a real job (or several) to pay the bills.

    Now that he’s retired, he’s come to realize that he can get back to his passion for just making whatever crazy idea pops into his head. He’s making electronic cigarette mods, straight razor scales, dip pens/nib holders… basically whatever he runs across that tickles his fancy.

    Just recently, he asked me if I knew anything about 3D printers. I explained what I know (a bit), and he seemed *really* interested. Of course, he doesn’t know 3D modeling, but I do (and I’ve got him learning SketchUp), so we started talking about working together on some projects (no idea what, yet, of course) and taking advantage of the 3D printers at our local library.

    So, to answer the question “what would you and your dad make with a 3D printer?”, the (yes, totally cheesy) answer would probably just be “memories”.

    (Okay, maybe memories and totally-rad calligraphy nib holders. I’m thinking something tentacle-y.)

  86. Darryl Jones says:

    While my father and I have a good relationship, this would be for my stepdad who came into my life when I was 16. An exemplary model of a man, whom I have seen MacGuyver many things from the scrap pile, by hand, and after spending hours making it work, he woyld brag about saving $3. While possessing a cellphone for 2 decades, he has yet to text a single character. The wonderment of a 3D printer might actually move him to the 21st century…directly from the 19th…where, for the most part, he now resides. At 66 years old, he can still outwork 2 average men and does it with a smile on his face. He has taught me, by example, that a handshake is your word and that defines a real man. He has never faltered and because of that, has my utmost respect and admiration. I doubt we’ll win the printer, but I am smiling while sharing just a tiny bit of info about this great man. Thank you for the opportunity to do so. Happy Father’s Day to all of the ‘dads’ out there…whether biological or not…especially Al Gunson of Orillia, Ontario, Canada. Cheers!

  87. Dan Pollack says:

    I’d print hollow molar teeth with tops that flip open and a ring to make a necklace for storing teeth that the tooth fairy will collect when my children lose their baby teeth. Just like these – http://www.amazon.com/Tooth-Saver-Necklace-Great-Holder/dp/B009ZJ3RIY – but much cooler.

  88. dwyndal says:

    Awesome suggestion and connection for the give away. Though my life, my father and I hadn’t spent a lot of time. He was military and we moved a lot but over the years we connected more. We had a huge bridging when I was about 26 and he wanted to go on a fishing trip. I am an avid outdoors man and he has a love for the “tight lines”.

    The two of us went on a venture as father and son for the first time, attempting to capture the big one. Well, I will admit he caught the biggest fish and swore up and down it was a gold medal winner in the rushing waters of the Black Canyon. Sadly, you need 2 or more people to verify the size of the fish and or a photo of the fish with a weight and measurement (ruler). We had neither the 3rd person or a way to measure it, we were just there to have some fun and snag some bites. All we have is a photo of the fish and him holding it then we released it as Rainbow Fish were not be be kept legally that year. Again, another way to not get it noted and him a medal. My family and I were looking to get it mounted for him over the past years but alas have not done so.

    The connection between this and your contest is being a maker or more a destroyer to tinker, I would love a chance to replicate this fish based on the photo of him holding it. I would be able to recreate the stance, hold and measurements based on his hands now compared to the size of the fish in the photo we have. Why mount a fake fish, when you can MAKE a fake fish? It would be a fun project that’s for sure and would certainly make for a fun fathers day gift with the right time, measurements and production system. Who knows, maybe we could get that fish as proof to be a gold medal rainbow trout and get the man a gold medal he wants so dearly.

  89. Angrycelt says:

    My father is a bit of a luddite, but is a teacher at JobCorps, and would probably have fun making prints with his students and getting them involved in tech classes. I’d probably start fabricating pieces to join the astromech builders and design my own artoo unit. I also took my daughters to their first Maker Faire this year, and they’d print out the 3d body scans they had done at the demo booth.

  90. Jason Solt says:

    I would print my father a reconstructed lumbar spine and disk’s. He is a life long Construction owner and used his body to support his family. His lower spine has deteriorated so much that he has chronic pain. He’s had multiple back surgeries. (6 total) There is a 80% chance another surgery would leave him paralyzed. So he’d rather suffer than be limited to a wheel chair. It would be awesome to relieve him of his pain. Then he and my son can enjoy fishing together with the lures they make with the printer!

  91. Aleix Blanch Riambau says:

    I’m not going to lie, I don’t really know what I would print with the 3D printer, but I know the fact that it is there would make me be whith him, and that’s what really counts.
    I know I’m not the only one here participating, and I know you ma pick someone else, but think about your dad, and how much time you want to sped with him or you wanted to but now you can’t. I would rather spend this time now than crying in his grave. A not 3D printed grave.

  92. Dylan Scot Modell says:

    My father is a musician. A really damn good one at that. Recently though, he hasn’t been playing much. Instead of taking the time to record the 80+ songs he has written out, he has gone through divorces, lost his company, and dealt with the loss of his parents. He has had very low self esteem as of late.

    He has given me so much, and there is nothing more I would like to do than to give him a guitar. Not only to encourage him to pick up and play again but to give him the push he gave me many times when I was feeling low. If I had a 3D printer, I would print my dad the most kick-ass guitar.

  93. Karl Thorp says:

    I’m the closest thing to a father my nephew has, and as such we spend a lot of time together building things, however a lot of the things he wants to try to build are either too complex for standard tools or would cost a small fortune to have fabricated, and there are no maker spaces arround where we live. This is breaking his maker spirit and he is starting to loose intrest in making things himself anymore.

    A 3D printer would allow us to prototype his ideas to make them work, at which point if need be we can have the parts machined. There is no greater maker than the young and it is their spirit that keeps us feeling young.

  94. Calvin White says:

    I just want the printer plan and simple. Maybe I’ll print out a #1dad mug for dear ole pops.

  95. wooac says:

    My Dad wants to print out parts for my Girl Scout Robotics team like mounts for the radio and clips for the hydraulics.

  96. Guest says:

    My daughter and I used to be really close but now we don’t see each other that often because of my job. When we are together we always watch Docter Who or play chess like old times. I will miss spending this coming Father’s day with my daughter but her birthday is the week after Father’s day. She has always had an interest in 3d printing and I really wanted to give her a great birthday present. If I win this printer Im going to print her a Docter Who themed chess set and suprise her on her special day. I know this sounds cheesy but her happiness is the best father’s day present for me.

  97. Timothy Dennis says:

    I teach a engineering/robotics class in the South Bronx and think it would be really great if I could introduce my students to 3D printing.

  98. Jonathan Smith says:

    Actually I want to reverse the scenario. I’m the son of a professional who made and fixed things. He gave me my love of same – nothing more awesome than envisioning, planning and creating. I was a controls engineer for a large part of my career and loved making machines. But, I have so far failed to interest my son in making. I’m betting with the ability to 3d print I can get him into it. It has the cool factor and involves other things he’s interested in like 3d graphics. Here’s to convergence!

  99. Sachin Patkar says:

    My daughter and I used to be really close but now we don’t see each other that often because of my job. When we are together we always watch Doctor Who or play chess like old times. I will miss spending this coming Father’s day with my daughter but her birthday is the week after Father’s day. She has always had an interest in 3d printing and I really wanted to give her a great birthday present. If I win this printer Im going to print her a Docter Who themed chess set and suprise her on her special day. I know this sounds cheesy but her happiness is the best father’s day present for me.

  100. COG, Inc. says:

    As a father of 4, our executive director would use this wonderful machine for his 50+ middle school ‘STEM daughters’ in our program. There are so many items that could be printed and various lessons that could be taught with Creatr XL printer, but the one powerful thing that needs to be understood is that many young ladies of various ethnicities and household demographics would have the chance to experience this beautiful machine from Leapfrog. He has been trying for the past several months to obtain a used 3D printer and partner with organizations that have access to a 3D printer to give our ‘STEMistas’ the opportunity to experience these artistic pieces of equipment. As there are too many things to choose, I can tell you how we could use printing the Statue of Liberty pictured: We have a lesson on the oxidation of copper and how the Statue of Liberty is coated with a thin layer of copper, which turns a blue-green with age due to chemical reactions between metal and water. This process is known as patination and occurs with most copper when it’s placed outside. We could print a 3D diorama of Statue of Liberty as built by Frenchman Bartholdi. This gift from Leapfrog would be a gift for tens of future STEM professionals and scientists.

  101. Robert Lee says:

    I would love to make stuff for my own children and my sci if club kiddos at school

  102. Jeremy Haight says:

    I have never actually known my dad- he skated out when I was about 3 yo. But I have a son of my own, who is… Ironically 3 yo now… and his dad will NEVER leave his side!
    I love building projects with him – he calls it “bixing” – and I would love to make an ABS linked crank gear-train for his bedroom door (to act as his door handle). He loves gears, cranks, and pretty much anything that produces motion, so I think making him a crazy gear linkage on the face of his door would be an awesome project to do with him.

  103. Tom Bielecki says:

    Remote controlled airplane parts! I want to fly what we build. That would be a great fathers day!

  104. Dan says:

    I love my dad and I would love to give him something as awesome as a 3D Printer, but honestly, if it wasn’t sitting in a corner all day, he would probably use it to print cubes. Maybe some other shapes as well, but all he would do is print simple shapes and hand them out to his friends and tell them that it was 3D printed.
    He would brag about all the cool things the machine can do and probably brag about everything that I make on it. But when push comes to shove, he is a dad, and all dads love to show off their gadgets.

    On the other hand, he would constantly ask me to make things for him to show off. Weird cup holders, a custom thingamabob for his client’s computers, desk toys that resemble Klein Bottles, a new piece for his record player that is crazy hard to find. Card holders for when you have a fancy dinner and you put everybody’s name at their spot and photo holders for his desk. Basically, every chachkie and trinket he can think of.

  105. Travis Wollesen says:

    I would build anything and everything my kids and I desired. Dinosaur sets, space shuttles, ships, planes, and whatever else we can think of!

  106. fractal says:

    My father spent some time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. We couldn’t afford a good lawyer so away he went for 2 years.
    The one thing that kept him sane while in there was a radio. He listened to it every day, and continued to listen to it after he got out. A few months ago, he dropped it, causing the case to break apart. Some of the little shards of plastic couldn’t be found, so now it’s just a taped up mess.
    I would use the 3D printer to print him a new case for that radio.
    He’s done so much for me for all of my life.. If I could give him back the one thing he needed at the worst point in his life, it would mean the world to him.

  107. Steve Lackey says:

    I’d help my kids print out some of their favorite characters- and take a look at Blender or other programs for modeling. If we could rig up an animatronic Minecraft character, it would be pretty awesome for them to experiment with.

    1. David Mc says:

      I know this is a contest, but I was thinking of building an animatronic Minecraft character.
      Have you looked into EZ-B robot boards?
      Use an EZ-B, a video camera and some servos and you can build a character that sees, talks, hears, understands voice commands, moves and tracks faces. I have one in my humanoid robot Dave.
      Dave is my 3d printed humanoid.

  108. TonyS says:

    (This was the conversation between me and my son re: this contest.)

    Me: “Hey, Alex… can you tell them in your own words why you want me to win this printer?”
    Alex: “Hi, I’m Alex, and my dad should make the whole Lord of the Rings thing!”
    Me: “What do you mean by the whole Lord of the Rings thing?”
    Alex: “Like, how Bilbo left and everything the… ring is going to… they need to destroy the ring, it’s Dark Magic.”
    Me: “And what am I going to print from that?”
    Alex: “Maybe… Gandalf the White?”

    So you heard it here first, folks… if I win, I solemnly swear to print a 600mm tall Gandalf the White. :)

    (On a side note, my favorite Alex quote of all time happened last year… he wore the Batman dog tags I printed for him to school one day and told all his friends “My dad made it. He can make anything.”)

  109. Austin Frovvnfelter says:

    My (late) father and I would always be bouncing ideas back and forth for inventions and projects that we could do. We both shared a sense of tinkering. I remember several months before he died that he was talking about these new “3D printers” that could make anything from just a single material. He was referring to SLS systems, but he knew they were the wave of the future.
    I design a lot (and I mean a LOT) of parts and tools and gadgets on Autodesk Inventor and Creo Parametric, and always wanted to be able to make them in the real world. 3D printing does just that, as I’ve discovered in the past months.
    I would make many trinkets and gadgets to give to people because 3D printing is awesome and people need to understand that they are coming to pretty much everybody.

  110. AlpayKasal says:

    My dad died last week, seriously… As a maker all his life (before the term existed), he taught me to NOT be scared of trying to learn new things by doing new things and using new tools. With this printer, I’d carry on that philosophy with my own kid. I’m really into the idea (at the moment) of building universal joints for a modular furniture system making use of the lowest cost and readily available materials in different countries. So that any makerspace with a Leapfrog could help people with work and living surfaces.

  111. Chris Bahr says:

    My father has been handicapped all his life. He got polio at 2 weeks old. He is doing well these days, but has some mobility issues. We would design and produce accessibility aids for disabled people, especially anything that might help people in the outdoors. My dad is an avid outdoorsman and has designed crude tools to achieve his goals. We might even build a mechanical clock, as we are both clockmakers.

  112. Jake Holland says:

    My Dad is a hilarious guy. He would make great use of this 3D printer. He has an obsession with extra terrestrials and sasquatch. I can imagine him printing little alien figurines and bigfoot statues with the Leapfrog 3D printer.

  113. Jason Rasmussen says:

    As a father, teacher, and professor, I would use this to give my Tech Lab students a creative outlet with new technologies. Funding is always extremely limited in the public school and gets worse every year. Standardized testing had a mission of providing the world with mind numb automatons where, with a project-based classroom, it gives students a way to learn these technologies while providing them a creative outlet. Seeing some of these other posts I see that I am up against some stiff competition but know that, if I won, the printer had the benefit of helping hundreds of high school students.

  114. Matthew Wehr says:

    My Four year old son says he would print a giant scary Lego robot to help daddy fix things around the house. But daddy disarms bombs for the Navy and wants to print robots that do the work for him.

  115. David Kavanagh says:

    I have so many ideas and nothing to print them on! My kids would go nuts over being able to design and print real things! Of course, those things would have to be pretty good to win my wife over! Wait, I’ll clean up the workshop and my office if I win this… that’ll win her over!

  116. 6502Freak says:

    I was born with the Maker gene. I inherited from my father
    just as he had from my grandfather. I did not get to live with my Dad growing
    up, but I did spend as much time with him as I could. At the age of eight, I
    decided I wanted to build a computer. Knowing I was going to be in over my
    head, he got me a Sinclair ZX-81 instead so I could learn and not get
    overwhelmed. My interest in controlling things was born with that. He built me
    a small interface to control a relay from the ZX expansion port. I was hooked.
    As I learned more, I turned towards robotics. Like before, Dad was there to
    provide mentorship. He gave me his copy of the book “How to Build a Computer
    Controlled Robot”. I studied it intensely for years. In middle school, that
    book and my dreams introduced me to my lifelong friend, Paul. Together we used
    that book and my Dad’s encouragement to build a robot platform under our school’s
    Industrial Arts program. We designed and built all the control and sensor
    circuits by hand. We even built a microcontroller around a Motorola 6809E to
    run it (Paul was a huge Radio Shack Color Computer fan). We won local and state
    awards for our creation. Dad was proud to say the least.

    Growing up to adulthood, my love and respect for my Dad and
    Making only grew. Though I joined the ranks of the software engineering world,
    the love of electronics never faded. Dad still does his hardware magic in the
    industrial control world, but he has found a way to reach the next generation
    of Makers. For the past three years he has taught a robot building class at a
    local high school. This is not the watered down Lego league stuff. He does it
    the Maker way. I love that he still spreads the knowledge of the old and the
    new. Now that my daughter and my nieces and nephews are old enough to start
    making, Dad and I have talked about teaming up to mentor them in the art of the
    make. My mentor and hero will be working by my side as I become my daughter’s
    Maker hero.

    So, since this is about what we would 3D print if we won, I
    think the first thing we would do to pass the torch is build a shrine to the
    robot book (my original copy has been lost, but I did find a reprint). I owe so
    much to that book as it gave me experience, passion for creating and most
    importantly my best friend. It would mean a lot to me and probably give Dad a
    case of the nostalgia. After that, three generations of Makers would begin printing
    parts for a new robot platform so the spark of creating could catch and grow in
    the young. Maybe my (highly condensed) story won’t invoke the thought of
    calling your dads, but just writing this makes me need to give my Dad a call. I
    think I need to thank him, profusely.

  117. Tracy Katz says:

    Because my dad is retired and doesn’t really have to be anywhere or do anything at a certain time of day, he tends to sleep through most of it, keeping a weird schedule that just doesn’t match anyone else’s. If given this incredibly awesome, ginormous 3D printer, I’d print parts to construct a robot that would physically throw him out of bed and make him get to work during daylight hours so he could do more with his time. The robot would have annoying snooze functions, like pinching eyelids and pulling them open, yanking off blankets, blasting air down his nose, poking soft fleshy parts, etc.

  118. William Parks says:

    Well I believe that the first thing we would print would be the parts to another printer so that both of us father and son could share the experience of owning a 3d printer together, and then I would follow suite and make one for my two sons. Bring us all closer…

  119. Richard B. Kaufman-López says:

    I would teach him how to design and print his own parts for his projects! He is always buying them online and they are not cheap at all! Its seriously hurting his pocket. I’m sure the 3D printer will be an awesome “toy” that will bring us together during the weekend. :)

  120. Christopher Schiller says:

    I would make a tribute to my Dad, reflecting the feelings of this poem I wrote after he passed.

    Dad’s Goodbye

    Day to day withheld, each hour after hour,
    The world revolved, turned, I ignored the power,
    Lying underneath her skin, just below,
    The pulse of life within, the world can’t know,
    The meaning the words unspoken contain,
    The truths unsaid, silent voices restrain,
    From speaking the words of power, release,

    Allowing what should be to be, in peace,
    But wrenching effect, rendering anew,
    A whole new aspect, a new point of view,
    If only released, allowed to set free,
    Instead it’s contained, the keys held by me,
    Held close to chest, unwilling to reveal,
    The pain within, begin to let it heal,
    Breach through the surface in the dead of night,
    Sleep of the angels disturbed, they take flight,
    In a dream the truth revealed as it stood,
    The man laid bare his wish that if I could,
    Allow the release, let go, set it free,
    The soul kept too near, not allowed to be,
    When destiny decided long ago,
    Just where things should be and how things should go,
    In dreams of nothing related, really,
    There he stood waiting, nervous, uneasy,
    I approached and understood his desire,
    From his smile I knew that now was the hour,
    For me to say the words too long withheld,
    For me to grant the peace in which he dwelt,
    For me to finally allow, what should come,
    For me to finally do what need be done,
    Looked upon his face, the father I’d known,
    And he smiled, a smile where all his love shown,
    After all this time, it is easy to say,
    Those few little words so long kept at bay,
    In the dream world I approached, we hugged close,
    Held him and held him, too long I suppose,
    When we parted I knew it was the last,
    My wounds were all healed, pain all in the past,
    As I looked in my Dad’s eyes one last time,
    My “Goodbyes” could be said knowing that I’m,
    Going to be okay, he let me see,
    A reflection of him is who I’ll be,
    As the dream faded, I rose to the dawn,
    Finally accepting my Father was gone.

  121. Dbanko says:

    When my three boys were younger roughly 8- 12 years old there mother decided to up and leave well I did what I wanted to do send raised my boys we had. Some. Trying years but also some of. The. Best times. Of my life .well they are all grown now and off doing there own thing just as things got easier I had to have back sergury we’ll that didn’t go so well I had some fluid leak and cause permanent nerve damage about 14 or so surgeries between my neck and back I no longer can work I am not really complaining I can’t change it I wanted a 3d printer since I saw the first one on make I was hooked but I can’t afford it I just got into arduino and I am an hobby carpenter but I am very limited but with this printer I can print some proto types of toys and many other figures I have in mind I know i would have a learning curve but that’s another reason I want one I can do sitting down thanks for listening and I know it will go to who you think is the best candidate but I hope that’s me .

  122. Eric Zang says:

    My dad would use this 3D printer to help anyone interested print things to help spread awareness about 3D printing. He owns a printing store and wants to be able to let more people know about 3D printing and the maker movement in general. Having a 3D printer in his store allowing people to print free prints would accelerate the spread of the maker mindset and will also allow the 3D printing club at the local high school have an opportunity to have something to print with. This would help greatly because the 3D printing club does not currently have a 3D printer because they are generally too expensive for the students to afford, especially since the school does not help them financially to obtain one. Having a 3D printer of this massive size would also allow anyone interested to do whatever they imagine without any limitations and I look forward to what the local community in Austin can create with such a resource.

  123. Dave Coates says:

    My son really would like a fish mounted on his wall from a father and son fishing trip so I was thinking we could take the measurements of the fish and print it out, paint it and hang it.

  124. Guest says:

    Hi. I don’t have any adorable dad stories unfortunately. I still need this printer however, to make the world a better place for all the dad’s out there. I will do this by fulfilling my life’s ambition to create sustainable, customizable, biomimetic architectural blocks which will require very little money and zero power tools to build with. I’m learning to program evolving structures now and 3D printing is the next step in the poorly funded master plan. Oh, the prototypes I will print with composite materials! My point is, that printer and I have a destiny. Don’t stand in our way! Happy Father’s Day to all!

  125. BobAtWork says:

    The best memory (the one I go to when I think about my dad) surrounds a fishing
    trip we took.when I was about six.

    My dad was a diesel locomotive electrician for a major rail carrier. The depot from which he worked eight hour shifts throughout the day and the nature of his work had him rotating through the available shifts. It was physically demanding work with erratic schedules which didn’t leave a lot of opportunities for quality time with the kids.

    A friend of my dad was a deacon at a local church. Knowing my dad’s trade, he asked my dad if he would help install a lighted sign for his church. In lieu of payment, he offered to let my dad come fish at a pond on on property he owned. My dad would be the first fisherman to fish in the pond since it was stocked two years earlier. Knowing I liked fishing and seeing the opportunity for a day out with his son doing something we both enjoyed, my dad sacrificed a Saturday doing the work for this small church.

    A few weeks later, my dad told me he was taking me on a fishing trip – the first trip for just the two of us. On the following Saturday morning, he woke me early to get ready to head out. My mom even made us a special breakfast – egg sandwiches – for the hour or so drive to the fishing pond.

    By 8 AM, we were standing on the bank of pond with rods and reels and plastic
    worms, ready to try our luck. I cast my lure into the water and slowly reeled my lure back to the bank. It was halfway back when I felt the tug of a fish and, within 90 seconds, I had my first catch of the day. My dad got his at almost the same time. We continued casting and catching fish until we lost count of the successes. To this day, the most vivid detail I remember was us both laughing so hard we were
    crying.

    Over the years, we managed to get out a few more times to fish together. Every time, we talked and laughed about that first fishing trip.

    Before he died, it was always his plan to spend his later years fishing. I can imagine how neat it would have been to sit with him and design and make some awesome plastic lure for us to use on our next fishing trip. Even if we weren’t as
    successful as we were that on that first trip together, we’d probably be
    laughing just as hard.

    1. Clay Hofrock says:

      Wow, my dad also worked as a diesel electrician for a railroad, well actually he spent most of his career as a troubleshooter. Trains are massive engines, that pull long trains full of cars. When they stopped to fill up the large tanks of Diesel fuel, it was his job to find and fix any problems they had before sending the train on its way.

      He spent many years doing this, and eventually the range of the trains was increased, and the depot he worked at was reduced to just a skeleton crew. He ended up working in a town several hours hours away, and would only be home on the weekends, where he spent much of his time fixing things, and building new things.

      His knowledge was not limited to just electrical things. We fixed cars, replacing engines when they need to, and even completely overhauling my own car when I was a teenager. He gave me one of the most valuable things you can ever give a person. Knowledge.

      I guess I picked up my makerness from him. I have become the fixing guy. Because of what my dad taught me I am not afraid to try to do new things. Luckily I have resources like this website that make it easy to keep learning new things.

      I only hope I can pass on my knowledge to my two sons, and instill in them the desire to keep learning, keep making, and hopefully one day teach their kids.

  126. Jaime Schmidt says:

    I would like to make some sensory toys for my son.

  127. William J Higgins says:

    My father has been dust since 1997. But my mother raised me and my sister alone and recently had a stroke. so a 3D printer would come in handy for making adaptive tools for her. I’m also disabled so making tools for our benifit would be great…….

  128. Jacob West says:

    I would print a flashlight so I can hold it while my father does all the work under the car.

  129. Craig P says:

    I would use this to get my twin eight year ago daughters interested in making (and the science of things) while they are young. When they are older I hope they will look back with fond memories of when they first got involved in learning everything with daddy.

  130. Daniel Root says:

    Some of my earlies memories are of working in Grandpa’s shop building swords and fishing rods and race cars out of scrap lumber and nails he and Dad let me use.  We would spend all day in the shop, tinkering and turning out projects.  In the evening, around the meal Grandma lovingly prepared for us, Grandpa would captivate us with stories of his career in the Apollo space program.  His work on the rockets had help put man on the moon, and he would tell us of the things he helped make and the people he met.  Years later, Dad and I built rockets out of 2 liter bottles and a bike pump.  Each one to my 8 year old dreams held the possibility of reaching space, just like Grandpas’.   Now I have a son and daughter of my own, and they love nothing more than to be given wood and nails in “Pop’s shop”.  My four year old son looks up at the sky at that slightly red star and swears to his little sister he can see a robot on Mars.   

    So, we would print swords and fishing rods and race cars.  We would print Apollo rockets and Mars rovers.  But most of all, we would build the dreams and imaginations, and love of tinkering in the hearts of sons and daughters and grandchildren.

  131. Brian Harrington says:

    This is a really nice thing of you guys to do! I’ve never been able to give my dad anything for Father’s day even during college I couldn’t afford anything. I made due by making them things most years, but less and less once I entered college.

    If my dad had the opportunity to print something on this he honestly probably still wouldn’t, he’d tell me to. Not because he’s not capable or dislikes technology (he always tells me about the printers on TV shows and cool gadgets he’s seen), but because he really supports me towards working computer graphics work.

    During college I struggled a lot with my Digital modeling classes and while he didn’t know at all how I was doing what I was trying to do, he looked up student animations on Youtube and told me I should be doing THAT if I really want to, and that i CAN.

    So he would want anything from me and I would want to really print him something amazing to make up for all the Father’s days I haven’t been able to give or make anything for him. Probably a huge turtle since my family got turtles when I moved out and his facebook picture is a picture of him holding a large turtle, smiling as wide as I have ever seen. I want to see him smile that wide in person, from something I can make for him.

    Thanks for the opportunity and good luck to everyone!

  132. Cameron Coppoletta says:

    Space… The final frontier; The best times spent with my father albeit him in a wheel chair watching star trek and talking of technology. I am not pulling the emotional card here, through 3D printed technology he was able to regain the strength in his back. From a electric wheelchair to waterskis after 8 years of my youth and cured by the technology you have started to offer. The morphine pump was printed out of a non-immune rejecting plastic that allowed him to on his own regain his strength. He is a post modern wizard and would print out impellers and parts for his boats and star trek models for his grandchild to play with. This would be a way to once again respire his passion for life. You guys rock thank you for listening!

  133. David Mc says:

    My dad, my brothers and I have always loved making things.
    My dad has made model airplanes and real buildings and many things in between.
    I have always loved robots and miniatures and building them.
    With a 3d printer we could make models of my brothers recumbent bike to test air drag, make airplane model parts, and make parts for my robots.
    My 3d printer is very small and I am forced to cut my parts into smaller pieces to make them fit. We would all love to take advantage of the larger size and two print heads of this Leapfrog 3d printer.
    My humanoid Dave would love to be finished and have me start on his friend Jen.
    I think this new printer would get us all thinking of wonderful new projects to print, add servos and make it move.

  134. Leapfrog 3D Printer Giveaway Makes Father’s Day BIG chandi1.4 says:

    Hi. I don’t think I have the dad story you’re looking for unfortunately. I still need
    this printer however, to make the world a better place for all the great dads out there. I know some who are struggling to help provide good homes for their children. I will help ease this burden by fulfilling my life’s ambition to create sustainable, customizable, biomimetic architectural blocks which will require very little money and zero power tools to build with. I’m learning to program evolving structures now and 3D printing is the next step in the poorly funded master plan. Oh, the prototypes I will print with composite materials! I could even print a father figure! Get it? A figure of a father? Ok, that was bad. My point is, that printer and I have a destiny. Don’t stand in our way! Happy Father’s Day to all and let’s make houses!

  135. watsons_crick says:

    Dad, you always helped cover for my clumsy mistakes and overall destruction of just about everything around the house, growing up. In the days where super glue and duct tape spared me the wrath of mom’s vengeance, you and your clever “quick fixes” spared my behind more times than I can count. From the time I destroyed the cordless phone’s plastic casing to see what was inside, to the time a attempted to pull the motor from the vacuum when I was 9, because I believed I could make a go cart with it, you always helped me salvage my mistakes. The time I blew out the huge sliding glass door with the potato cannon I built…..well, you couldn’t save me there. As a new dad, I too would like to help cover my son’s inevitable tornado-like path of destruction. The Creatr XL would be a huge help in carrying on this tradition of mercy and creativity. I will always have the trusted superglue and duct tape ready, but in a world where plastic components are in everything, this printer will push the creativity, curiosity, and unavoidable destruction that come with a curious child and an equally clumsy husband.

  136. donovan cox says:

    I’d make Prototypes of the parts I’m designing for clients instead of farming it out.

  137. Stephen Heminger says:

    My father and I never had much of a relationship when I was a child. He was busy working to support the family and I was busy working to support my car and computer intrests. Now that I am an adult we have found a common interest in antique engines and tractors. We both have an interest in building a hit and miss engine. I am also pursuing the build your own Gingery machine shop so that we can have the tools to take on such a project. A tool like this would be outstanding for prototypes or even making molds for the home made aluminum foundry.

  138. Eugene_Oregon says:

    My father passed away a few years ago, but not before spending some time with my two boys. I have worked in the computer industry for the past 15 years and have discovered 3d printing recently and have shown the benefit to my boys to see where their minds could go. For nothing more, I would love to develop something for everyone that would better the lives of a group of people large or small, prototyped and constructed using a 3d printer with my kids. That would mean the world to me.

  139. Peter Diltz says:

    When I was a kid, my dad and I would build flying model
    rockets and RC planes together. These are some of my favorite memories from my
    childhood. We used mostly wood and paper the, but if this level of technology
    existed, I’m sure a 3D printer would have been one the tools we employed.

    Sadly, my father passed a few years before my eldest son was
    born, so they never had the chance to meet. I want to share as much of my father
    with my sons as I can, so we can carry on the tradition. My sons and I have
    worked on simple projects together, but they are getting to an age that we can
    start working on some larger projects. I
    would like to think that they will remember these times as fondly as I do. This
    3D printer would be a great tool for us to further our making endeavors.

  140. vaughndonahue says:

    My dad would print Al Pacino. He owns every film, and has seen every interview. He’s got the classy memorabilia and the bobble head.

    If he had the chance to print world peace, he’d do that after printing Al Pacino. But I’m sure world peace, whatever that would look like, would come next.

  141. madmax62 says:

    Well, I’m sure this isn’t the most creative or sentimental comment, but
    it is true and from the heart. I’m 51 with a 3 yr old son, so I value
    every moment I have with him, knowing I’ll be leaving him all too soon.
    My dad passed away at 47, when I was just 25, and he never knew how his
    influence on my creativity led me to become a toy designer and
    modelmaker. I’d love to teach my son how to use this newfangled 3D
    printer technology to bring his dreams to life and perhaps become a
    ‘maker’ in his own right. He already makes his own Thomas the Train
    characters and buildings out of cardboard and scraps.

    Besides
    that, I’d love to have a 3D printer to make my own projects. I kinda
    have this crazy idea to print small ornament-sized Australian XB Falcon
    cars to sell or offer as a kickstarter to help finance my restoration of
    my full-size Aussie Ford Falcon John Goss Special. And then maybe do
    other projects to help finance the restoration of my Dad’s old 1963
    Pontiac Catalina that they brought me home in when I was born. I’d
    kinda like to get that restored for my son by his 16th birthday. I know
    my wife would like to see some of my restoration projects graduate from
    our driveway/garage…

    As it is now, I just have access to my
    own modest shop, instead of the “industrial might” of Trendmasters or
    the well-equipped museum workshops I managed, but I still love to make
    things. I do prop weapons and parts for cosplay costumes as a hobby,
    and am currently working on a steampunk Imperial German Zeppelin
    Infantry costume complete with motorized wings. That 3D printer would
    come in handy for making all kinds of stuff I fabricate by hand now.

    I’m
    an Army vet with several overseas deployments and one year left until I
    retire from the Guard, and am now embarking on a second career as an
    elementary school teacher. My focus is on gifted education, especially
    in an urban environment. I’d love to have a 3D printer to address the
    needs of underprivileged and minority gifted students who may not have the access to the technology other more affluent districts provide.

    Thanks for considering me, and I hope whoever wins the printer deserves it and uses it to make the world a better place.

  142. Hunter says:

    Now, I have a few choices. I could say some sob story about how a tragic pinball accident killed my father, with his last words being, “3D print something… neat”. Followed by my rise to glory in the 3D printing world. Or, maybe I could tell you all about how I can save the world and all I need is a 3D printer with an oddly large Z axis build height. I could even say something about wanting a printer all my life and never getting one, but I’ll just say the truth.

    Honestly, I already have a printer, well kind of. Currently, it’s a disassembled heap of plywood and M2 screws which was formerly know as a printrbot simple, currently getting modded, but I don’t know what to do because I accidentally got a pulley stuck on a motor. Honestly, how does that even happen? Based on the mess in my desk and room, if you were to walk it, you would probably assume it’s some sort of serial killer-esque mouse torture device rather than a 3D printer, only to be more confused by the can of my mom’s hairspray I stole and have had in my possession for over a month now.

    What would I print with this printer? Well, I think the better question is what wouldn’t I print. Well, a lot. there’s at least seven or so files available for printing, so I don’t really think I could print everything. I’m not going to tell you about how I’m will print wells for children in Africa, honestly, almost none of prints will go to children in Africa. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth! Maybe I’ll print the letter “O”, which clearly Leapfrog forgot when naming the “Creatr XL”. I might make a smaller printer inside the printer! (haha, bet you’ve never heard that one before) I won’t use this printer for anything useful. Knowing my dad, he would probably make some sort of iPad stand, or a plastic part we are missing on our snow blower. Does anyone actually use 3D printing for that? Or are they like me who make gears that mesh together just because they can. We would probably use it for some father son bonding time, printing a giant statue of liberty 2 feet tall and then have no clue what to do with it. Maybe use some 3D printed lures to go fishing during the one month print time.

    My dad’s birthday is July seventh, so that would be very cool for him to see that he gets this behemoth of a printer! I’m sure he’ll be hating me for getting it for him when he realizes how easy it is to spend your entire day modeling and 3D printing

    I kind of feel bad, with everyone hoping this printer makes the world a better place. I would just make a quadricopter, if that counts as making the world a better place? I’ll wrap this up, because I’m sure you guys have tons of entries to go thorough, with a haiku I wrote about 3D printing:

    wait, how do these work
    haikus, not printers, well, both
    this haiku was bad

  143. Aharrell14 says:

    My father lived by hand crafting custom constructions projects. For as long as I can remember, he took me along, on these side jobs for people who never really appreciated the artisanal devotion he applied to the floors, countertops, stairs and every other wooden thing that everyone needs, uses, and takes completely for granted. But, as a 6 year old watching, I saw the devotion. I watched my father’s iron arms cut raw wood, ceramic, and other esoteric materials (I.e. plastics) into crazy, illogical shapes that suddenly all fit together into something beautiful, something substantial and solid. I grew to understand that there’s a lost art here. I can’t count the hours for how often he handed me a small job, like sanding the corners or filling in the holes with putty. And looking back into these memories of my foray into handy “illiberal arts”, I realized that for every half hour he let me try my hand at completing the work, he likely spent another hour fixing my amateur mistakes, without complaint or admonishment, only kind guidance – “Fold the sandpaper here,” “Don’t worry, just get the holes you can see,” ” Okay, buddy – good work! There’s a juice box in the truck for you!”

    Now, as a biomedical engineer with my own 6 year old precocious daughter who watches Beakman’s World and 3D printing videos nonstop (I have the Netflix records to prove it!) and toils away at her own crazy, illogical designs that snap into a unique beauty to show her grandpa, I can’t wait for the chance to bring a 3D printer into the home, to let her share with my father who will, with silent joy, quietly guide her efforts into a solid reality.

  144. Andrew Maneri says:

    My son has lots of duplo blocks, and a modular train tracks (the traditional peg-at-end type). I would love to make/print adapter blocks/tracks so that the legos and tracks could hook into one another for crazy train set action, or make train cars with lego pegs so he could make his own custom cars, just different ways to encourage his love of building.

  145. Deadguy says:

    I’m working to get a 3d scanner system going that will permit me to make a 3d model of my mom and dad together, in their “finest.” I’m currently short a video card, but really hope to afford one soon, as they’re now in their 80’s. I know this doesn’t directly tie into the giveaway, but I wanted to pass along the idea to anyone who realizes that this will eventually become one of the two hardest days of the year. I’m a wreck just thinking about it. It’d be nice to have them standing proudly on my desk.
    As for me, a father myself, I hope that build volume would open the door to many projects with my stepson. I’m looking for ways for us to connect better in the short times I have with him every other weekend, beyond the occasional Halo LAN party.

    I’m also hoping to work on prosthetics for those that can’t afford them, and have ideas regarding using the 3d printer as a rapid prototype system, for making molds used to cast actual devices at a fraction of the current costs of things like Robohands, which are still inaccessibly priced for many people. I’m talking functional, durable hands for under $100 if I can pull it off.

  146. Joshua Wilkes says:

    My father and I would probably print a relationship! Just kidding! We would probably make a variety of rod holders and hooks for storing all of our gear! I personally would probably go broke trying to makes all sorts of creations, my first one though would definitely be a phone stand so I can have it sitting up on my desk!

  147. SamsunGalaxy says:

    I was raised by my grandfather who started working in underground coal mines at the age of 14. Working in coal mines, miners know that an accident could be waiting just around the next corner if your not paying attention. My grandfather worked at one mine where he had just wished a double shift and went home for the night but as he arrived home he received a phone call saying to report back to work because there had been a mine explosion. Over 200 coal miners, fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, nephews and friends were killed. My grandfather spent many hours helping to retrieve many of those men out of the mine.
    I served in the United States Maine Corps and after I was discharged I went to college and received an engineering degree where my first job was working at the local coal mines. I was a fourth generation coal miner from my family, working as hard as I could to make my grandfather proud of me.
    My grandfather passed away after working in the coal mines for 46 years. He never got the chance to see what kind of a father I became. I no longer work in the mines and moved away so my son would never have to work under ground. I think about him often when ever I am faced with a life problem and I think to myself, what would he do in a situation like this.
    If I were to win this 3D printer, I would like to print a face portrait of my grandfather that I could honor his memory with on this fathers day!

  148. Tom Coster says:

    Growing up in the 70s and 80s, my dad and I were always thrilled with new technologies and breakthroughs. We always thought we were living in a revolutionary age, with humanity making astonishing leaps in technology in such a short time. It was an exciting time to be alive! My dad was my mentor and my best friend. He taught me trigonometry when I was in first grade, in the hopes that I would one day follow in his footsteps in civil surveying and technical engineering. When my interest in computers caught his attention, he made sure that I had one the following Christmas in order to pursue programming. He was a man of many talents, both intellectual and artistic. I remember him showing me many pages of his Rube Goldberg drawings he made in his high school years, and how we both thought it would be fun to try and make something ourselves. We never did get around to it, but this article just reminded me of it for some reason…how utterly cool it would be to be able to engineer and manufacture some of the parts needed for those wacky designs to complete a simple action or objective. My dad always took great joy in discovery and learning, especially when it came to his youngest child and namesake. Trips to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL, the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago….bringing out one of his decades-old theodolites to look at the craters in the moon, since we didn’t own a telescope. My father encouraged and inspired my every dream, and when the family budget allowed it gave me the tools to pursue these endeavors. Sadly, I lost my father to cancer on December 20th, 1999. I only wish that he’d lived long enough to see my greatest accomplishments….providing him three grandchildren that would have loved him as much as I do, and that share the intellect, curiosity and creativeness that he saw in me at such a young age. My two youngest have Asperger’s Syndrome, but they are simply brilliant. Since my dad can’t be here to share in the joy that are these kids, it is my job to instill in them the same values, passion and yearning for knowledge as he did for me so many years ago. Someday I will visit my mother, go through old boxes of my father’s papers and documents, in the hopes that I can find a few of those old Rube Goldberg sketches and attempt to build one or more of them with my children in his honor. I think he would have gotten a kick out of that. Here’s to hoping I’m able to fulfill that desire with a 3D printer…the wonders we’ll be able to create are endless! Thank you for your consideration!

  149. jm says:

    Thanks, and good luck to everyone who enters!

  150. Guest says:

    My father is a huge sports fanatic but nothing compares when it comes to
    his interest in basketball. Its true. I have witnessed it since I was a toddler and
    up to now he still loves basketball. I could tell by seeing him watch the games
    on T.V. international or local and hear when discussing game results with friends
    or even strangers that has the same interest. I remember long ago over hearing
    his conversation with friends that long ago he watches the games through our neighbors T.V. because we don’t own one back then they said.

    Hence, I’d like to 3d print a trophy similar to a MVP award given on basketball finals games and present it to my father not only that he will love to own one of those but because he is definitely a MVP of the family that deserves such an award.

  151. bssxfire8 says:

    Growing up my dad helped me so much by trying to introduce new things to me like technology and innovation. It instilled in me the desire to innovate as well. My father has been fascinated with the different things a 3D printer can do. He and I would print anything and everything. We would create new things to work with the Arduino, and the Raspberry pi. We would create things that real people could use, but beyond that it would give my father and I the opportunity to innovate together and learn together. You could almost say we would print an even stronger relationship. Plus I think my father would really love a monster sized Death Star and fleet of rebel Fighters!

  152. Technobly says:

    My dad is a mold maker, and has instilled the fundamentals of making in me since I was a kid. He’s a hard worker and takes a lot of pride in his trade. I turned out to become an electronic engineer, and I love making things and share that same pride for the things I make. If I had a 3D printer as epic as this one, I would do something I’ve been thinking about now for about a year… I would create a website where people in the Chicago, IL area could submit a STL file to be printed for a super reasonable price, shipping included (like OSHPark.com). It would only be for people in this area initially to keep the demand low enough to make the printer available more quickly. I would LOVE to make this a reality!

  153. salt-flat says:

    Very cool give away! I’m afraid I cant really compete with most of these comments. My father in his mid 70’s is in fine health. I’m in good health, my children are in good health and my grand children are also doing just fine.
    The one thing my father did give me was a love of old cars and trucks. I passed it on to my kids, and my grand kids too.
    I think the first project we would make with this printer would be a family surprise project for my dad. He has always wanted a 1937 Ford Flatback sedan. We would print up one of these (scale size, not life size ha-ha) and have the grand kids paint it up. I know he would get a huge kick out of it. He collects scale models now and Im sure it would be his prized “collectible”
    I can see using it to print up antique car parts … badges etc. I can also see using it in my business, copier and printer repair. Some people just wont let go of their old machines and getting parts for a lot of them is impossible. Broken gear? Print up a new one.
    Thanks again for the contest … Someone is going to get a neat machine the whole family can learn and have fun with.

  154. MarkWBrown says:

    My dad took astronomy from the late James Van Allen, namesake of the Van Allen Radiation Belts. This was astronomy back when they taught you how to use a sextant. Imagine that. One of the world’s greatest astronomers teaching you how to use a tool which allows you to navigate by the stars. The course I took, some 30 years later was quite different. Lots of computers, telescopes which would automatically point themselves to a designated celestial object, and less stargazing than my father’s recollection. I’d like to bring father, son, and grandson together first by 3-D printing a sextant. I’m sure my dad will be able to re-live some of his college experience through teaching us how it works. Using the inspiration of the stepper motor controlled telescope, I’d also like to create a gear-driven model solar system. It seems the build plate on this 3-d printer could really bring that idea to a large-scale. Big…, ahem, planetary gears, large, multicolored planets, and a considerably easier way to print sections of annular gears. How cool would that be?!? Father, son, grandson, the planets, and the stars.

  155. John W says:

    As a father with 2 young daughters, I would love to be able to enjoy emerging technology with my girls, printing most likely exclusively in pink. Both my wife and I grew up without a father figure, and my whole goal in life is to bring as much enjoyment and fun times into my girls lives as possible. My older daughter takes a real interest in creating things on the computer, and I’m sure that would translate to a 3d printer, I took her to my school once to see our markerbot in progress, and she just stared at it mesmerized. We have talked previously about trying to get one, but I am a student and there is no way it is within out budget for quite some time.

  156. Kimberly says:

    Of the things I can see my husband do with one of these is making marble roller coasters for my daughter to experiment with gravity, momentum and other fun things, his own version of starships in 3D. Since we’re home schooling our daughter, this would get a work out, I am certain!

  157. Miki says:

    My father has been dreaming about a 3D printer since I can remember.
    We have a lot of ideas about what we would print when we’ll get or build our printer.
    But the first thing we are going to print is a replica of the Kraftwerk band based on InMoov robot. We already have some of the instruments as I like playing music and my father built electronic drums and theremins for me.

  158. C G says:

    Well, I am a dad and my 5 year old and I are the proud new owners of a Monorail play set. Wouldn’t you know it, the TTA is not available. Also no switch tracks available. Entry/Exit stations? Nope! And heck, how can we complete our scale WDW model with the wrong radius size tracks? I submit that a 3-D printer would solve these problems, especially a multi-color/material one.

  159. Albert Liwag says:

    Happy Father’s Day!

    “If I win, I’m going to print myself some cool new toys and
    probably Legos for my brother so we can make the random things we find around
    the house. My dad and I would probably print some car parts, especially those
    pesky screws that magically disappear like socks in the dryer. I always wanted
    a 3d printer because it’s so awesome and I can make like anything on the
    Internet.” – What I would have said 4-6 years ago

    I do not like my father. I sit and ask myself “Why is there
    even a Father’s Day?” This holiday would have passed like any other if he
    hadn’t shown me the link from Make. I don’t think he even knew what the article
    was about, but my sister managed to stumble upon it after looking through
    crochet references online. She yelled “Dad I think found a printer to replace
    our vampire one.” I think she meant inkjet. He probably only saw the term “3D”
    and that was enough to give me an assignment. Now it’s up to me, the “computer
    guy” in the family or more accurately the google “kung fu master,” to research
    and compare the latest and most advanced printers within our budget because who knew printable car wash coupons were fine works of art?

    My father and I don’t have that familiar bond that others
    may share. I don’t get along with him, but he gets along with me just fine. Why
    would he get along with me if I didn’t get along with him you may ask? When he
    has me as an assistant for his car projects, regardless of his name calling and
    complaints, he knows I will still help and I’m the only one who can. My sister
    won’t do it because we each know that our parents were raised with the
    traditional gender roles mentality, so we take advantage of that fact to push
    certain work or chores to each other. My mother’s already busy enough with her
    nightshift, so helping my dad in the hours before bed is stressful enough.
    Nowadays, he turns his anger into words and berates me for the bulb I broke
    when I accidentally pushed the flashlight off a shelf. I use to call this the
    flashlight attack or insult, but eventually decided against it because of my
    slight mispronunciation in a café once. Talking to your friend about your dad’s
    “fleshlight” (flashlight) issue when parents and kids are present isn’t very
    appropriate. I’m glad Make is holding this contest, otherwise I would have
    never had enough motivation to get this off my chest and would have forgotten
    that there are times where we share a moment all to ourselves.

    If I someday get my own 3D printer, I’m going to redesign
    the world in my own image of it by starting with items in my house. I want to
    prototype police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances because my 5 year old
    brother always love to play with toy models of them. A hybrid indoor and
    outdoor garden system that works and moves like a series of subtle cuckoo
    clocks for my mom. She once told me that on windy days, nature becomes more
    alive. My sister would request elaborate deserts or meals. For my dad I will make
    him the best darn flashlight he’ll ever need so one day he can take a good at
    me and say “That’s my son.”

    I don’t know what I want to make for myself yet. I’m not
    some genius innovator who can invent calculus as a hobby, but I do know I want
    to help others make something for themselves. Thank you for raising me to who I am today and Happy Father’s Day.

  160. Stewart Galloway says:

    My dad would probably print a son that would call him for a better reason than “What would you make with a 3d printer?”

  161. Cliff Travis says:

    Okay – Mind officially blown. This thing is just crazy cool! And I can’t believe that Leapfrog even came up with it. That said – What does a 4-year old girl who loves puzzles want to do with this thing? Make cool 3D puzzles of course! And I was like – uh – yeah, that could happen. Unexpected request, but sure. Especially considering that daddy knows how to do 3D modeling. Now all we have to do is to come up with a design or two that she actually likes. No doubt in my mind, however – we want it! Cuz after that I’m gonna make her Halloween costume – a suit of interlocking, girly Iron “Man” Armor. Then maybe I’ll work on something for myself. All I can say is that the sky’s the limit with this machine :-)

  162. James McCloskey says:

    My dad and I will use the Leapfrog 3D printer to make more robots together. He’s an aerospace engineer and a weekend mechanic. I’m a manufacturing engineering student and 3D printing enthusiast. We work on all sorts of fun DIY/handy man/hobbyist projects together. We have already recently completed on a 5 DOF paint spraying robot for 3D printed parts, a filament extruder for 1.75mm filament, a mini R2D2, and a cat wheel (giant hamster like wheel for my cat). Our next robot is going to be a hexpod that would greatly benefit from the leapfrog printer due to the large build volume. I’ve designed the chassis in solidworks and a large leapfrog printer would help make this father son project come to fruition. Thanks for reading my post and I hope you consider the two of us :-).

  163. Foobared says:

    I’ll make this world a better one with such a 3D printer. It will be used to relieve a hardworking man anxiety, bring happiness to some little hearts, alleviate profound – I’d say even vital – needs.
    I’m the father of two little girls, and this printer is my way out of hours of shopping around in toy shops in search of the perfect set of chairs, tables, pedestal table for their dolls, the last resort for those “Woops, sorry dady!” which regularly rings in this house when their little hands pray on things just a bit too fragile, and may even allow me, if I manage to gain access to a printing run or two between two dollhouse redecoration project, to build a small scale prototype of my terrace-transforming roof idea. Well, it doesn’t work with the TV – I’ve yet to gain back access to it between two Hello Kitty episodes, but al this contest is about hope, right?

    At last, peace! Delight! Small birds twitting around!
    Plus, for a change, some father-daughters activity that won’t crush my maliness. This, I’d relish.

    For pity’s sake?

  164. curtsandvig says:

    That’s easy! My dad taught me how to he creative and also this one rule that I think of with anything I do ” the beauty lies in the details, if you’re going to do something do it right” I would love to teach my dad a new way to be creative and bring it full circle. Thanks for the chance to do something new with him

  165. Tamzid Farhan Mogno says:

    As I’m growing older I’m starting to realize how hard working my father is. He has been working multiple jobs his whole life. He came from a poor family of 7 brothers & one sister but was the only one who would actually finish college by paying for himself as well run the family expanses. My grandfather was a farmer & passed away at an early age so my father had to take responsibility of the whole family & work incredibly hard to send all of his brothers &sister through school. He had to gave up on all his life dreams & never had the time to care for his own life. It’s only after spending all of is youth taking care of all them he got a chance to get married to my mom.
    Our family hasn’t been very well off but my father continued to work very hard to keep his children never feel the lack of anything.
    I can’t even imagine how he managed to pay for me to go to the best private schools & become an architect & also send my elder brother through medical school to become a doctor & my sister to become an economist.
    It’s really hard for me to grasp the level of sacrifice my father made through his entire life without complaining about a single thing or expecting anything in return for himself. I see myself feeling proud to be an architect but there’s nothing really to be proud of except for my fathers efforts.
    My father never got to use much technology except for a simple calculator or a prehistoric cellphone. He’s still not vary familiar with the computer or the internet. It’d be great if I could show how technology has evolved to make incredible things while he was busy all his life helping others.
    Also, I know if I will give the 3d printer to him as a gift he’ll be very happy but eventually gift it back to me because it’ll make him happier to see me happy.

  166. Dave says:

    In the spirit of Father’s Day, I could finally print a menagerie of mini MEs!

  167. Clint Slaughter, MD says:

    I like to think that my Dad sees my Maker tendencies as the plus side of me disassembling (and occasionally reassembling) half of our household as a child. I’d love to get my Dad down to our MakerSpace and give this printer a spin. I think that he’d get a kick out of scanning in one of his wooden Santa carvings and printing it out again!

  168. 302SX says:

    Bless my father, he tries very hard but seems to miss his mark every time. Around 2000-2001 he had a decent position at Novell which he was laid off from. Since then has been nothing but struggle and although he works very hard, he just seems to get caught up in scheme after scheme and it ends in failure. Even close to 15 years later he is still struggling with his entrepreneurship with one idea after another and it seems he has nothing but mediocre success if not failure. Sometimes it is frustrating to watch, and sometimes it is painful when he has to ask to borrow money, but on the other hand it is encouraging to see such a fight after so long. Growing up as a child you see your father as an all powerful being, capable of overcoming all problems. But something happens when you grow up, you start to see a lack of confidence in some areas, or mistakes being made in others. Opinions may vary, but he is still your father and no matter what you love him for the choices he makes.

    At the moment he has put his entrepreneurial dreams on the sidelines so that he can support himself. I would hope with this printer he could MAKE something of himself once again and maybe turn things around, or at the very least find his creative side again.

  169. Michael Wilson says:

    My dad would print himself some bones for demonstrations at school.

  170. Onotadaki says:

    Growing up, my Dad and I didn’t spend a lot of time together, but once per year we’d go on a long trip into the mountains on a fishing trip. Fishing became the pastime that brought us together. He has always been incredibly into fishing and making lures and hooks, so I would love to try designing and printing fishing lures and rod modifications with him! This machine’s ability to use multiple materials would allow flexible lures or rods with dense cores and soft exteriors that bend in ways that traditional machines couldn’t do!

    Thanks!

    1. Think Before You Speak says:

      Onotadaki, I was going to comment making fishing lures. Oh well. I hope you win.

      1. Onotadaki says:

        No reason you can’t post your story too! If I do happen to win, we will have to mail you a lure haha :) What kind of fish and types of lures do you and your Dad use?

        1. Think Before You Speak says:

          My Dad doesn’t fish. But my son and I do.

  171. MagDaddy says:

    I’m the dad so “what would I do with one of these?” I would print the most awesome stuff for the family model train room so I could keep my kids coming back to visit their old man of a dad… :0|

  172. jh404 says:

    I never wanted to be a father until I saw your printer. One day I will print me an entire army of kids, each implanted with my own DNA, connected into the neural framework of their robotic limbs. They will all look up to me in unison and say “Hello Dad! Happy Fathers Day”. Can it print DNA strands yet? or print in spider silk? Carbon nanotube laced gel? Wait what year is this? Is it fathers day? Thanks for reminding me, I should pop in and see my Pop.

  173. Dan calvert says:

    My dad has Rheumatoid arthritis so gets in a lot of pain after his medication have worn off, he struggles to work with his hand when he is in pain. i would design and print plastic handles to fit on objects like doors and tools, they would be made out of a rubber substance this would help his hands to grip better even when he is still in pain.

    Thanks

  174. Alisa says:

    Dad was a maker before I was even a concept. I’m surprised I wasn’t fabricated from bits of foam, chunks of metal, carved wood, bits of plastic, duct tape, baling twine, and fasteners. Actually, that would explain so much!

    A printer would have been a huge help to my Dad; certainly more help than me, and would have asked far less questions. He cobbed up parts for his ’63 truck, his Gravely farm tractor and wagon that always needed to clear more acreage, his chainsaw that “warmed us twice,” odd bits to make farming more efficient, fishing lures that always caught a *few* more fish than I could, and finally, his retirement dream, a ’78 SeaCamper houseboat.

    The houseboat, his old dog, and that dream waited while he fought cancer. His doctors did everything possible to detect, deter, and defeat it, but it wasn’t enough. 3-D printer materials may have made that process easier for everyone involved, but it was yet to be invented.

    I inherited Dad’s precisely Dymo-labeled boxes of parts and fasteners, and In the 12 years since, I’ve gained more resourcefulness and even more respect for my father. I’m keeping my 14-year-old car alive, working on a ‘new’ 12-year-old motorcycle, improving my woodworking skills toward a possible career, plus maintaining my father’s small fishing boat, where he’d continue to out-fish me, if he could. A 3-D printer would be a huge help, and would open the doors for me to fabricate many of the ideas in my head, so I wouldn’t have to delay my dreams.

  175. James Chin says:

    It’s hard for me, someone who loves engineering, someone who will do anything to get just a little more engineering knowledge, someone who wants to do so much but cant, to live in a family who doesn’t support any of it. My family believes that grades and schooling is the only way to get anywhere in life, and they don’t believe that what I’m doing is worth anything. If I were to get a 3D printer, I would be able to share the love I have for designing and making things, and what better way to bond with your family than to share what you love?

  176. carolyn hawkins says:

    My dad is a tinkerer who prefers to repair rather than replace. He grew up with more imagination than money and put that to good use.

    I can see him creating just the right part to keep something else out of the landfill, and then repeating the process.

    He’d also take great pleasure in showing the next generations how to do the same, as he has with my family – and anyone else who wants to learn.

  177. Ted says:

    If I had one, we’d print together parts for my future pi based low orbit balloon, to have different sensors and features I keep drawing up.

  178. Jason Street says:

    I’ve always wanted to print parts for my… Honestly, I’m probably going to end up making and printing figurines of critters and other things with my daughter. Two heads, three eyes, big teeth, etc.

    The current ones she makes from cardboard and such just don’t have the right “what the hell is that?” response from my wife.

  179. Audra Luspin says:

    I am an occupational therapist who works in an inpatient rehab hospital, and it has been my dream ever since I first heard of 3D printers to design splints and braces-maybe even prosthetics!-for my patients.
    The Create XL would give me the opportunity to assist with helping my patients reach a level of independence that is, at the moment, often prohibited by cost, time, materials, and durability. Imagine how easy it would be to adapt splints and prostheses, just by making simple adjustments to the original design. At the moment, almost every tweak to a design requires me to start from scratch. (And to be honest, when you wear something on your hand for that long, it can start to smell.) Plus, they look a lot cooler, and would increase people’s compliance with wearing them.
    This would really change both my life and the lives of my patients! (Plus, it would make my Dad really proud, he says.)

  180. Steven Knott says:

    My dad would print up
    rather useful and practical parts for making repairs around the house. But once
    the chores were done, we would make a radio controlled version of his dream car,
    a ’57 Chevy Bel-Air. My dad lost a lot of his mobility when I was young due to
    MS, so instead of teaching me to ride a bike, he taught me to use an ohm meter
    and oscilloscope. When some kids where playing catch with their dads, my dad
    and I where soldering up some project in the basement. I had the best childhood
    ever.

  181. Jimmy Houston says:

    The first thing I can remember making for my dad growing up was an ashtray out of clay. My dad didn’t smoke so I guess the gift was pointless or at least off-base, but when I brought it home to him he was so thankful and proud. Through the years, my gifts to him were probably similarly off-base, but his thankfulness and pride never waned. Now that I am in medical robotics, he looks back to the early clay ashtray as a launching pad for my zeal for creating. He is very proud and I love him for his constant support. If we were to win the printer, I’m sure he would ask me to make a copy of the clay ashtray he still has and then tell me to go grow and create and continue to make him proud.

  182. Jim Armer says:

    I wrecked my pops favorite truck years ago. I’d rebuild it part by part.

  183. Jennifer Cassidy Swanson says:

    My husband would print with our daughter…they’ve been learning tinkerCad together and can’t wait to try and print something. They make a great team!

  184. Moronicus_Litho says:

    OK, so here is how it is going to go down. Father’s Day is right around the corner, but being unemployed means I have no spare income to purchase a Father’s Day present. Of course, since our son is 3, he is pretty much worthless for legally obtaining cash with (although I did I once offer to trade him to a car salesman for a vehicle… the salesman found this shockingly offensive for some reason, perhaps I was mistaken on the value?).

    So imagine, Father’s Day morning comes (because it’s always about the holiday mornings, except on Valentine’s Day), and there is this amazing beastly 3D printer just sitting there, waiting to faithfully print out gaming miniatures, terrain, and all sorts of other awesomeness.

    In this situation, does the father assume that I won a contest? That I obtained employment and did not tell him? That I embezzled funds from our own savings and unemployment income? That I have turned to illegal fundraising activities such as prostitution and drug sales?

    In fact, can one even assume that this mysterious white box, mysteriously appearing on the table during the mysterious time between the twilight and the dawn, is even made from human hands? And how will this even happen if the winner of the contest is not even announced until days after the morning in question?

    There can be only one explanation.

    Aliens.

    And that’s how it’s going to go down on Father’s Day.

    (moronicus_lithographica@live.com)

  185. Kyle Scheele says:

    My dad inspired my love of making. Throughout my childhood, I never remember a single repairman coming to my house. If something was broken, dad fixed it.

    Beyond that though, he inspired me to use making for CREATIVE uses and not just utilitarian ones. Every year on valentines day, dad would help us win the “coolest valentines box” award. One year we built a motorized beehive with bees that flew around on thin wires, with a sign that said “Bee my valentine!”

    My dad instilled in me the belief that if you’re creative and resourceful, you can make your ideas reality. My goal as a father is to do the same for my kids.

    If I won this printer, I’d use it to empower my children to create whatever their little minds could dream up. Whether they wanted to make toys or statues or games or crazy inventions, we’d work together to find a way to make their ideas reality.

    Moreover, I’d use it to show my girls that they can do anything that boys can do, and that making and tech are fields they can conquer too. Together with my dad, we’d have a tri-generational family of makers in one room. I can’t imagine anything cooler than that.

  186. Jacob Morales says:

    Recent father of a daughter. Have made her crib, slings, finishing a combo rocker, stroller, minicar. I would probably use this to Make custom gears. And the dual extrusion Makes me want to try conductive materials for the whole integrated wiring idea. And pretty toys.

  187. Katie F. says:

    My Dad, with his unique sense of humor, would print a lopsided ashtray and show everyone “what his daughter gave him for Father’s Day this year.”

  188. Roop Charlie says:

    We’ve had to move into a flat, meaning that dad had to give up his workshop -aka single car garage. Since the move, things are tight and cramped so all of his tools were sold. Since then he has been teaching himself 3d modelling, with my help, he is not a sit in front of the tv sort of person, saying that if he can’t build things in real life, at least he can build them in a computer. I’d love him to be able to print out his models, even in miniature, so he can get the tactile feel of holding it in his hands again.

  189. markmcginley says:

    I’m a father of a daughter who recently graduated from college with a design degree. Nothing would please me more than to see one of my daughters 3D designs brought to life with that wonderful printer. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.

  190. stacekir says:

    My tale is a true story of “back to the future.”

    My dad was a huge influence on me and my forever lasting fascination with emerging technology. Growing up, I wasn’t showered with the typical toys given to girls like Barbie dolls and Princess attire. Instead, my dad chose to introduce me to coding with a Texas Instruments 99/4a in 1981, programmable electronic toys from Radio Shack, telescopes in the backyard, Atari games and mechanical VCRs. In 1983, he was one of the first architects in the Fort Worth area to purchase AutoCad. Run with floppy disks on a Victor 9000, he encouraged me to play and explore. I remember tinkering around on it in his office. To me, it was more of a game than a vocational tool. As time went on, he introduced me to the first Sony floppy disk storage digital cameras and finally we ventured out into the wilds of Texas to experience the treasure hunting game of Geocaching with a Garmin GPS handheld.

    In the late 90’s, I moved away from Texas and away from the opportunity and time to play with and explore technology with my dad. And as I have moved on, my dad has moved on. We became distracted with other priorities and interests in life. Our encounters with technology gravitated to the more mainstream adoption of mobile smart phones, MP3 players and practical uses of the Internet.

    About 3 years ago, I learned about the incredible advancements in 3D printing accessibility for the home. My dad was the first person I called to tell about this amazing futuristic technology. Now in his 80’s, he was amazed and even doubtful that we have progressed into the stuff of science fiction. But I quickly showed him videos and actual prints that ignited the excitement and curiosity we both shared in our earlier years. Alas, the available printers were a tad out of our price range.

    In addition to being a talented architect and champion of early technology, my dad is a phenomenal cartoonist. He is frequently recruited to create drawings to narrate stories and award as prizes for social events. One of his most prized cartoons is a drawing of a White Elephant that he takes to ‘white elephant” Christmas parties. It is the one gift that guests will fight over. The coveted drawing is always destined for a vigorous exchange of ownership as the participants repetitively steal it from one another throughout the game.

    I would love to pick up where we left off and, once again, embark on a journey of technology exploration with my dad. I’d like to turn his idea of creating 2D drawings of a white elephants into 3D printed modern day versions.

    In short, I’d love to take my dad where he took me so often during my childhood. I’d like to take him “back to the future” for Father’s Day.

  191. Alysia Fischer says:

    I asked my 7 year old what he and his Dad would do with a 3D printer. He said, “We’d make Art. We’d also make helpful things, like Dr. Who, and Rose and Martha and Amy and Rory and Clara. And the Daleks…Hey, I didn’t say we’d only make helpful things!”

  192. skywaterblue says:

    My father couldn’t be less in me having a 3D Printer and wouldn’t have the slightest clue what to do with one. Sorry; he wouldn’t win any awards for Best/Worst Father Ever, but neither do I feel like writing some goopy post about what a supportive guy he isn’t – contra, I neither feel like raking him over the coals. He is who he is, and I am who I am. Sorry for everyone who IS writing a lovely post about how wonderful their Dad is; you should feel fortunate to have him in your life. This holiday is for you. Know how lucky you are, and please feel gratitude to the orphans and orphans-by-choice in your life.

    That said, I am still going to enter. I am a recent SAIC BFA in the Art and Technology department. Last semester I was working in Tom Burtonwood’s Digital Scanning and Printing class on these Victoriana Dinosaur Busts. They’re an exploration of the focus on science and memorializing that history, as well as a comment on the mass-produced plaster busts that often grace bookshelves of artists and designers.

    If I won the Creatr XL, I’d immediately start scaling these up and making really huge prints of them. They’re monumental in their own way, and deserve to be sized that way.

    Thanks,
    Victoria Morris.

    shapeways.com/shops/anbaric

  193. Holly from Thought & Sight says:

    My father and I bonded over watching goofy scary movies when I was a kid in the 80s, and while there might have been a couple I shouldn’t have seen (when Carrie reached her hand out of the !%$@ grave! Ack!), what are a few nightmares compared to all the warm and fuzzy memories?

    We’d have a blast 3D printing EVERYTHING for our yearly Halloween parties!

    Creepy lifelike mask of my own face? Check. The best ever Batman costume for my young cousin? No problem! Ooh, or a mask based on that terrifying spider-eggs-in-your-face illustration from “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” that my father had to repeatedly reassure me WOULD ABSOLUTELY NOT, NOT EVER actually happen to me.

    We’d geek out on cheesy 80s horror movies themes! I wonder if we could make a doorway curtain with the vampire face cloud image from Fright Night…

  194. kgpian says:

    My grandpa was a lawyer and his meager income (34 cents per month) could hardly support a family of 9. The food mainly came from our agricultural lands and the rest of the money went in educating all his children (including dad). My grandfather couldn’t afford electricity so all of them used to study under street lights. My dad was one of them. He studied hard and eventually he enrolled himself in a prestigious university in India. Astounded by his hard work, my grandpa gifted his own mechanical wrist watch to my dad which costed him a lot more than his monthly income. Dad took great care of the watch and he preserved it very well. Fast forwarding 20 years, dad showed me the watch once and I played along with it (I was 6 years old). I broke it. Dad was furious, but he managed to control his anger. I never felt this embarrassed and I still despise myself for committing such blunder. And with grandpa gone, it gets even worse.

    Today, I saw this post and a wild idea conjured up in my mind. I once saw a few DIY posts about building a mechanical watch at home. And with the help of a 3D printer, I can actually build one and gift it to my dad. A vintage mechanical watch built with a 3D printer. Such a great amalgamation of technologies it will be. And a great gift too. I hope it also reminds him of his dad as well :-)

  195. Anthea Plummer says:

    My dad died of liver and kidney failure when I was just entering adulthood. I’ve been very lucky to have my step-dad, who has filled this void for me over the years. In return, I’ve been a devoted daughter, which he also needed. We’ve been able to be there for each other, even though we are not related by blood. My step-dad is an amazing carpenter who has built his own homes in the past and has done a lot to help others when they really needed it. I would love to show him a modern technology that could allow him to restore parts of his 250 year old family home by printing pieces that could help him in the refinishing process. In particular, there is the original homestead on the property, which we think is around 400 years old. I would love to help him turn this building into a museum that we can pass on to future generations in our family. Refinishing the old furniture, mouldings and objects that have been stored inside for so long, would mean a great deal to him. He treasures history, family, and giving to the future. I would like to give something precious to him.

  196. James King says:

    My dad killed himself several years ago, but if I won this I’d print parts for projects he’d love to do, I remember him fixing things around the house and How much he loved music. I think I’d mainly focus on printing things for organizing toolboxes and things in the house, especially since he was so organized and that is an area where I’m lacking. Regardless as to who wins it, Happy fathers day (early) to all the dads out there. Please remember your kids need you and want you to stick around! :D
    P.S. Don’t feel sorry for me here, I’ve learned a lot from my dad, and even though he left in a bad way, I like to think his memory lives on in a good way, So PLEASE, no “Sorry for your loss”es. Death is part of life. Nothing to be sorry for.

  197. erictank says:

    My dad died a couple of years ago; I’m sure if I’d had one of these while he was alive and in good health, he’d have had me making trim parts for his 67 Mustang. Or nice cabinet handles to replace the ones I screwed up all those years ago…

    As it is, I’d use it for costume armor parts. Add ons for my Vader, detail pieces for my X-Wing pilot, components for the new costumes we’re going to be seeing for Episode 7 for my wife and stepchildren. And I’d finally finish my stepdaughter’s Iron Man armor, after 3 years. I’m sure I’d find any number of things to use the printer for, but those would be the big ones for me and my family.

  198. Eren D. says:

    He came into our lives when I was a boy and I absolutely despised the man! Hours of yard work for no allowance, getting scolded for doing stuff boys do is no fun for a couple of young hooligans who’s father passed years prior. Nobody can replace a father, but Paul did his best to raise us right, keep our amazing mom happy, and run a milk business for 30+ years. 24 years later, and 12 years after I moved out, Paul and I have a much different relationship. Most recently he has developed Parkinson’s Disease which is a huge blow coming from a cheerful Veteran who pushed dollies for so many years, always made sure there was enough food on the table, and raised my brother and I to become the gentlemen we are today.

    His condition continues to worsen, and I would like an opportunity to give back to the cheerful man that once upon a time stole my mother away but has now become so integral in my life. This is so difficult for me to write, because we never know how much time we have left until it’s too late. The clock is ticking. My ambition is to collaborate with him in creating braces that not only contour with his body, but also in creating puzzles for concentration. I’ve socked away for a 3D scanner thanks to crowdsourcing, the missing puzzle piece can finally be realized with your contribution to the vision. I really appreciate the opportunity to share my story, and hope it serves as inspiration to others. Thank you Paul, I love you man!

  199. Jonga Ramos says:

    My father was an engineer who designed his ideas and had a hard time bringing them to fruition, for in his days he depended on “pattern makers” to understand his drawings/plans to make a wooden pattern so it could then be cast in metal, and then finish-machined and/or further hand-filed & sculpted to produce the finish product.
    Today I too am an engineer in the remanufacturing and upgrading of centrifugal pumps, and I surely would LOVE to own a 3D printer in which to plot my design ideas before submitting them to final production! I would like to plot my “compound vane geometry impeller” to demonstrate my ideas to prospect users/beneficiaries before launching into manufacturing of the final product. This printer would be instrumental in helping me to achieve my objectives, to enrich the pump remanufacturing & upgrading industry!

  200. solmstea says:

    My dad has a motorcycle problem. He has the carcasses of at least 50 motorcycles. When he sees a rusty old thing on the side of the road, he has to pick it up. His friends (who all have wives at home who won’t let them fill up their property with piles of rust) all call him when they see a “good deal” on the side of the road and he comes to the rescue. Some languish in the barn, some get used for parts, many get fixed up for friends and young people who he introduces to a new hobby. By trade, he was a mechanic but by vocation he is a metalsmith and jeweler. I know he would love to get his hands on a 3D printer that’s big enough to model parts for the bikes and continuing to share his love for making and working with his hands with friends and family.

  201. Chau Huh says:

    Toys for his new grandson most likely!

  202. Mark Allen says:

    I lost my Dad last year but if I had a 3D-printer, my son and myself are into doing things that would change the world. We are both into developing gadgets using the Raspberry Pi and the Arduino prototype boards and the 3D printer would take it up several notches in the things we could do. I could see my wife having 3D-printer parties with her sewing and quilting friends creating all kinds of quilt-ware.

    Thanks

  203. D H says:

    My Dad and I would print a 1:1 scale Tardis out of plastic (in sections and assemble), but it may take a little wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey…

  204. Jean-Marc Seguin says:

    My Dad is and has been always a maker. He has done it all from creating small and finicky toys that kids have enjoys for years to our prized wooden giraffe used to hold housecoats in a kids room (now being passed down to my grandson) all the way through to building their house. In his 70s, he is still a maker and he passed that on to me from an early age. I have been creating and building for as long as I can remember. My latest addiction has been to restore electro-mechanical pinball machines. My other passion is my work with a not-for-profit musical theater company that puts families into shows and performs at family affordable prices. A 3D printer the likes of this would allow both of us, and others around us, to push our art forms further making mockettes for theater, parts for pinball machines and toys to delight family and friends for years to come.

  205. Lars Fuchs says:

    My Dad passed almost 20 years ago. Although he and my Mom settled in the US and became Americans, he’s buried in Denmark, where he was born, next to his parents and younger sister and brother. Now that my Mom has also died just recently, I’d like to bring my Mom’s ashes to be buried next to my Dad in an urn I’d print with the Leapfrog Printer. It’d be a 3D portrait of the whole family: My Mom and Dad, their four children, five grandchildren and the two dogs. I think that’d be a really nice gift for him.

  206. Guest says:

    My dad loves spending time in the outdoors, more specifically spending lots of time on the water fishing, and ever since I was about 2 I’ve tagged along with him to the lake or river trying to out fish him. (That day rarely presents itself) We also both really enjoy doing things like custom tackle building and always trying to come up with the next best thing to catch more and bigger fish, the possibilities that a 3D printer would create for him would be endless when it comes to making fishing gear, camping gear, 3D printing has also been something we’ve wanted to try but never something we have been able to afford with the economy like it is. Any time one of us has a new invention of some sort we’re always trying to top it or improve it somehow, having technology to help with that would be amazing.

  207. Nate says:

    My dad has always been a huge fan of the outdoors, camping, hunting, hiking, more than all of them fishing though. Ever since I was about 2 I joined him at the river or lake, trying to out fish him. (Doesn’t really happen) He has always enjoyed tackle making and trying to create the next new best thing that will catch more and/or bigger fish. Having a 3D printer would expand his innovation side and possibilities endlessly. He’s always wanted to have a 3D printer to dink with but never has he been able to afford one. A huge benefit for him would be the ability to print parts for fishing reels too. Last year we had a part break in the morning just before we started fishing. It was the part that kept the line from going out, after a lot of time diagnosing and trying to fix the issue eventually we cut up a spinner and bent the wire into a fashion to where it worked as the broken part…that day I caught a big Chinook salmon and he got skunked, but we celebrated together because if it weren’t for his ingenuity I wouldn’t even have been able to fish. Right now I am in highschool and jobless, the last few years have been really tough and I haven’t been able to get my dad anything for fathers day except for just homemade stuff, this would be an incredibly epic gift to give for this fathers day, one he would put to good use.

  208. Matt says:

    I would use it to print out Norman Rockwell’s “The Scoutmaster” Using Dad as the Scoutmaster and my brother and me as the Scouts. Dad spent a lot of time with us in Scouting and helped us both get Eagle. I didn’t find out till I was in my 20’s that he never slept when camping. He couldn’t sleep on the ground because of his back.

  209. Kel says:

    My dad and I would get my children into printing things. We talk about all the stuff with 3d printing to them already it would be amazing to see them building and printing things of their own.

  210. Caity Fisher says:

    If you really knew my dad, you would know these two things about him: 1) he loves airplanes. He absolutely loves them; they are his hobby, his passion and his life’s work. To him, airplanes are these fascinating creatures with endless powers and abilities that he loves to exploit. He builds them, fixes them, enhances them; he loves to test their functions and press their buttons and to him, they are the ultimate gateway to exploring. 2) He is also smart, and not just your average smart, but a real intellectual. When he helps my brothers and I with our seemingly-complicated math homework, the words that leave his lips, I swear, are of a different language. Detail-oriented, nothing ever slips past him and everything is done to a perfection that can be mistaken for OCD. However, Dad’s intellectual status expands past just academia and into the real world where he uses his creativity to solve real issues and his kindness to make others happy. The quiet, nerdy airplane man behind the workbench with super glue stuck to his callused fingers is much, much more than he seems, being also a casual genius, a critical thinker, and a giver all in one.

    So knowing this and knowing my Dad, I can only imagine what he would do with a tool as spectacular and foreign as the Creatr XL printer. He might lock himself up in our garage and never come out, playing with his new toy and creating whole new airplanes, airplane designs, and airplane models, or he might make multiple projects to share with those around him, making the printer a gift to his loved ones. Either way, the Creatr XL would be more than just a printer to my Dad; it would be a gateway to something new and inventive that only he could imagine.

  211. Jacob says:

    When I was a child my Day helped me put together my first plastic model. It was a span-together model car. As I grew older I continued to build more detailed and complex models and my Dad was always there to help me and taught me details like the best way to paint and construct my model. He even taught me how to make custom adjustments to make the model unique or how I wanted.

    When I was 16 my Dad bought me a pick-up (1976 Chevy Step-Side) that didn’t run, was rusty, and needed a motor. We spend the summer putting together a motor, dropping it into that truck, installing a new gear shift, installing new carpet and making adjustments so I had a working vehicle. It was like when I was a kid but a full-scale model I could actually drive.

    If I won the first thing I would make a model car of a 1976 Chevy Step-side just like the one we built together. I would do a detailed paint job to make it EXACTLY like the one we made together. Nobody makes a model kit for that particular vehicle so it would be so unique and it would have so much sentimental value from those days of building models that culminated in my first vehicle!

    jmcharries@cox.net

    1. gmmerrell says:

      That sounds really nice. I remember my dad and brothers making model cars all of the time. Guess it’s one of those father-son things that just kind of happens

  212. Cauthron says:

    We would spend more time together expanding our imaginations and creating new things that did not exist.
    -Grace, Jake, and Lily

  213. JBenson says:

    Enough already! My son, the Teenager, got it into his head that if he asks me for a 3D printer over and over again that I will get him one. So at least 10 times a day he asks. “Dad, can you get me a 3D printer?” “Dad, you said you would get me a 3D printer!” “Dad when are we going to order a 3D printer?” Make the madness stop!!! I would if I could, but my job went away and with it most of our income. My son is a budding engineer and inventor and loves robotics. He works with the robotics team at school so they would benefit as well if he had a 3D printer.

  214. rumblpak says:

    Well the only thing my dad wants right now is a gazebo, so I guess I could figure out a way to lego piece-meal a 3d printed gazebo for him.

  215. smocksam says:

    Simple- a cool looking, more comfortable cast for our Granddaughter/daughter. She just turned 5 and a week later on memorial day fell off her bike, breaking her shin bone in 3 places.

    The directions don’t say to include it, but everyone else is including their story.

    In the past year the family has gone through:

    Surgery for all 3 members of the family
    Separate trips to the ER for mother and daughter
    June 2013 mom lost her job, but got a new one before severance wore out
    March 2014 dad lost his job and is still unemployed
    After Xmas the old family Labrador had to be pot to sleep

    I’m sure there is something else that I’m forgetting.

  216. KyleS_TCT says:

    This is an amazing opportunity for the winner to change other people’s lives in the same manner as profoundly as my Dad changed mine. My Father was a brilliant man, and unfortunately passed away seven years ago. He spent a great deal of his life sharing the tremendous amount of knowledge he had. There was honestly nothing he could not design, blueprint and build. He was quite simply, astonishing. Were I to win this phenomenal printer, I would use it to create the parts needed to teach children and aspiring special effects makers how to build animatronic hands, heads and anything else they could imagine. I would work especially hard to ensure, just as my Father did, that people who may not be able to afford professional training, still get the chance to express and grow their abilities. Thanks to my Dad there is almost nothing I can’t do with my hands and my mind. And since my wife and I can’t have children of our own, I would use the printer to pass my Father’s wisdom and knowledge on to the next generation in as many ways as my Wife and I could muster. Happy Father’s Day Dad. We love and miss you immensely.

  217. Anon says:

    I would use it to build toy cars and robots for my son, so as he tears them up I would be able to fix them better. We also want to build a robot, a rocket, and a “Herbie the love bug”. He’s just 4. I know there isn’t much of a chance with all of these other heart wrenching stories, but my little boy is my best bud, so I have to give it a try. Being hyperactive, he probably wouldn’t be able to stand waiting for the prints to complete any way.

  218. buggie m says:

    My dad is rough on his lawn tractor and farming equiptment. He would probanly print parts for whatever needed fixin’. One that comes to mind is our best shovel”s handle broke. He would fix that up.

  219. Asha Johnosn says:

    Growing up I never had a dad i use to wish that i did but after many
    years I realized that it just wasn’t going to happen for me, but a
    few months before I turned 12 by some crazy twist of fate I got a chance
    to meet him for the first time. I lived with him for about 9 months and unfortunately we didn’t hit it off as well as I had always imagined we would. I wasn’t use to him
    and being the rough, tomboy girl that i was i think he had no clue how
    to really connect with or handle me.I’m 23 years old now and i have
    only seen my father 1 time since I was 12 and that was only about 9
    months ago. When we finally did see each other again he told me he was
    sorry he had not been there for me but he would like to make up for it
    now and get to know me. I think now he is more accepting of who I am. I
    think he now knows that i will never be that normal daughter who just sits there and looks pretty . He understands I’m the type of girl that likes working with
    her hands and getting a little dirty. I’m never going to be a girly-girl.

    I have wanted a 3D printer for some time now and i have been looking into ways to try and build my own.The 3D leap frog Printer is way more
    impressive than I could have ever hoped for mine to turn out like.If by some crazy
    miracle by god that I some how win this incredible printer, I think this
    would be a great way for my father and I to begin to bond when he comes to visit
    me. I would love for the first project that we do together would be to
    build make the “birds nest stadium” in Beijing or the Canton tower in
    Guangzhou. I choose this place because i have recently had a chance to
    see these beautiful monuments. If we choose to make the Canton tower i
    would like to print it piece by piece instead of one big chunk. so that
    after we are done printing it we would have a giant puzzle that we could
    build together.

  220. Giligain I. says:

    Okay, no joke! I got a 3D printer off of Kickstarter, Zortrak M200, and was delivered 6mths ago, but the wife was pretty mad at me! And…I have not one, but two more backed which are not delivered yet as they are start-ups. So…it would be really nice to see the look on my wife’s face when she gets to the point, “How much did that cost?” And I can say, “Not a damn penny! Now, can I 3D print?” But we all know this is not what will come out of a married man’s mouth but instead, “it’s a gift from Leapfrog.”
    But this will bring up the conversation of this contest…and what I’ve said so far. You know what, I don’t think I can get your printer without getting into “trouble” with the Mrs. I’m sorry for having bothered you..carry on.

  221. Sidney Drouet says:

    What a great chance.
    My father and I used to be veeeery close. We used to share sports, hobbies and best of all dreams… We spent together many adventures, archery, scuba, fishing, long talks. He was an extraordinary mechanical engineer and I was the computer guy, we dreamed to build a hovercraft or air cushion vehicle. He made a design and I made the plans on the computer, it Would become a great 3 generation project because my 7 years old son always was curious with us…. My Dad just passed away and now we are not able to build the project….. But I think my Dad would enjoy to see from heaven the 3D printed model and my son could have a reason to remain his “Pop”… And maybe further ahead start a new 3 generation dream….

  222. Kevin Brown says:

    hi im disabled limited income
    and my girlfriend wants to get married the ring I cannot afford so I would print her one it uses different material right?

  223. Barry Morgan says:

    Well, we could make dog toys as now we both have dogs – although he lives a few thousand miles away so I might have to print an airplane to get there,but MAYBE just some sort of vehicle like a bike to drive there however I would just print some things that other people want me to sell to them to get him out here to visit his granddaughter for the first time.

  224. Brooke T says:

    This year has been so hard on my dad and my family. We’ve lost a lot, we almost lost our home in a flood and a tornado and my dad works so hard every single day for my family. There’s not one day he’s not working to help us or to spend time with us, even when he’s tired or stressed. He’s the most creative person I know, and I am not just saying that. You should see the incredible work he does. He’s so creative and talented, but he’s not able to live his his dream of only being a photographer and artist. Because of his stressful job and the fact that we are struggling to make ends meet every week he’s lost his passion for creativity. He’s put down his camera, he’s lost the spark in his eyes that meant he was working on something really incredible. He’s given me my love for the arts, nature, and just about everything I love to this day. I want to give back to him, he deserves to feel creative again. I know this 3D printer would do just that, I can just see him making so many amazing things. He’s turning 50 this year, this month actually, on June 25th and I just want him to be happy and creating art again. Please help him to do just that.

    1. Guest says:

      Addendum; My incredibly creative and funny dad and I <3

    2. Guest says:

      Addendum; My incredibly funny and creative dad and I <3

      1. Karen says:

        To be perfectly honest, my dad would probably print a companion. He loves to be out and about, seeing and doing new things. A few years ago, my mom decided she absolutely prefers being at home…ALL. THE. TIME. For a while I became his tag along. Now I’ve moved 4 hours away and the poor guy is left to choose between going alone or sitting home. We could design and print him a fabulous companion who would listen to all of his stories…no matter how many times he tells them!!

  225. Mdavid says:

    7 years ago my family lost everything (our house, car, money) because of our restaurant, we had only 1000 dollar to move houses, start a new life, pay the rent and go to school. My sister and I were secondary school students, so we couldn’t help our parents. My mother didn’t get a job, so my father had to find some. He had to go to Germany (1500 km from us), where he worked 14 hours a day, 6 days on a week. He always sent 90% of his salary to us, and didn’t came home, only once every 6 months. I missed him so much, but this was the only way to survive.

    After 6 years he got a job in Austria, way closer to us, so now I can see him every weekends. Since then we are working on a Iron Man costume, our plan is going to childrens hospitals to read them tales. This build puts is in touch again after 7 years, so now I am happy again.

    He did his best for us, now I am a university student. I think no one will ever do so much for me like him. Without him I couldn’t afford going to university, and couldn’t make my dreams true. This is why I love my Dad so much.

  226. molly rickman says:

    since there is only one to be got ,I would print another , so both of us could have fun dreaming and creating and strengthening our bond on a whole new level…

  227. James Clark says:

    We lost dad just over a year ago. Dad was a tinkerer so sky would be the limit with his mind. My son has desided he wants to fix up my vintage motercycle and this would be perfect for making the body parts as some are no longer availabe. I could also see my son making modelsplains, trains and trucks.

  228. rick williams says:

    Saturday morning breakfast was a great time to spend with Dad, frying bacon, toasting English muffins and talking about last week and planning projects for the weekend. That came to a screeching halt when the muffin splitter broke. A fork or knife just doesn’t hack it once you used a real muffin splitter. Saturdays just aren’t the same. Crumbs everywhere, torn muffins and parental admonishments of “don’t cut yourself” and more. There really can’t be a substitute to bring back those Saturday mornings with properly split muffins. I’ve searched high and low for a replacement but nothing is like the original. The only possibility is to make a new one with a 3D printer. That goes to show you what 3D printing has come to…bringing a family back together, maintaining a harmonious relationship with the real world, improving the environment for all mankind and making replacement parts for hard to find substitutes. It may not be a big project but the Creatr XL would be just the thing to do it.

  229. Guest says:

    The broken splitter

  230. Don Pancoe says:

    My dad is very fun-loving and caring. He would use the printer for not just work (he’s a designer), but fun and enjoyment. Not to mention, being the caring person that he is, he would share the printer with his family, including me. He knows I am very interested in 3-D printers, and he would teach me how they work and how to work them. Most importantly of all, the printer would shrink the amount of boring time in the household, which overtakes our home for ours on end.

    Thanks!

    (My son wrote this)

  231. Rich King says:

    It would almost have to be something to hold something electronic. Either an arduino case or prop. Maybe even make him a new electric razor outer skin (to put my razor in of course!) But you know it is the quality time that counts. As long as it stays in my house…. He can print over the network. Maybe….

  232. UltraShannon says:

    I am a single Mom of two young girls ages 4 and 8. My job requires a lot of travel and my Dad, who is retired, will come to stay at my house for a week at a time while I am at conferences and be Mr. Mom. He is a wonderful grandfather. I learned my love of making from him and I have been trying to instill that same love in my girls.
    My Dad is left-handed and a stroke a few years ago greatly reduced the use of his left arm and hand. This is particularly unfortunate since this has made it very difficult for him to continue in his woodworking hobby. If we won this printer, it would give him a new avenue for making in a different format.
    I can’t imagine how many different things we would design and make, but I am fairly certain that one of the first things would involve toys for the girls: likely a family project helping them to make dolls of themselves for their creative play.

  233. Allen Taylor says:

    I’m the Dad. My son Neil is an independent filmmaker who makes stop motion animated movies. He is currently working on a movie concept in which a heroic sentient robot saves the boy who is the son of the robot’s inventor from the clutches of an evil general who wants to wipe the robot’s personality and turn it into a killer robot. This film will require figures for all the characters, including the robot, the boy, the general, and others. They will have to have multiple facial expressions, as well as articulated bodies. A Leapfrog 3-D printer would be ideal for creating these characters.

  234. Andrew Gehl says:

    I know that this contest is for Father’s Day, but I would like to enter this in hopes that I win it for my son. That would be an outstanding Father’s day present for myself. My son Owen is eleven years old and quite accomplished. He reads maker-type articles, raspberry Pi and Arduino projects and programming books etc for the fun of it. I don’t get it, but he does. He comes to me and tells me about all of these things that he would like to do with this 3D printer, most of which I am clueless about. He already has something designed that he wants to create to help me at my work! He told me about this contest. I want to encourage him to continue his education and help him in his passions, and this will help. I won’t use this prize, but he will love it and learn from it. Helping my son would be the ultimate Father’s Day present.

  235. Patti Derbyshire says:

    My dad was the first person that taught me that I could be a maker. I was the first girl in the school system in grade 9 to take industrial arts. I lost my daad a few years ago but I continue to be super proud of what I can do and the confidence he instilled with me. Now, with my son, I would make 3D scuptures of his artwork. He’s a print major and I think it’s be fun to make some of his 2D prints into 3D.

  236. Matt Helgeson says:

    My dad never bought me LEGO. Instead he harnessed my DIY
    spirit with projects around the house fixing and painting things cause I was so
    ‘good a figuring it all out.’ He only saw the tip of the iceberg, he saw I was
    a ‘handyman’ but never saw the inventor and engineer. On camp outs during
    scouting, family camp outs, and the occasional fishing or crabbing trip if
    something broke, got stuck, or fouled in some way He’d look the problem over
    give a shrug and look at me “ What’d you think?” I always felt his pride mixed
    with mine when I finished; task complete, if not totally fixed. All the things I’ve
    built and made to him are traits of the ‘handyman’ he gets all the things I’ve
    machined for classes but not the process behind it. To sit him down start to
    finish, from concept of the mind to Physical object that he can hold, to show
    my dad the inventor and engineer. My dad never bought me LEGO, but maybe that’s cause I’ll get to print my own.
    Thanks!
    Matt

  237. Matt Helgeson says:

    My dad never bought me LEGO.
    Instead he harnessed my DIY Spirit with projects and painting around the
    house. I was the go to son because I “got it.” He called me a ‘handyman’ which
    was the tip of the iceberg, he never saw the engineer or inventor. On scouting
    camp outs, family trips or the rare fishing/ crabbing adventure, if something
    broke, wore out or got fouled up he would look at me sometimes and say “What’d
    ya think?” I always felt his pride mixed with mine when the tent rod was
    mended, fishing reel fixed or tarp strung up for its last rainy night. To my dad
    all of this was squarely in the realm of the ‘handyman’ He always enjoys the
    trinkets I make in my ME classes and bring to him. I want to sit him down from
    concept to completion form CAD model to the physical, and hand him an object
    that moments ago was an idea. My dad never bought me LEGO, maybe that’s cause we’re going to be able to print them.
    Thanks!
    Matt

  238. Jason Dubrow says:

    Toys, lots and lots of toys for me – my 3.5 year old daughter.

  239. Mountain Lab says:

    My dad and I have always dreamed of creating unique fair type foods… Stuff like spaghetti on a stick, pretzel corn dogs, etc. With a 3d printer of this magnitude we can simulate our ideas and analyze the minute details of turning ridiculous food ideas into reality! We can use the printer for conceptualizing the machines needed to produce the stuff too!

  240. TJ McGuinness says:

    My father and I are very very close, he has always been there for me since I am physically disabled. He has always been there to make, modify or adapt things for myself and my wheelchair. He is working much more now, and it is getting difficult for him and iI to mod things for me and his needs. I feel with all my heart, that my dad would use this 3d printer to print both wheelchair parts and brackets, holders, etc for my wheelchair and crutches in order to make my life easier. This would be the best gift my father could want for fathers day, him being able to make my life easier which is all he ever wants.

  241. Vivian Dao says:

    Mechanical engineer, naval commander, veteran, husband, brother, and friend. These are generally what many people recognize him as, but to me he will always be my dad. I’ll admit growing up as the daughter of a commander and engineer was never quite easy. What can I say? An order is an order. Nonetheless, I quickly grew up with a love for the sciences. Some of the best childhood memories involve working on a number of engineering and scientific projects with him. I owe a lot to my dad for inspiring me to be the creative engineer I am today and for challenging me to be my own hero.

    And while my dad is a man of many honorable and respectable qualities, I must shamelessly point out that he is also quite the self-confident man – a quality that I often find amusing and hilarious. The story is that my dad has this delusion that he is remarkably handsome. His motto: “I’m sexy, and I know it.” My response: “You’re sexy… but no one knows it.” Dad, I love that you’re confident, but let’s be honest… So I guess knowing my dad and his delusional ways, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up 3D printing a miniature statue of himself. He would also probably print various household parts here and there (as well as a naked Hawaiian lady bottle opener), but he would definitely take pride in a mini Ritchie. I would certainly use it
    as a source of humor, but what can I say? Whatever makes the old man content.

  242. Leapfrog 3D Printer Giveaway Makes Father’s Day BIG ChandiCampbell says:

    Hi. I don’t think I have the dad story you’re looking for unfortunately. I still need
    this printer however, to make the world a better place for all the great
    dads out there. I know some who are struggling to help provide good
    homes for their children. I will help ease this burden by fulfilling my
    life’s ambition to create sustainable, customizable, biomimetic
    architectural blocks which will require very little money and zero power
    tools to build with. I’m learning to program evolving structures now
    and 3D printing is the next step in the poorly funded master plan. Oh,
    the prototypes I will print with composite materials! I could even print
    a father figure! Get it? A figure of a father? Ok, that was bad. My
    point is, that printer and I have a destiny. Don’t stand in our way!
    Happy Father’s Day to all and let’s make houses!

    1. Leapfrog 3D Printer Giveaway Makes Father’s Day BIG ChandiCampbell says:

      Hi again. I had some trouble with my Disqus account so I had to create a new one and re-post my comment. Hope that’s ok!

  243. Popcorn Lover says:

    My 10 yr old son has been getting Make for the last 2 years, as a gift from my dad (his grandfather). My dad is not known as a ‘Maker’, more like a ‘breaker’ of things, but he sees that my son is a natural Maker. I got my crafty genes from my mom who gave me the flexibility to create and mess around in the basement and garage, and taught me to sew at a young age. I’ve passed those genes onto my son, and am trying my best to encourage him along the path of creative thinking and doing. I’ve set my son up with his own work bench, some basic tools (his favorites include the hot glue gun, his carving knife, and a cordless drill), and all kinds of materials that he can experiment with. He is currently building rubber band powered balsa wood airplanes with tissue paper coverings, reminiscent of the 1950’s.

    The one problem with having a Make subscription for an average 10yr old is that more and more of the projects in the magazine involve a 3d printer, which we currently don’t have the ability to purchase. So, if we were able to get our hands on one, I think it would greatly increase my sons’ capabilities to create the kinds of things he wants. I’d think of it as a fathers day gift to my son. I’m ready to make some new memories with my son and learn something new in the process.

  244. Suri says:

    Would be amazing to own this 3d printer. This thing is like a magical device. If you could dream it, this printer could probably make it happen.

  245. Noah Cochran says:

    At the risk of sounding incredibly cheesy (hey, my dad is worth it!), my dad would make dreams come true. I’d argue that, as a teacher, he already does that, but next year he is trying to get a MakerSpace put into the high school where he teaches. He let it slip to some makers in training and they have been jumping out of the building with excitement. He has met some resistance from the upper administration that ask about what learning outcomes it meets or something like that. My dad is all about giving kids the best opportunity to learn, no matter who it rubs the wrong way. He is getting a little concerned that by getting his students excited, he has let the cat out of the bag too soon. This printer would jump start the excitement in this rural community and reinvigorate my dad’s passion for making. Most kids at his school don’t ever get a chance to “make” with technology and he wants to give that opportunity!

    The impact of the maker movement can and should be felt even in small rural communities! Start the next round of makers with this printer!

  246. Tim says:

    My father and I are very close and we both have a passion for creating things. We constantly find new projects to work on or repair things around the house. My father sparked my interest in building things when I was very young by getting me a bunch of Lego sets. And one year, as a Father’s Day present, I made a giant sign out of Legos that said “#1 DAD” and this really got to him. He was so happy with the present that I think he shed a tear, even though he will not admit it. Now I am going off to college next year to study engineering, and I am worried about losing the relationship I have with my father. If I won, I would recreate the sign I made for my father many years ago, for him to keep around the house or on his desk at work. This way whenever he looks at it, he can be reminded of me and it’s as if a part of me is still home with him and will hopefully help keep our relationship strong. Also, my father and I have been wanting to purchase a 3D printer for all of the projects we do together at home, but we cannot really afford one. Also if I won, I could show my dad some of the cool things I will be learning in college and my dad does love learning new things!
    Thanks!

  247. WormSmite says:

    My pop would print a small sign that says “You still owe me 50 bucks.”

  248. mike ranalli says:

    Easy I would make another 3 d printer.

  249. John Coxen says:

    I want a 3D printer for several reasons:
    To print objects to help my wife with her Jewelry making
    To print molds, etc for my Son who is an artist
    To get a start on a business that I can run after retirement
    And mostly just because it’d be cool to have one to be able to print whatever I wanted.

  250. Purpelpaeaz says:

    a statue and we could start our Smartlamp kickstarter project!

  251. John Powell says:

    My Dad is an old school maker. He knows how to make many things out of wood and metal. He shared this knowledge with me growing up and gave me the maker spirit. I am handy with woodworking tools but have always leaned towards technology. My Dad has shown interest in this as well but is a little behind the times. He was curious enough to buy me a 3D printer for Christmas without knowing much about them. So I am entering this contest so that I can pay him back two-fold. First off, I would give him the printer. He would really get a kick out of that. Second, I would share my knowledge of such things as he did in the past with me. This would bring life full circle with the teacher becoming the student. I’m sure he would be printing accessories for the grand kids and their golf cart in no time!

  252. GrinningFool says:

    I only have my daughter and son every other weekend and always am looking for ways to engage them in fun, educational projects. We have have made a lot of smaller projects together and it is fantastic bonding time with them. My daughter, who is 16, has gone on to participate in her high school FRC robotics program, thanks in part to the exposure from making and taking things apart. My son, who is 14, will be joining this year. I think it has really helped them become interested in science, technology and in my daughters case, Math!

    I would use the 3D printer to make a lot of parts for projects that I see in the Make magazine and other open source projects that require them. This would greatly expand the amount of projects I could do with my kids. I look forward to the last few years I have with them before they head out into the world.

  253. fivefeet says:

    My oldest son and I both enjoy model railroading. O, the things we can make. We can start with the corner market. Then move on to make a drive in theater. I can see all the little people and cars that we printed out and painted. Making a old farm house and barn would fit right in along the country tracks as they head out of town. O, the things I can make. I can print a little bonfire with hobo’s around it. This could bring the railroad to life.

  254. Matthew Shoemaker says:

    While my father passed away 3 years ago far too early at the age of 55, I currently have three young daughters ages 5, 3, and 6 months. The older two both love playing with their small dolls, and other small plastic toys. I have made them several small toys out of wood, and my wife has made a bunch of play kitchen food out of felt, but I know there are all kinds of things I could make for them with this printer. I enjoy the time I get to spend with them, even when it only amounts to about 4 hours a day after work.

  255. Rev. Brian O'keefe says:

    As a father to two amazing Stepkids and one daughter of my own creating something would be the easy part. Getting access to the base materials would be the tough part. My kids spend their time mixed between Minecraft marathons and Lego so creating custom lego, probably with a Minecraft theme, would be the start of the creativity. After this, they are constantly losing gameboard pieces as they take pieces from several games to put together to make their own, so the printer would be used to both replace the missing pieces and create custom ones for the games they are constantly inventing. On top of that I would be developing custom shirt and pant buttons to let the kids have some custom-wear for sure. Wax-molds to make fun candles and interesting crayons would be on the list and of course we can’t forget custom BIC Pen shells so the kids could have personalized pens for themselves and their friends. A 3D printer wouldn’t just give my family and I an edge in having more fun, it would be the beginning of a new world… (any chance you could throw in some of the resin as a favor? We’ll run out before too long!)

  256. Iliana Altamira says:

    Hello,this is my mom’s account because I am to young to have my own account. I would make clones of my dad because I love him and I amost never get to see him.
    He is the best dad in the world because he works very hard.

    Hello,my name is Mina, my brother Rene wrote his coment above, I want to win the
    Printer because I want to give it to my Dad for a father’s day present because he stays out of town for more than two weeks to do his job, if he get it he can work here so we could see him more often because we miss him so much and we love him!

  257. Ann McDougall says:

    Last February while my husband was traveling for work, our twin sons were born 4 months early and only lived for an hour and a half. He watched on Skype. The nurses at the hospital took little fragile ceramic casts of their hands and feet for us which we have in a glass display case at home. He would use the printer to make more durable duplicates of the casts for ourselves and similar ones for other families in my infant loss support group. That and of course a Thundercats Sword of Omens for our living son.

  258. Leonard Reeves says:

    I would print out a number of small guitars, amps, tube bodies, and larger scale passive components to make a sort of chandelier/mobile with LEDs going through each component. My dad is the reason I got into making anything and we both work on audio equipment; he’s on the tube amp side and I’m on the effects pedal side. I’d like to have two of these light fixtures made, one for him and one for me, to have above our work benches. Same light shining down on us while we both make and fix our projects. I think that would be a nice way to have form and function while symbolizing a great father-son relationship that got me into making.

  259. Lenny says:

    my dad would be printing all kinds of things,like replacement rotors for his rc plane, small 3d figures i’ve made and accessories for our electronics projects.probably he would even print a giant model of his favorite car :)

  260. Bob Atomic says:

    My son is too young to use the internet unsupervised (8) but not too young to appreciate using his imagination. If he and I had a 3d printer, we would print his creations from Minecraft for starters. Then I’d teach him how to use Blender. Then we’d play around with architectural design software. Then, I’m sure he’d want to print models of different Pokemon. Then we’d build a website together (I’m a web developer) where people could upload their own designs for us to print for them. (It’s been done, I know. But what better excuse to get him into programming?)

  261. Tony M. says:

    Honestly, my dad would print things that he thought were his original inventions. He’s always coming up with “New” ideas that would make life easier or products better. Some of his most recent invetions include: a clip for the visor that holds sunglasses; a magnet on an old radio antenna that picks up screws from hard to reach places; or the coffee can that accelerates charcoal grilling (otherwise known as a charcoal chimney). At least he’s not inventing weird things like those guys overseas (like the woman’s lap pillow). If he starts with that kind of stuff, we are cutting him off. Maybe with this he can invent the plastic paperclip or a handle for his Diet Coke can.

  262. Fisher S says:

    My dad would print another model of him to go on hunting and fishing trips with, because we are always to busy to go on them.

  263. David King says:

    I am the dad. I’d use it for two things. First, to teach my math and science-loving teenage daughter how to turn dreams into reality. Second, to create a trailer to allow me, Dad, to continue to backpack, but by pulling my gear instead of having a strap pull on a badly healed bone.

  264. Simas Pudziuvelis says:

    My dad works with cars. Sometimes a plastic parts are broken I always say: If we would have a 3D Printer we could just print it, but dad says it’s way too expensive for us (and in our country this is a new thing. Just few retailers sell a 3D printer but plenty of places to buy the filament but they are still printing in small dimmensions and prices are cosmic). And dad just buys an expensive part that is just a piece of plastic and sometimes hard to find. If i would have a 3D printer I would print a toys for my little sister (she really likes horses), I would print robot parts, gifts to others, Phone cases, fancy Raspberry Pi cases, Arduino cases, portable homemade USB Battery case, and finally I would make a case for my homemade amplifier. I think Mom would have plenty uses too like printing a custom cookie forms, fruit bowl, or plastic cups.
    3D printer would be an epic helping hands for us

  265. Rohit says:

    I am a 3D artist and have been teaching my dad a trick or two on how to use them. He is quite tech savvy and catches up pretty quickly. It’s cool to see what he is making these days and I can’t think of a better gift for him than a 3d printer. I myself fancy one too but 3d printers haven’t quite made there way to India yet and the ones available from abroad are pretty expensive.

    Thanks :)

  266. DPoZ says:

    My dad was(and is) my Maker roll model, he was always fabricating some new solution to a crazy problem. Growing up and working alongside him, I acquired great experience that fueled my maker attitude while we still enjoyed awesome father and son time.

    I see the application of 3D printing as the next evolution of solving those problems. My dad still continues his passion for fixing things with creative solutions. Bringing a 3D printer into the toolbox is an opportunity to repeat some of those wonderful Father and son times. Plus it gives me an opportunity to pass some modern approaches to classic skills to my daughters.

  267. Owen says:

    A 3D printer would allow me to build kites that would be quite difficult to make using conventional materials and methods. One example would be to duplicate a bird’s skeleton from ABS plastic and then cover it with paper or light weight fabric.

  268. Aaron Holmes says:

    My father and I have never been really close, but there is one thing that has always brought us together: RC aircraft. This started when I was about 8 years old. My dad bought a helicopter for my birthday that would fly straight up, pop out a paratrooper, and come back down. I decided that it was too loud, and ran away crying.

    Later, when I was no longer terrified of autonomous machines, we invested heavily in all sorts of RC helicopters and airplanes. We would load tens of these in his truck and fly them around for hours. Well, for hours when we didn’t crash them into the ground, each other’s aircraft, or ourselves. This is what we could use this printer for. Model aircraft parts are EXPENSIVE. If we didn’t have responsibilities, we would go broke trying to maintain our addiction.

    I once flew a F4U Corsair plane straight into the ground from a hundred feet up. I made my plane loop successfully, during which the battery fell out. I counted the dollars while hearing my plane whistle ever faster to its demise. Surprisingly, only the cowl, elevator, and rudder broke. These cost me nearly $200 to replace. I could have easily printed out these parts, and been back in the air the next day.

    My dad once flew his plane into a wall. I don’t know what he was thinking, to be honest. It’s the same story, however: the quiet and knowing self-talk as you start to lose control, giving way to repeatedly yelling “no. NO. NOOOO!!” as it finally explodes on-target.

    Hell, I have had an RC helicopter flown into my legs before. Not only did that cost a couple hundred bucks to fix, but if I had the ability to print shin-pads, I could have stood there like a superhero instead of cowering before the rotors smacked into my bones.

    So, my plea to you is this. Both mine and my dad’s planes are currently out-of-service because of stories like the above. The addiction has become a tad too expensive, and so we have had to put off some repairs for a while. With the ability to print new parts (and armor), crashing would be much less heart-attack inducing, we we wouldn’t have to run away from each other’s planes.

  269. Mike Camp says:

    My dad likes to work on old cars and tinker with small electronics. He would probably print parts for one of these projects.

  270. Lola Timko says:

    My Dad is an inventor and loves to tinker. He will closely examine all the types of packaging to see if he can reuse it in some way. At one time he even glued in his own tooth which had fallen out because he was convinced he could do a better job than the dentist. He was wrong on that one but the Dentist was impressed, a little shocked but impressed. Since he has been retired he is itching to try new techniques so I would love to win this for him.

  271. TP says:

    Ah, the father who’ll never admit he knows YOU ARE PROUD OF HIM! That’s my dad. And it’s not a good thing. Sure, at his core he may realize I’ve always admired him but if he was to vocalize it, “Yes son, I saw the light in your eyes when I took you to the injection molding factories I worked at when you were growing up.” Or at least, “Son, I saw the energy you put in to every chore I assigned you. The energy you had as I built our two first homes. If you were trying to do it like I did, you were probably very proud of me.” Or even, “Son, you know when you had all of those ideas of injection molded thingamabobs and I waved off all of them? I just couldn’t grasp the idea that you were proud of me.” If he was to vocalize it (I sure did), I believe it would have started the mentor/understudy relationship we have always teetered on. My dad sold injection molding machines and seemingly couldn’t grasp that I thought it was the coolest, most innovative job I could imagine. And I don’t know for sure if he knew what I really imagined through my childhood, as I sat on the top of our largest tree: It was that my dad and I would invent together, he would put an injection molding machine in the backyard instead of a pool. But my athletic brother and mom won out with the pool. And when I was up in that tree and my dad would look up at me, it was those moments I would see the brightest gleam in his eyes. Hey, I admit that my dad was and is a man of few words and the gleam in his eyes may have been him thinking, “Finally, a distance I can keep an eye on that rascal but I don’t have to hear his nonstop ideas and questions,” but it must have been him having a moment of realization, coming up with the one project we could both do happily together: build a tree fort. And we did! After that, we . . .or he, just couldn’t think of a large project we could do together . . . ever again. Until now. If Dad and I were to win the Creatr XL printer, we would create a variety of tree fort/treehouse plans of which the parts would be created solely in the Creatr XL. My dad has always been enthralled with Habitat for Humanity. We would send out several fully printed treefort kits to accompany those new homes for families in need.

  272. Keith Ahlstrom says:

    I would like to make toys like figures for my kids and with my kids. They both have a list of things they want to make.

  273. A Lego a Day says:

    I never made things with my dad, and I’ve always regretted it. I vowed to not make the same mistake with my kids. I have an 8 year old daughter who is my princess. She’s a little girl, through and through. I would love to be able to create various pieces of jewelry with her for her, and her dolls. I’d love to see the look on her face when she designs a tiara or a ring, and her dad can create it for her!

  274. Blake Knowles says:

    I am 10 and I love my Dad very much. We would make projects and sit at the computer and program.That was until he decided we didn’t have enough space or materials to keep building at home. Now when I want to spend time with him he if off trying to fund raise and expand out the Coventry Makerspace. All I wanted was his time and not the latest 3D printer or laser cutter. Help me get my Dad back and send him a printer please!

    1. Rich says:

      A most worthy entry! Blake’s dad is a fantastic guy working hard currently to establish a makerspace in Coventry. If they won they would not only be able to continue making things together, but also with all the other Coventry makers who owe so much to Blake’s dad.

      Good luck!

    2. Thomas Richardson says:

      Passionate pitch, this clearly helps a lot of people… not just a dad and son but a whole city of father and sons.

  275. hunter and CONSERVATIONIST says:

    My dad is a self taught Engineer with no Engineering degree. He is beyond brilliant and has taught me everything I know about tinkering, engineering, designing and making anything. He constantly has a project going whether it is a home-built underwater fish light system for my boat or a new piece of equipment he is designing for his company.
    My difficulty lies with the question “what would he make with this?” That is like asking what Leonardo Da Vinci’s new invention would be or what would the topic of Hemmingway’s new novel (if either of them were to make something now). I cannot fathom the things he would build with this. The only guarantee I can make is that it would an incredible feat of engineering imagination.

  276. JayMartin says:

    Dad was a maker before “maker” meant something. He still has the trailer he built over a Ford Model T axle to move Mom’s things to South Carolina after they got married. We didn’t buy anything new growing up; he just fixed it when it broke. When I was 13, I wanted to use my “life savings” to buy a john boat to fish the pond down the road. We built one instead. Any time I ever said “I wonder if I could…” he would say “sounds fun, let’s figure it out!” We built a suspension bridge from the deck to the jungle gym. He lives in a house he built out of shipping containers. He has designed tools for the construction trades. He is a carpenter, a plumber, an electrician, and a mason. He can work in wood, metal, leather, and clay. Like every other teenager, there was a point at which I began to roll my eyes at him. “C’mon, Dad, can’t we just get a new lawnmower every 15 years or so? Like a NORMAL family?” Thankfully, we weren’t a normal family. I learned about ingenuity, persistence, and how good it felt to go to sleep tired after a full day’s work. He instilled a maker ethos in each of his four kids and now it is time to do the same for his grandkids. What might we create with a 3D printer? I can’t tell you – but we’d have a heck of a lot of fun. And we just might happen upon something awesome.

  277. Marcus Rodgers says:

    with out a doubt my father would design and build either a part or holder for one of his numerous guns, or he would use it to build a model of the latest building project he is working on!!

  278. Nogud says:

    My son was born with an interrupted aortic arch and a brain malformation called polymicrogyria. I would like to someday 3D print his brain and his heart life sized so he can understand that even though he started life with the odds stacked against him he is amazing. My son has overcome most things the “professionals” said he wouldn’t. He is amazing beyond belief. Happy Father’s Day to all of the dads. Good luck to all. Always remember the forget to tell your children what they can’t do and instead help them find ways to make the impossible possible.

  279. TC says:

    A 3D printing Haiku for the contemplative dad:

    colors, hot bed, thought

    green frog quickly springs to life

    he prints his future….

    My dad and I would print components for kinetic sculpture. My nephew would print components for an articulated hand, he saw one at the Maker Faire and is completely obsessed. He/we would be incredibly excited if I won!!!!

    1. TC says:

      My dad and I would print components for kinetic sculpture. My nephew would print components for a hand, he saw an articulated hand at the Maker Faire and is completely obsessed. He/we would be incredibly excited if I won!!!

    2. TC says:

      My dad and I would print components for kinetic sculpture. My nephew would print components for an articulated hand, he saw one at the Maker Faire and is completely obsessed He/we would be incredibly excited if I won!!!

    3. TC says:

      My dad and I would print components for kinetic sculpture. My nephew would print components for an articulated hand, he saw one at the Maker Faire and is completely obsessed He would be incredibly excited if I won!!!

  280. Ryan Fennell says:

    We’re going to make my dad a tie. Finally, I can give him a tie that won’t be shoved into the back of his closet, never to see the light of day again!

  281. AdamTolley says:

    If I was going to print something for my Dad, it would likely be jeep and fishing related attachments. He has passed away however.

    What i really would love to have a 3D printer for is all the various things I could do with my four children, trying to Advance their education and more importantly, enthusiasm for the STEAM fields.

    Just a few ideas that come to mind:

    For Annabelle (13): A decent arrow rest for her Katniss styled recurve bow. An adjustable and perfectly fitted shoulder rest for her violin. A custom case for her Meggy Jr would be great too.

    For Emmaline (10): A plethora of doll-scale accessories, furniture, and even architecture that she would help to design. She loves design and science, and wanted a 3D printer for christmas. Another violin shoulder rest for her too.

    For Aiden and Owen (7, 5): Plenty of action figure accessories, modular toy car components, Marble run add-ons, hotwheel track adapters and mounts, and Nerf gun modifications.

    For all four: Custom printed rocket fin / base assemblies with batteries and LEDs for night flights, custom wall hanging hooks for bookbags, and a fix for every broken toy we could make cooler rather than throw away.

    I will own a 3D printer ( or 5 ) some day, but sooner is better for these growing minds, and I would certainly do my best to print kits for my cneighbors and community as well.

    As for _my_ dad, he taught me to be fearless with a screwdriver, patient with failure, and involved with my children.

    I try every day to make him proud, even though he always was unconditionally.

  282. Adam says:

    My Dad is always really busy trying to provide for our family. He somehow manages to bring in money for us and be a good father at the same time. One of his passions he passed down to my sister and I was his love of running. About 5 years ago, though, his knee was really bothering him, so he had it checked out. It turned out that most of the cartilage on his left knee had worn away after years of running. This unfortunately meant that he needed an operation to change the angle of his leg so it rested on the part of the knee that had retained cartilage. Today, he is only able to run very short distances and at a very slow pace. His knee will bother him on and off, but not when he wears a brace. The one he got from the doctor works OK, but a special, custom-designed brace is what he needs to keep his leg from hurting at times. With the 3D printer, my Dad and I would design and print a better brace for his leg so he could start running with my sister and I again.

  283. J_MacDonald says:

    I’ve always felt that my father was disappointed in me, that I never lived up to his expectations. With something like this though, I can finally show him how successfully I can 3D print a new father.

  284. tramhostel says:

    My dad is 87 years old. He’s an MD. When I was four or five he built a color TV on the dining table — a large Heathkit. It took months, but we used it for more than a decade. When I was 12 he built a Heathkit stereo receiver/amp. When I was 14 he bought me a PAIA modular synthesizer kit, taught me to solder, and went upstairs. When I was 15 he got a TI SR-52, the first one that came with those magnetic cards for storing up to 224 program steps; he learned to program it and taught me. When I was 16 he got an Apple II and taught himself BASIC. Remember, he’s a doctor. And not one of those doctors that works with their hands, either.

    I’m 52 now, and I own a 3D printer — a Thingomatic I built from the kit. Last year my dad needed a custom wedge to hold a replacement camera battery into the OEM charger it didn’t quite fit, so I designed and printed one while he watched. And I saw the light bulb go on over his head.

    Now he’s interested. Now he wants to know how to make stl models. Now he wants to know how the conversion to gcode happens and what all the parameters do. Guess what comes next?

    Now he wants my Thingomatic.

    No.

    If he really needs a lot of little custom parts fabricated — and he does; not a week goes by where I don’t hear about the strain relief that tore out of his night-table lamp or the endcap that fell off the Venetian blind mechanism and got lost and “If I send you a picture can you print one?”; apparently this is what happens when you’re 87 years old and would rather repair things than JUST THROW THE BROKEN CAMERA AND THE BROKEN LAMP AND THE BROKEN VENETIAN BLIND AWAY AND BUY NEW ONES ALREADY, DAD! — if, as I say, he really needs a lot of little custom parts fabricated, let him get his own damn 3D printer.

    I don’t mean to be an ungrateful son. If he needs help designing parts (which I doubt because, 87 or not, he’s fully capable of learning a CAD program), I’d love to do that with him. But he needs his own printer.

    “Well,” you may be saying, “granted, this guy’s dad needs a printer. But it doesn’t sound like he has any use for one as big as the Creatr XL.”

    This is where you are wrong. For, you see, my dad has also become interested in my quadcopter.

    Thank you for your consideration.

  285. Brandon says:

    My father probably wishes he could print money, but failing that I’m sure he’d love to print all manner of parts and stop-gaps to help with the many half-finished projects he always has on the go. If he ever runs out of ideas I’m sure my 5 siblings and I can give him a few requests.

  286. geo-man says:

    My father has Parkinson’s and it has been
    difficult to watch such a strong vital man lose strength and stability. If I had the Creatr XL printer, I would start
    by printing a mug holder with a thumb ring extension to help my father steady
    his coffee cup. Not only do you shake
    with Parkinson’s, you lose fine motor skills, so I see all kinds of
    opportunities to develop printable items that will help someone with Parkinson to
    steady or convert fine motor skills to gross motor skills, which will allow my
    father to keep his personal freedom for as long as possible. Even though I am 52 I am still a “maker” and
    Kid at heart and love to give my father the gift that keeps on giving as
    helpful ideas come to mine

  287. Xavier Zurita says:

    No my Dad doesnt have a disease, me and him have a great relationship ,and no he’s not missing any body parts. Iam disappointed i couldnt spark your sympathy through an unfortunate situation in my life (which im thankful for) and Lord bless all those Dads with life challenging impairments, but in all honesty this printer would change my life as well as my Dad’s. Both of us wait anxiously at the door for the new MAKE magazine issue weekly/monthly, getting ready to start a new project, because that’s what me and him do, we design and build but never had the opportunity to take projects further, which this 3d printer will allow us to do. It is my dream as a 16 year old to one day work at MAKE and with that printer my immediate goal is to design something with my father to present at a MAKER: Faire. MAKE has influenced me to become an engineer and to excel in my education to become an engineer that can change the world. MAKE has united me and my Dad as well as paved the road for my future goals. I would owe the world to MAKE if this printer is awarded to me and my father.

    Thank you,
    Sincerely,
    Xavier Zurita
    Future MAKE employee.

  288. Cameron says:

    I am 13 years old and love to make things with my dad. Though we are not very tool savvy and end up messing something up, we always try to do the hardest things anyway. We have attempted to do things from an air cannon, and rocket fuel to a neodimium rail gun, and a multi touch table. Doing it all hand drill and hacksaw. We really need an update in tools and I think this would fit the bill perfectly.
    Hope you consider, many thanks
    Cam

  289. Nathan says:

    My name is Nathan and I am 11 years old. I am very proud of my dad. My dad is the owner of PCBGRIP a recent kickstarter project that raised 79,338 dollars. It is an electronics assembly system that makes soldering much simpler and anyone can do it. He would like a 3d printer to make prototypes of new parts. The PCBGRIP system shipping was delayed from june to july because it takes a long time to send a part design to china, have them make it and then send it back. It would be cheaper and easier to 3d print parts instead. Plus PCBGRIP could ship out faster.

  290. Ethan Gage says:

    I would like to print a functional jet engine model for my dad. He is a mechanical engineer designing parts for a variety of jet engines. Ever since 3d Printers have become a major thing in the maker community, my dad has been trying to get a good working one, trying and failing to find some in the Kickstarter and Indy gogo fundings, he has lost a fair amount of money to non-working prototypes. I think this would be an amazing gift for him to be able to explore his multitude of hobbies, jet engines being one of his main ones.

    Thank you.

  291. Andrew Paton says:

    My name is Freya. I am 9 years old. My Dad is trying to raise enough money by working a second job on weekends to buy a 3D printer for my classroom to use at school. He says that 3D printing is the future and he wants my class to have every opportunity to keep upto date with technology. We would probably print some green tree frogs. We like frogs. We might print some number lines too to help teach counting. Thank you. Freya.

  292. Joshua Hoyum says:

    My Grandfather past away in November 2013 and we are all still a little down and Fathers Day is going to be especially hard for my Dad and Grandmother. We loved to fish with him and spend the day at the cabin. I joined my school’s FTC robotics team and I learned how to use a 3D design program and even got a dumper for our robot that I designed, 3D printed at Cirrus aircraft. My dad is busy a lot and we love to find any opportunity we can to spend time together. I would love to help him design fishing lures and I would like to 3D print some beautiful flowers for my Grandmother. We have to redesign and renovate our basement and it would be cool to design something to be put in there that is either decorative or functional. All in all, a 3D printer would certainly brighten our Fathers Day weekend.

  293. Shane says:

    Not to go for the sob story but my father was in name and biology only. All I know is he died about 5 years ago and we only know that because a friend of the family saw the obituary and sent it to us. My Mother took us away from him when I was about 4 years old and the only memories I have are not good. I am became a DIY’er, Maker, etc based on the influence of my Mother. With not a lot of money, she did everything around the house from exterior to interior improvements and embedded in me a love tools unlike any woman I have ever seen. Now I have a 6 year old son and a 3 year old daughter, both of whom are showing an interest in building things, tools, etc and I plan on taking everything I have learned from my Mother such as persistence and courage to do it oneself plus all I have learned in the 20 years since i left for college and passing as much of that confidence down to them as possible. What would I make? Anything my kids wanted, of course (within reason)! But also custom car parts (old corvette and bel air), molds for my wife’s cake making business (see Sweet Pia’s Confections on FB) or even the occasional prototype for wild idea I have.

  294. Nathan Petrie says:

    It would be cool to show my dad what 3D printing is. We enjoy doing projects together and a 3D printer would be a great start to a whole new array of projects. I have really wanted to get into 3D printing but the cost was way out of hand. Now I can have a great gift for my dad and many hours of fun with him!

  295. Bcook65 says:

    My dad, even though he never really knew it has always been a maker at heart.. While I was growing up he played music most of his life, worked as an auto mechanic, a machine shop mechanic, a carpenter, restaurant owner and in his later years he took up wood working, scroll work and other wood craft.. I was fortunate as I learned much from him throughout my life.. Last Fathers day he suffered a series of severe strokes with left him bed ridden, partially paralyzed and pretty much unable to talk or communicate well. I would like to be able to help make things that help make caring for him easier and more efficient.. Custom clamps, braces and supports and other things as well as things to help him and help occupy his time.. he was 75 at the time of his stroke and not to far from being 76.. Mom is 70 so everyone caring for dad is quite a chore and many items that could help him are very expensive to buy outright. He has never seen a 3d printer before and I believe he would find it fascinating just to watch create and make something he can touch or use.

  296. Scott H says:

    I am a dad that is starting a non-profit (www.hackawaysf.com) to get kids excited about electronics and robotics. Not just any kids, but kids that don’t get to see engineering and tech every day, don’t have role models in the industry, and are drastically under-represented in college and the tech industry. With this printer, diverse students could create anything on their minds – thus empowering them and encouraging them to see themselves as creators, makers, and engineers. This printer would open doors for so many kids that usually get shut out.

  297. Nichole Willson says:

    I’m writing for my 4 kiddos who think they have a great dad, but they can’t type yet :). You see, their dad isn’t the sports dad who knows how to play baseball, or the really cool dad who knows the game scores. He’s just a local math teacher who loves to invent really cool stuff and shares his creative thought with his kids. His latest invention required the use of a 3-D printer and as he told us over dinner about it, I though, ya, too bad that will never happen. But my kids, they believe in him. They get completely in awe of this grand guy who has really cool ideas and to them, he’s the best guy ever! (I admit I secretly agree :). He created a mini putt-putt golf course using angels and formulas that his math students create using hands-on tools. He helped design a pacifier holder we are selling under a new small business. He’s got 100 ideas and each one I’d love to see develop. Here’s to an awesome Daddy of 4 who is pursuing science, math and engineering to the delight of the new generation.

  298. Matt Mustarde says:

    Not my dad, but my girlfriend’s. He was paralyzed from the neck down 16 years ago after a diving accident. Before his accident however, he was a talented craftsman and carpenter, he even built the house that my girlfriend and her family lives in! When I met him, he welcomed me with open arms and now treats me like the son he never had. He’s an amazingly strong man and a continuing source of inspiration for me.

    Lately I’ve wanted to return the hospitality and kindness he’s shown me by trying to help improve his quality of life around the house. I designed and 3d printed numerous small parts on my Printrbot for his wheelchair to help him hold things like television remotes and silverware (which he was thrilled about), but lately I’ve been limited by size. I want to create larger pieces that would be more functional for him around the house. The Creatr XL is an amazing printer and would be a fantastic upgrade that would allow me to keep making new useful devices for the man who has been through hell and deserves an easier life. I love my own dad very very much, but theres nothing I’d like more than to be able to continue helping this man.

  299. Figure8knot says:

    I can remember working on everything with my father — he seemed to have a this mechanical wizardary to a 10 year old that he said would teach to me. I did not understand at the time that lessons were already occurring. He taught me that with a little patience, planning, and persistence we could fix, salvage, create, or (an unknown term at the time) hack anything. Fast forward. Now, eldest son (and probably his little brother who is 2) is fascinated by anything that he can create, make, fix, or hack. I know where he gets it from…Thanks Dad.

    mikedkurtz@gmail.com

  300. Calder Worlock says:

    My dad and I really enjoy making together, and we have always wanted a 3d printer! Since we are both novice makers looking to get into the maker world, this would be the prefect thing to jumpstart us into the maker world! We have both wanted one since the first one came out on a make cover!

  301. Juan says:

    Like many others my dad and I were never really close, which I kinda understand. My parents had me at an early age and didn’t really get to enjoy their youth. Well half true my dad still drank and went out with friends a lot, leaving my mom, brother and I alone. After a while my parents split up and things got better. With this printer I would probably start a couple projects with my little brother maybe motivate him to go back to school. I’m currently a senior at the University of Michigan and work full time. And this fathers day I will remind my mom of how awesome she is for raising us on her own.

  302. chestercountystar says:

    I would make wonderful toys for my children, as well as prototype bicycle part ideas….

  303. ValleyRobotics says:

    For me, it’s not about what creative thing I come up with. I own a small robotics studio where I teach robotics, programming, and lego engineering. My goal is create new builders. This 3d printer would make a great addition to the shop, but best of all, it could be the spark that makes a new builder of the future. I never know what my students will build, but I know their creativity is beyond anything that I could do. What I find, is that when kids create, they share with friends and family. They then get to show their dads what they are creating and we end up with more adult builders.

  304. Rock Castle says:

    As a hermit, I have always wanted to experience what fatherhood would be like. My social choices have made that impossible. I would use this machine to make my own children. Real living children. Once I had enough children, they would get on each others’ backs and I would climb them up, up into the afterlife. Please help me find release and send me my children factory.

    1. Caleb Kraft says:

      tempting.

  305. Boats O'Sullivan says:

    My dad was a tinker-thinkerer, a particle physicist for the Navy, when “smart” technology was a warm reference to the teams of scientists and engineers who spent years designing and redesigning. A first generation Lithuanian Jew whose life was overly influenced by world events. He lost his greater family to Europe in the forties, and three daughters to tay-sachs. I was adopted to fill the hole left behind by these two convergent tragedies. I was lost from the start. I spent my life wandering further and further away from his ideas, but never from the example he set. That part of fatherhood is indelible, and it was an example full of laughter, and kindness, and hope, and the great gift of selflessness to a young boy in the face of personal tragedy. I think he knew from the beginning that I had a different view of the world, less encumbered, and willfully free. I have three children now, and my father though still smiling, has lost much of what made him endearing and large. I am always stunned by how frail he has grown. But his example endures, and though I may not possess the mind he did, I try to set an example of the curiosity with which he viewed the world, through my own lens of whimsy. I will print an example of curiosity and enduring creativity in the lives of my children, and remind them of where I first discovered that spark…

  306. Joshua Sink says:

    This… I would make this first! Complete with light on top, theme music when you open the doors and your Doctor Who DVD collection inside! Then I would create a Doctor Who themed version of Settlers of Catan, using the printer to make the game pieces (Tardis settlements, worm-hole roads, Dalek thief, really cool dice etc…)

  307. Tom James says:

    I’m not 100% sure what dad might use this for, but I’ll give it a shot.

    I’m an archaeologist, and over the past several years I’ve been involved with CT scanning several artifacts and mummies to see what was inside. A few mummies still wrapped in their linens showed us amulets that were inside the wrappings that we never would have known about without unwrapping them. Clay envelopes with administrative tokens inside (some of those tokens were new shapes that have never been seen before in the ones that were broken open). Metal artifacts encrusted in thick layers of iron oxide concretions. Those kinds of things. Dad has showed great interest in these essentially un-touchable artifacts, and has spent a good bit of time pouring over the DICOM images to examine things that (if we’re lucky) will never be seen by human eyes, because we want to preserve the integrity of the object they’re contained within.

    I think that if dad had the chance, he’d print copies of these artifacts out for further study. He’d also make copies of artifacts that aren’t encased for touch museums displays, so that kids could handle actual “artifacts” without negatively impacting the real thing.

  308. Jim Browne says:

    My dad always loved cars, old cars, new cars, odd cars, fast cars – you name the genre and he’s owned one at some stage in life. However, when us kids came along, he had to give up his love of the unusual and settle for family friendly transport. If I won a Creatr XL 3D printer, I would print him detailed models of all the cars he wanted to own, but never did. Re-ignite the passion!

  309. Andrew Nottingham says:

    With the Creatr XL printer I would finally be able to construct a flux capacitor so that I can travel back in time. Once there, I will share all of today’s technology and start on my second project which is communication between parallel timelines.

    1. Andrew Nottingham says:

      Thank you to the Make Magazine editors for judging my entry as the most creative. The flux capacitor was a success!

  310. Jared Nichol  says:

    Simple, we are going to make camera lens adapters! With the printing volume being so big, maybe even some giant pin hole cameras!

  311. Cory Thorp says:

    It may sound weird to talk about my mom first, in a father’s day giveaway, but it leads into who my dad was, and is today, so please hear me out.

    My mom was an amazing woman, full of love, wit and caring. She would brighten the room when she was around, and it was obvious why my dad fell for her. Being the pragmatist, my dad realized that children need equal parts discipline and encouragement, so while my brothers and I were growing up, he placed himself in the role of the disciplinarian. He was okay being the least favourite parent. He could live with being hated at times, while my mom was always the shoulder to cry on. In his own words, he was ok with being the “Bad Guy”. I am the eldest of their 4 sons, and when I was 7 years old, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. She was given a few years to live, and managed to live 11, having their fourth son along the way. During that time, everyone’s attention was on her, and us boys. Her friends became our family support network, and my dad never stood in the limelight, content to let her shine. When I was 18, our mom died on a family trip. We all were able to say our goodbyes, and although we four boys lost our mother, it was only later on that I was able to see what my dad lost. He lost his wife, he lost his best friend, and he lost his place in the world. People consoled him, for a time, but the attention waned and he had to start figuring out who he was to be. He had a lot of anger, and had taken it out on us boys a few times, but we now understand it for what it was. He only knew how to be the Bad Guy.

    My dad has spent the last decade trying to build the family back together. His relationships with us four boys have gotten much better, through his efforts and our own. In the last few years, he has started trying to make friends of his own, building up his relationship with his brother and sisters, and most recently he has taken up remote control aircraft as a hobby. He’s always been a maker at heart, with 30 years as an Electonics Engineering Technologist, and he has a lot of fun making modifications to the small aircraft he’s flying around. He’s even gotten two of my brothers into flying the aircraft around with him and my uncle.

    I’m 31 years old, with an amazing wife, and while I have some very strong thoughts about what he did that I would not like to do with my own family, I have come to understand, respect and love my dad for who he has become. Please help me make his father’s day by giving him a 3D printer that he could use to design and print modified parts for his planes, his own electronics control boxes, and whatever else would make him happy. He’s a good man, and he deserves to be as happy now as he was back when my mom was alive.

    Thank you for your consideration,
    Cory

  312. Parker says:

    I may only be 14, but growing up, I will admit, I didn’t have the best relationship with my dad. He was working out on the farm, while I was inside going on the internet, building things, and playing with electronics. I was never into farming or any of that stuff, while my dad wasn’t really interested in the stuff I was into. I believe 3d printing is the gateway that would connect both our interests. Recently, he received a farming magazine, and I glanced at it and it had a article about 3d printing, farming, and the connection between both. I wanted to rip it out but never had the time to do it. I’ve been in LOVE with 3d printing for about 5 years now, but my dad hasn’t been really exposed to 3d printing. This could be the time that he realizes how 3d printing could change how he works on the farm. Say something important breaks, but a piece wouldn’t be able to come in for a couple of weeks. Let me just print that for you dad! He may not try the hardest to “connect” with me, but I haven’t either. I believe he would print a tractor, just for fun, something that shows how connecting farming and technology really works! My dad hasn’t really helped me build many things, except, of course, a pinewood derby car. I think this would help us get a better relationship. This is something we could work together on. I think he would set the tractor he printed on his desk in the barn to kind of “show off”. We would both love this. I think I would print a TON if things from thingiverse. I believe that I can finally do something with my dad that we would hopefully both love!

  313. Eli says:

    OK, let me start off by saying my dad’s a total geek. My dad and I would always play with technology together. He has always been interested in 3D printers. He even borrowed one from a local place to share with other people and of course, himself, how awesome it is and how to work it. We could make anything we want and of course what ever the 7 year old twins want too. We would make characters from movies and make grips and accecories for gaming controllers. I know that this will be the father’s day that my dad will remember.

  314. David Hoegen says:

    Unfortunately my dad passed away at an early age. I think my children and I would use it to make a bobble head of my dad in tribute to him. then whatever our minds could think of

  315. mattb5 says:

    My sons say we would make action figures of ourselves and have adventures with them on ziplines and stuff in the back yard like I used to do with my GI Joes as a kid.

  316. Frank Doepke says:

    My kids are still young and only starting to realize what it means to grow. It would be cool to take a 3D scan of their tiny little hands and 3D scan of my hand and create a year by year morph to visualize how they might grow.

  317. Lazyduff says:

    This is a little embarrassing, but here goes…
    My Dad was born with a tail. There, I said it. Can’t take it back.
    Anyhow, his tail was removed as a child and he really misses his tail.
    Like, ties a rope around his waist and drags it behind him, misses it.

    I want to make him a new tail.

    Thanks.

  318. Joe Pellerito says:

    I would like to print an electric guitar!I think that it would be an awesome project. With some of the plans in Make Magazine for the cigar box guitar and the MIDI Laser Harp, I think that I could create an awesome hybrid guitar.

  319. Christopher Griffin says:

    My dad and I weren’t the closest growing up. He was quite wrapped up in his personal projects, and occasionally I got to help out with some of them. Most people living out of a mobile home in the 80s weren’t fortunate enough to have a holographic dark room in their utility building built out of a stack of inner tubes with a mirror-mount platform sitting on the top — but we did. We created some HeNe holographs as well as some white-light ones on glass plates. Later, my dad would get serious into building his own Newtonian telescope. He spent hours each night for a couple of months grinding his own 6″ mirror to perfection. I’ll never forget seeing Saturn late that summer evening. It was awesome and disappointing at the same time. My dad crafted an amazing device to see a planet so far away, and yet the rings were just barely distinguishable; it didn’t look like all of the simulated photos I had been accustomed to seeing, but my dad brought the real deal home for me. He’s my hero. Last November, he was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer and has been struggling with his energy levels due to all of the radiation and chemo treatments he’s had over the last 8 months. He’s retired from his work life, which was decades working in maintenance at a slew of plastics factories here in our small city located smack dab in the middle of the midwest plastics belt. We’ve discussed 3D printing, and I know it intrigues him, as he’s worked with machining equipment and plastics his whole life. Given the opportunity, I would love to share an experience with him the way he has shared with me all of those years ago.

  320. Leapfrog 3D Printer Giveaway Makes Father’s Day BIG Patrik D'haeseleer says:

    My dad passed away several years ago. He was an amateur woodcarver, and he left me a beautiful carving of his own left hand. If I win the 3D printer, I will make a 3D scan of the carving, and print out a copy for my two brothers.

  321. Voelkerp says:

    I would design and print 3d solid puzzles. I love those knots!

  322. Barry Klein says:

    My dad would not be able to figure the damn thing out. (umm his birthday is today – 87).
    I would manage to make a “hello world” example and disasterous blobs of plastic after that.
    Basically, I’m not worthy. I’d donate it to a local hacker shop here in OC with the provision that they’d give me training on using it and the software to create something. They’d have to keep it working and put it to good use.

  323. clafarge says:

    My 9 and 11 yr old daughters have had their introductions to electronics and microprocessors… I would challenge them to imagine something that they would build if they had access to anything in the Maker Shed that they could incorporate, and help them to make it real. The most important lesson I can share with my four children (my sons are three… give ’em time :) ) is that they can make anything, do anything, and be anything that they can imagine and want badly enough to work toward.

  324. John Shimo says:

    My father introduced my brother and I to tabletop gaming back in the early 80s. My brother and I have been gamers ever since. For the past few years we have been developing a scifi space combat game. Collaborating on the rules and my brother drawing the ships and obstacles. This printer would be amazing as we could finally start working on actual prototype models for the game.

  325. Rick Portune says:

    My dad inspired my love of “making” and home brew things. His dad was an old Morse telegrapher in the early 20th century and my dad got his ham radio license (N6BW) in order to talk with his dad via code. When I was old enough, I learned Morse from my dad and he helped me get my Ham license (WA6BCP). Together, we built our first vacuum tube-based ham transmitters, antennas, and other gear – “making” at its finest. For a few glorious years, I could communicate with both my Grandfather (WB6FRP) and my dad even though we did not see each other very often.

    I have now passed the ham tradition on to my son and he and I communicate via Morse. Sadly, both my grandfather and father are gone now but the ham radio tradition and Morse telegraphy lives on.

    My Grandfather’s original “bug” Vibroplex keyer went to my dad but has been lost over the years. If I had the printer as a prize, I would like to model and construct a replica Vibroplex model 1 keyer to give to my son as a link to all the generations of dads in our family and our common bond of ham radio and Morse telegraphy.

  326. Edward Wharff says:

    My Dad grew up on a farm. He is now retired, and he restores old John Deere tractors like the ones he used on the farm as a boy. He recently suffered a heart attack and his mobility isn’t what it was. I would like to use this printer to make model tractors with my Dad. Thank you for this chance!

  327. Joanna P says:

    My father collects figurines and after moving to a different country and moving places a few times, a lot of his collection got damaged. He uses epoxy putty to fix them which takes a lot of time and requires good eyesight; with a 3d printer he will b3 able to make the damaged/missing parts, and may even create extra parts. He will go nuts!

  328. John Stewart says:

    I’d use one to replace bits and pieces of the trim on my house. I understand why they used flat boards to serve as trim, but it would be much nicer to give some three dimensional flavor to the place. Plus, they would be weather-proof, right?

  329. Douglas King says:

    I’ve been raised to work to my full potential, whether it be in school, business, or family. I’ve been raised with discipline and respect. I’ve been taught to always stay humble because everyone has their own story. 

    Now that Father’s Day is arriving, I think back to all the opportunities and support I’ve been given. Now that I’ve graduated college, I want to repay by changing the world with this 3D printer and showing the hard work has paid off. I would eventually print on a larger scale and provide homes for the countless homeless people citywide and nationwide. 

    If my Dad were to use this to print something, I imagine he’d print a time machine to go back to 1992, where he had left me and my mother before I was even born. If he could see me now, I’m sure he’d regret running away and not watching his son grow up to be the man that he is today. Last year, I actually found him through some online research, but I’ve never had the guts to contact him. My mother still sleeps less than 5 hours a night to provide the education, shelter, and food that I need till this day – never searching for my dad. She’s the one that has raised me to be a man – a man that will be a better person and father than the one that left us. 

    Needless to say, my Mom is also my Dad. This Father’s Day, just like previous Father’s Day, I’d like to dedicate it to my mother for playing both parental roles the past 21 years. So whether or not I am chosen to be the recipient of this printer, I wanted to share this story of my life to show that no one should ever be taken for granted. If you are a single parent, I respect you to the highest degree because I know you will do anything so your child(ren) will live a simple life. If you have a single parent, always remember that his/her sacrifices are your greatest gifts.

    – DK

  330. jrb says:

    When my son was younger we had a train set that we set up each christmas. With him having grown older, he is now rediscovering trains. He has purchased a N-scale train set and whats to now PRINT cars and houses and trestles and figures for his developing layout. This would be perfect

  331. Sheri A. VandeRiet says:

    My son is a wonderful dad with two little ones. When he was in middle school, he built a working robot arm for the science fair, and went to the district competition. If he had this awesome printer, he would be able to build cool things like robots with his son and daughter, and inspire them to be Makers as well!

  332. HLK says:

    My Dad’s 83, extremely active and works in his shop daily. Two years ago he cut the tip off his index finger not being careful while using his bandsaw (his banjo picking has suffered greatly but that’s beside the point). When he finally decided he’d better get it stitched up, he told the doctor not to give him anything to numb it. Asked why he said, “you’ve gotta be tough if you’re gonna be stupid.”

    Tough yes, stupid no. But his dexterity isn’t what it was, and he has too many dangerous machines around for that. I figure a 3D printer is way safer than any of ’em. What would he make? Well for starters he could use a finger tip.

  333. Richard Rankin says:

    I would like to work on using the printer to create the parts for a 3D printer. Then by adding robotics to create machines that can self-replicate.

  334. Headless Chicken says:

    My father and I are engineers and teachers, we would build a number of engineering models: a physical model of single- and three-phase electrical power, steam engine valve gear, a profile model of electron shell potentials using ball bearings, etc.

    We renovated two houses together and both struggled to describe profiles and mathematical relationships like Relativity, amplitude and phase relationships.

    Thanks!

  335. corey a zuroweste says:

    Growing up my dad’s idea things was with either bailing wire or duct tape. He worked selflessly day in day out to provide for our family, usually working 16 hour days every day. He meant well on fixing stuff, but a MacGyver he was not. 30 years later he has taken an interest in a 3d printer I’m building from scratch, 3d printing as a whole. He is asking many questions, and genuinely wants to learn how to do it. This would make an awesome present for him, and show him there is more to fixing stuff than bailing wire and duct tape.

  336. Moose Flager says:

    My Dad and I have always work together on Mad Scientist projects together, anything from home made slim to electro-plating a nail. But the old he gets the less we get to do together, with work and just life in general getting in the way. But I have a son now that is old enough to want to do the same things I did with Dad, and wants Papa to help too. We have all sat around and talked about what we want to build til we are blue in the face, until my son said, “I want to build toys for the kids who didn’t have any, like the ones that went through the tornado,” This was a wonderful moment for me and my Dad cause I realized i was raising a good kid, and my dad realized he raised a good kid that raised a better kid. So we want to build action figures, to kitchen sets for the kids with a more custom touch like their name, or even their face into the toy. We are from Joplin, Mo, and 3 years ago we had a EF 5 tornado that hit the middle of town, so we saw first hand what just a simple familiar, or funny item could just bring you out of the disaster for just a moment to realize it just might be ok.

    Thank you for your time.

  337. Thors Hammer says:

    My Dad is gone now, but I think if we could I would print a statue of him when he was fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, He is my hero and I miss him so it would be a reminder to me and my sister how my Dad fought for our freedom.

  338. August Nehring says:

    So I ask my 9 year old son, “What would you like to make if we were to win this 3d Printer?” He responds back, “What’s a 3d Printer?”

    I explain the basic concept that it can make things, like Lego’s and various other plastic toys. He listens intently and grins from ear to ear as I explain. He stands there and thinks for a minute or 2 with the same cute grin, and responds back with “a puzzle” (as in the kind with a picture broken up into 500 pieces). He didn’t quite get the concept that it only prints in one color (or in this case 2 colors), and it would just be a flat puzzle that would be incredibly difficult to solve. But now that I think about it, one color shouldn’t be a problem as we could explore possibilities in 3 dimensions.

    But what I would really like to make with him is memories of the two of us spending time and having fun together. Who knows, with any luck we may come out a fun 3d puzzle, or some other off the wall project he thinks up.

  339. Alan B says:

    My dad believes he is god. He would make anything! I mean EVERYTHING! Anyway, he would love IT, love ME and I would love YOU!
    Thanks for the opportunity… Now you can laugh, cry because you are laughing and then call your dad (better call mine for tell him the good new).
    3D hugs and kisses (a little bit rough, but kiss at the end),
    Alan.

  340. Mat Luoma says:

    I would print out signs for each of my daughters. Asking 3 important questions to ask themselves after the completion of a new endeavor, or competition.

    True success is an answer of “YES” – after all is said and done
    * Did you learn something?
    * Did you have fun?
    * Are you proud of what you did?

  341. B. Rowan says:

    My father died just before my ninth birthday, but in those few years he taught me much about gardening. After my father died, my uncle stepped in and taught me about mechanical devices, how to work on cars, and even how to drive. He would have loved to have a 3D printer, and would have come up with the wildest gadgets anyone would have ever seen. I would like to try and continue his work with this leapfrog printer and print even wilder gadgets than he ever came up with!

  342. Dexter Wong says:

    My father was one of the great would-be fix-it men. He would fix a broken appliance but, in the process, would usually break something else before it was done. I believe that he would have used a 3-D printer to recreate one of the parts he broke while fixing an item.

  343. Carlson V Herbert says:

    My Dad has always had this crazy obsession with the Matterhorn ride in Disneyland. I’m sure he would love to design and make, a scale replica of the ride, complete with a few yeti’s and moving bobsleds. He would enjoy the challenge of learning how, not only the ride works, but also the ins and outs of 3D Printing, Digital design, Roller coasters, etc. The only thing he would change from the original ride, The addition of a lot more leg room, he needs it.

  344. roger says:

    My son has autism and he has spent the better part of a year designing a game from the ground up. It’s a mix of a board game with pieces and a roll playing game with elaborate classes and races to pick from, as well as a world more thorough and well thought out than many big games i have played. He has a board ready to go but has been struggling to make tiles and pieces for it. We would use the 3d printer to make game pieces worthy of the months of intense love he has put in to this project.

  345. Richard says:

    We would print out all types of gidget gadgets and rule the world

  346. Jeff albers says:

    My dad would build a bunch of parts to build animated skeletons, ghost, goblins, and zombies. My dad goes crazy with Halloween and Christmas. He has always tinkered with electronics and mechanics, and has passed it down to all 12 kids. Every year the family gets together and helps out with his Halloween camping he sets up every year and we have to always rummage around to find parts and build new animatronics to make it more scary than the previous year. I know with a 3D printer he will have no limits at what he can build and scare everyone with. He is also very into teaching his 26 grand kids and great grand kids all about tinkering and building.

  347. RoboTar says:

    I invented a 3d printed guitar playing chord robot because of my dad. I grew up listening to my father and my uncles play guitar and sing. It was part of our family life that brought the extended family together. When my dad had a stroke at 49, he lost the use of his left side. He was an avid runner and loved playing his guitar and both were taken from him in an instant.
    Playing guitar again was a motivation for him to go through therapy but when I saw the strength and dexterity required to play was not returning, I knew there must be something I could do. My dad was a creative “maker”. He was a professional classic/vintage auto restoration body mechanic and did some amazing work that was often featured in the Chicago auto show. I had access to his tools growing up and I learned at a young age, I liked computers more than mechanics… but some of what I learned stuck with me.
    I started down the path of creating RoboTar, a robotic chord hand for the guitar. I had one goal, let my dad play the songs he likes using his right strumming hand and his right foot to change chords. I just needed to figure out how to create the robot that would press the chords for him and provide the flexibility to set up the chords and the songs. Of course, that was easier said than done.
    The first prototype was big and clunky and made from wood, metal, brass tubes, epoxy and aluminum… it wasn’t very fancy but it had some LED’s to provide feedback to the user… and most importantly, in concept it worked… but quickly broke after a few uses.
    The next 2 years were spent learning 3D CAD, CNC Machining, Laser Cutting and 3D printing. I eventually refined my design and partnered with someone to build the software that would turn a clunky prototype into a fully functional solution. My dad is now playing guitar again after 17 years since the stroke.
    I started a Kickstarter campaign to build more RoboTar’s for others like him and have had some amazing response outside of the campaign, but it looks like we won’t meet our goal. The goal was too ambitious and we did not market in advance of the campaign. The costs to get the product plastics injection molded are too high and sending away for Shapeways to build the parts ongoing is too expensive too. I need a quality 3D printer so I can continue making the parts. I am making a left handed version for someone that had a brain hemorrhage impacting his right side and I will make another one for someone who had a spinal injury at 14 impacting all his limbs. I want to continue making RoboTar for others like my dad and this 3D printer will be a huge step toward that end. I would love to say Make helped me help others.

  348. Daniel Whitfield says:

    With this printer I could print prototype components for the large-scale tread based robot my father and I are building. This would allow me to save my aluminum until the piece is finalized. Cut down on expenses on aluminum stock and cheaper than wood.

  349. Revantine says:

    My grandad was a Ham Radio operator and served in the Navy. He passed those skills to my dad who is a Ham Radio operator, an engineer and US Army retiree. When I was young, he passed the electronics skills on to me, and I became a Ham Radio operator. We built in bandaid tins.

    Now, I’m a dad. My kids are growing up learning electronics, soldering, computers and programming in ways my grandad could only have imagined. We build robots and remotes, program micro controllers that come to life, and have the opportunity to see the designs in our imaginations created in front of us.

    A legacy of technology and I get to watch as my kids experience it in whole new ways.

  350. Todd Edwards says:

    My relationship with my dad was an interesting, sad, hurtful and often volatile one. He was an alcoholic and when he drank he could become abusive. This was hard for me as a child as I wanted that perfect father/son relationship. I did not have that, but there were moments, and I would not give those up for anything. My dad passed away less than a year ago.
    No matter what, I knew that he loved me and was proud of me even though he never understood me and what I chose to do with my life (I am a theater scenic,and media designer). I spent the majority of my relationship with him trying to understand why he drank and took his unhappiness out on his children. Prior to his death, I had an opportunity to know more of the “why”…It did not excuse what he did, but allowed me to have some closure and understanding.
    One of the good memories I have of my dad is restoring old cars. This was a hobby of his that we shared. I remember restoring a 57 Chevy truck and needing a bracket for a wiring harness. I would have loved to have made that for him and shown him what I am able to do as a designer, artist, and fabricator.
    Some people may think he was a bad man. He had his demons but he was my dad and I loved him and miss him. He would be so fascinated watching us make those obscure parts for his restorations.

  351. Gail Zachariah says:

    Tomorrow I’m using the library’s printer and thinkiverse to make my husband, the dad in this family, a drunk dumo bottle opener.

  352. Zachary Duran says:

    My dad has always been a very do-it-yourself kind of guy, and this has (and is) always extended to fixing anything and everything himself. If it’s broken, he’ll try to fix it himself. I never said he is successful, but hey, he tries. He is also into carpentry, and this has inevitably rubbed off on me. I love it, with a burning passion that I think only my dad and I can truly understand. What I would use this printer for is to design, print, and integrate custom pieces for his beautiful furniture, and hope that this simple change in what these pieces are made out of would be the final straw to push the looks over the edge. This machines ability to work with different materials, as well as the massive printing area, would allow us to make furniture that is still made out of wood, but is more comfortable than normal wooden pieces because of the flexibility we would be able to integrate. Not to mention custom made cushions, custom made shapes, basically anything we could think of. This would also help us with our newfound interest in robotics and amateur electrical enginnering, and I would hope that this would help us to design and print custom parts for our robots that really bring the entire project together. There really isn’t enough room on this page to describe the myriad of creative projects my dad and I would be able to complete with the help of this 3d printer, and I simply can’t describe how much this would mean to me and my dad both. Moral of the story: if it’s broken, we could use this to fix it. If it’s not, we could use this to improve it. My dad has always taught me that sometimes, when it’s rough in the world, the best way to destress is either a good mountain ride or to lock yourself in the garage, sit down, and create something you are proud of. I have tried my best to inherit this basis and way of life, and I hope that someday my children will be able to say the same about me. I believe that this device will do more than strengthen designs or enhance projects. It will strengthen the already unbreakable bond between me and my incredible dad. The sky is truly the limit.

    zpduranimal@live.com

  353. chasboas says:

    When I was very young, my Dad built a model circus. Then when I was turning 6, our whole family joined a real circus. By the time i was in middle school he built a real, full-scale circus that he ran for 10 years.
    I grew up traveling withe circus in the summers, and playing with Dad’s model circus in the winters. I continued working for his show into my college years when he finally shut it down.
    You don’t put a circus on the road without a strong streak of Maker in you. I spent a lot of time during the winters building props and equipment with him.
    Dad passed away thirteen years ago, and I inherited his circus models. They are proudly displayed in my living room, and I am slowly restoring them.
    I would like a 3d printer to assist in the restoration project, to expand his model and add people and animals to it, and, ultimately, to honor my Dad by making and displaying, a scale model of his real circus. Having a 3d printer would allow much more accurate reproductions than kit bashing.

    Thanks for this opportunity.

  354. JBencomo says:

    I’m thinking car parts, Like a Bumper!!

  355. DanBrown says:

    My father grew up in World War II just outside of Liverpool, England. The war ended when he was 10 but he’s been fascinated with aeroplanes ever since. He’s constantly in his basement crafting from solid wood aeroplanes such as Sopwith Camels, Fokker DRVIIs, Messerschmitts Nieuports, Spads, Typhoons, Hurricanes, Tigermoths, Lancasters and ever a couple of more modern aerocraft such as the Avro Aero and the deHavilland Otter. All of these with more 2-3 foot wingspans. He started out my brothers and I with countless plastic models and later on balsa and fibreglass radio control aerocraft which we built painstakingly by hand; no sissy ARFs in our house, until we ended up crashing them. He’s been an artist by trade for most of his life doing everything from sculpting to stain glass windows, to pottery, painting, and a lot of other whacky stuff including carving a near life size lady godiva.
    If I won I’d see if we could design, print out, and assemble some of the more challenging aerocraft ideas he’s had over the years but wasn’t capable of doing it with the materials he wanted to work with or was too frustrated with the delicacy and accuracy he needed. Perhaps together we can teach my kids some interesting new skills along the way as well and get them to help us out. It would definitely be a learning experience for all of us.

  356. Guest says:

    Cool. Looking forward to see who wins.

  357. SpaceWalker0720 says:

    We’d make what any boy (of any age) would want to make with his Dad or son – Memories.

  358. SpaceWalker0720 says:

    We’d make what any son (of any age) wants to make with his Dad – memories. :)

  359. FabLabMoebius says:

    One small step for man one giant leap(frog) for Fatherkind !

  360. Casandra Viljoen says:

    Unfortunately I lost my dad to cancer when I was 15, but my uncle has helped to fill some of that gap in my life. He’s an architect and I know he would love a 3D printer to build his models and expand his opportunities in the architectural world.

    Looking into the future:
    He has been undergoing dialysis for the last year after going into renal failure. We have all been tested for donor possibilities, but we could not find a suitable match, so I would hope that with bringing more 3D technology into South Africa and growing the market, that we too could soon be able to print a kidney for my uncle and give him a better life.

  361. heather says:

    My dad is in heaven- I would make a ladder tall enough to be with him again.

  362. Paolo Gianolio says:

    When I was a child, my Dad was always busy. Busy to feed his family, while my mother was busy to grow me up. My father was always tired in the evening, he used to work also on Saturday, but was always ready to have fun with me, although his heavy eyes.
    But for me my father was a stranger. He was never at home, and for my little brain my parents were only my mother. So my father used to suffer for this.
    Unawares, I was ecluding him from my life. And he was doing all for me.

    When I was ten my father decided to die. Decided. I have always thought that this decision was taken also for my fault. Surely is not true, I was only a child and I did not

    suffer him voluntarily, denying my love. But some thoughts are hard to remove, even when you are adult.

    Well, he could not see a 3d printer.

    But if he was alive now, for Father’s day my gift would be a sculpture with us in a tight big hug.

  363. Artisteroi Rlsh Gadgeteer says:

    My son (and my wife) have been saving their money to buy me a 3D printer for Christmas this year. It has been on my wish list for several years. I currently go though Shapeways to print parts for the sculptures I make as a hobby on the weekends.
    But if I can win this one, they can can take the money they saved and keep it for themselves or spend it on someone else. My wife will likely donate it to her favorite charity, The Humane Society. My son will spend his on video games undoubtedly. Maybe I can talk him into saving it for college books. He starts in the fall.
    Anyway, pick me and all sorts of people will benefit from the ripple effect. Well except for Shapeways, but I have given them enough money already.

  364. Aidan says:

    I was thinking about making a castle

  365. evie says:

    My dad lives 2000 miles away from me, but every time I go into the garage to cut a piece of wood (I’m an artist), he’s right with me. Growing up, I helped him make tables, bunk beds, stands, you name it. He never had formal training, but he gave me all the training I need! If we were to get the 3D printer, we would make some really cool tools to help him in the shop. Now that he has Parkinson’s disease, we’ve found that little changes to tools could make a big difference (last month he actually fractured and sliced his thumb using the table saw because he couldn’t get to the wood the right way). We have many ideas about how to create some useful tools, but no means to do so. A 3D printer would be an awesome present for him.

  366. brianc says:

    If I was to get a 3d printer for Fathers Day, the first thing I would make is ‘leg cuff’s’ for cows, for a friend of mine that milks the old-fashioned way, the stool and bucket. He has a regular customer discount in his local A&E, suffering from kicks from his ‘pets’.

  367. Camden Johnson says:

    When I was about five, my dad worked for a window company and would often leave on long trips away from home.

  368. Todd Rathier says:

    I’ve recently gone through a divorce and I have been looking for ways to bond with my son. He is very mechanically inclined and into quad-copters, Lego and many other hands-on type of activities along with too much time on his xbox. I think there is no end to what can be done with a 3D printer and I would love to explore with him how we could use it to modify his quad-copter, create new Lego pieces, anything to get him away from losing himself in video games and back out in the world. This is a very capable machine and I think he could build some pretty cool stuff with it.

  369. marmageek says:

    My dad was a maker and didn’t even know it. When you grew up in the depression you would always make your own things. From cribbage boards to houses. We did not have any fancy equipment like table saws, lathes, etc. — we just built things with simple hand tools. One thing I learned from my dad is using the right tool (that you can afford) for the right job. Another is — every project is an excuse to acquire a new tool and that is how you build your collection. Every tool I have has a memory. What a gift! Thanks Dad!

  370. Camden Johnson says:

    So, wanting to spend more time with him I decided that I would build a robot to do his job for him and collect money from the hotel desk where he worked. ( A five year olds first thought of work can be a bit odd.) So that being said I would probably just print a little prototype for him. Because him working for a new company, and me being twelve, I understand a robot can not do his job. and he would probably print custom figures for the board game risk so that he can dominate me in style. :)

  371. Dave Currie says:

    I grew up in a small town in Alabama, a town which my Dad rarely left. Being someone who barely left a small town in Alabama and one who was from a simpler time, he wasn’t very aware of technological advancements. In the 90’s when I told him I was going into graphic design and it required the use of computers, his reply was, “You mean like Jurassic Park?”. Yes, was my reply, after many attempts to explain.

    So in response to the question of what would I make with my Dad? It wouldn’t matter. His mind would be blown by the mere idea that something could literally appear out of thin air (albeit very slowly!). He wouldn’t stop comparing it to Star Trek. I’m pretty sure if he were still around and I tried to explain it to him, those would be the first words out of his mouth, “You mean like Star Trek?”. I would reply, “No, more like Jurassic Park”.

  372. Chaos1ao says:

    I have a deep passion for 3D printing ever since I saw one building parts for the first time. This technology is truly going to be the engine to change the world as we know it!!!

    If you choose me, here is the ways it would change my family’s world:
    First and foremost, I can help my daughter to design all kinds of printable items to feed her creative side as well as allowing her to design and print out models of the characters in the book she is writing. Her goal is to become the next J. K. Rowling and she has spent a couple of years fleshing out ideas for her book. I think being able to see her creatures and characters sitting on a shelf or her desk as she writes might help to take her writing to the next level. She has told me for years now that when she becomes a published author she will by me a 3D printer. This would be a chance to reverse the roles where my 3D printer would help her to become a published author!

    I have a 5 year plan to quit the 9 to 5 grind and become a work from home kind of guy. Part of this is creating new products to make the world a better place and figure out how to make this my primary source of income. One of the big ideas I have is to create an economical system to take ABS and PLA pellets and turn them into filament for 3D printers. I know there are a few designs and kits out there, but they are few and far between when compared to the slew of options for 3D printers at this point. One top of that, I want to work out a system that makers could use to turn common plastics around the home into filament. To do this I need a few crucial items, the most important of which is a 3D printer for testing filament as well as printing out all the nonmetallic parts of the system. It is my belief that one of the main ways to help reduce the plastic storm of waste is to figure out a way to make it useful and valuable to people, and what better than turning used plastic items like water bottles or grocery bags into filament to make new and cool items?

    I teach Industrial Maintenance classes at a community college and as such, have learned how to detail lab procedures. Another part of my 5 year plan is work with some of the open source 3D printers and see if I can make the building instructions easier to understand. I have poured over many of these and they are a bit complex for those new to the field. I think if it was easier to understand, more people would build printers and thus more great things will happen in the world of 3D printing. Working at my pace from home (The 5 year plan again) would free up the time I need to dig deeper into this and see what I can do to help.

    My other big goal with 3D printing is to design a printable robot that works with common servos and the Arduino control system. Robotics is another of my passions and I would like to create a fairly cheap, but multi option robotic system for those starting out to learn with. Having the printer in my shop where I can print, tweak, and reprint parts would be a huge help in this process! My vision is an Instructable with the STL files, how to assemble it all, and some basic programs and ideas to get them going.

    Whoever wins I know they will greatly enjoy the printer and I do not envy you who have to decide from all these great entries.

    Thanks for reading :)

  373. Noah Bergman says:

    For nearly two years a 1979 Triumph Spitfire has been sitting in our garage. When I get time to come home we’ll spend plenty of time deciphering the old handbook it came with. There are several parts, like the window handle, transmission knob and hood ornament we talked about designing. Also, many parts are not manufactered anymore and require custom design which can be very expensive.

  374. Trevor Harris says:

    Ah, to have had a 3D printer when I was 11… When creative juices were flowing with no barriers. Well I’m now 47 and my 11 year old is on a mission to save the world with inventions using manufactured parts and computer components he puts together. My father’s day would be perfect to give him the chance to build that part of his mind that creates and thinks and sees those solutions for the problems that he finds in his generation. A Leapfrog printer would allow him and I to work together to create and build and refine and do it all over again.

  375. Andrew Hojel says:

    Throughout my childhood, my dad has not always been in the picture because of his work which requires him to travel quite a bit. Even though he is not always home, he is the best dad a kid could ask for. We share an extreme love of architecture and civil engineering. It would be incredible to spend the time I have with my dad exploring some of our favorite subjects. If we won the Leapfrog XL, my dad and I would print a city. The city would be full of bridges, skyscrapers, stadiums, and many more buildings all designed by my dad and myself. It would be incredible to design every single building in an entire city. I have always dreamed of taking on a big project with my dad because I believe it would help bring us closer together. It would truly be a blessing to spend time with my dad building a city from our imaginations. Truly, I would be indebted to all those who helped make this project if my dad and I won because they would have singlehandedly helped strengthen a father son bond. My dad is someone I look up to aspire to be like. Almost everything he does, even work, are for the wellness of me and my siblings. If I won the 3D printer, I would be given the chance to give something back to him. Thank you!

  376. John Gomm says:

    I’ve got a decent 3d scan of my two year old daughter and I’m planning on being the best dad ever by fashioning her personalized toys. My first idea is to replace the face of Thomas the train with her face so she can be Tabitha the train. Barbie and GI Joe are probably next, but it’d be a lot easier with my own printer.

  377. Jack says:

    My Dad recently entered an assisted living facility. He misses his home where he had a workshop and an extensive collections of “treasures”. Those “treasures” included radios, gadgets, rusty old hand tools, memorabilia , electronics and anything he could get his hands on. Sometimes, he would go to the landfill in town 3 times in one day to make sure he didn’t miss anything. Since he grew up in the depression and had 4 siblings, nothing was wasted and everything was recycled. He still has that mentality and I have seen him look with admiration at the trash truck that pulls out of the facility every week with interesting forms of junk. I would use the 3D printer to build replicas of junk from the 30s and 40s and give it to him. If I told him I got it at a junk yard he would value it more than if it were brand new and worth hundreds of dollars.

  378. Josh Lobel says:

    As a dad of two young kids my maker skills are typically employed fixing stuff that breaks (usually this happens spontaneously since nobody ever seems to know what happened). Some of the fixes for which I would use the Leapfrog Creatr XL are the following: repairing the plastic switch toggle inside the hairdryer that broke when nobody dropped it on the floor (superglue only worked for a short time before the toggle cracked again), replacing the little soccer ball on the vintage Smurf figurine I’ve had for years that nobody lost when nobody was playing with it, and putting a new tire on my daughter’s souvenir space shuttle that burned up on a particularly wicked reentry down the stairs.

    Oh, and I would build an orrery – a fully functional mechanical model of the solar system. I showed my daughters one once and they have since not stopped asking when we could make one. I was looking into making one with Legos, but based on the Creatr XL specs, I would probably be able to print the complete working model all at once (on its side) using dissolving support material. I’ve already got a pretty awesome Grasshopper definition (the graphical algorithm plug-in for Rhino) worked out for the relative planetary motions and would use that to generate the complete model with all the gears and planets and connections. If you choose me as the winner, I’ll even document the whole process for you to share!

  379. BillD says:

    I would try to create and print a model of an unbelievable moment that has been etched into my memory forever. My dad passed away at age 45, but thankfully not before we had the experience of a lifetime together. My dad and I were at a family owned hunting cabin deep in the woods of southwestern Missouri. One morning, while it was still dark, we set out along a dirt road we used to move a tractor around on the property. We were heading out to do some hunting, so we were moving very quietly and slowly along the road. I was pretty happy to be out enjoying nature with my dad. The road was clearly lit by moonlight, but the dense woods along both sides of the road were inky dark.

    Suddenly, we heard a massive disturbance in the woods on the right side of the road about 50 feet in front of us. What happened next blew my mind. In fact, I’m certain that most people reading this will not believe it. This is a 100% true story, though. My father and I had frozen in place when we heard the noise. Frankly, it sounded like it was a deer running away from something in a blind panic. Whatever it was, it was reckless, loud, and crashing through the underbrush without regard for the stillness of the slowly growing dawn. Anyone who has walked through dense woods just prior to dawn will attest to how shocking this level of noise would be in such a still environment.

    So, as we stood there, frozen in time for what seemed like forever, we strained our eyes scanning the dark mass of the trees for anything moving. We were hyper alert, adrenaline rushing through our bodies, waiting to see whether we should be running for our lives. Then it happened.

    I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as two beings rolled out of the woods onto the road in front of us. They were pushing each other, swatting at each other, and wrestling each other onto the ground. They seemed to be gleefully rolling around like a couple of 10 year old boys having fun. I call them beings because they were definitely humanoid, and very likely primates.

    I had been a student in gifted classes for four years and I had curiously examined photographs of every unusual animal on Earth in my studies. My brain quickly struggled to identify what I was seeing, but I couldn’t. I had seen nothing like this in any textbook. I felt a sudden thrill as I realized I was seeing a totally different species. I had heard that a number of people had sighted a creature they called a “Sasquatch” throughout the woods in the that region of the country, but I had discounted the stories as probably being bear sightings in my own mind. Now, I can say for certain that these were not bears.

    Their behavior suggested playful children, yet they were both around six feet tall. I know this because during the times they were standing, they were noticeably taller than my dad and I who were both 5′ 7″. Both beings were covered with thick dark brown fur, and stood on two legs. Their bodies were barrel shaped and stocky with over-sized shoulders. Their limbs were long and relatively slender. Their arms were longer than a human, extending down to their knees. Their legs were also unusually long, but in an odd way. The thigh seemed to be normal length, but the calves seemed to be about 50% longer than normal. It was an odd asymmetry seeing the bottom half of the leg being so much longer than the top half.

    The two beings continued to wrestle around on the ground, oblivious to my dad and I standing about 30 feet away from them. After the longest 30 seconds of my life, one of them suddenly stood up and jerked it’s head around to directly face us. Somehow it had detected us standing there, despite the fact that I’m sure neither of us had taken a breath since the two originally burst from the woods. Following the gaze of the first, the second being, who was still on the ground, also turned to look at us. All four of us were locked in that moment, looking at one another and deciding what to do.

    Then, both beings ran on two legs back into the woods. The crazy part is that these huge hairy humanoids now moved almost silently as they disappeared into the trees. By the time they got maybe 100 feet away, we could no longer hear them running. Perhaps they stopped and circled to observe us. I’ll never know.

    My dad and I just looked at one another. I could see, reflected in his eyes, the same wonder and awe which I felt welling up inside myself. I knew we had both witnessed something extraordinary. I also knew in my gut that nobody was ever going to believe what we had seen. After a few moments of standing there, we simply started walking again. The surreal experience left me feeling like I was in a trance. Neither of us said a thing until we got to our hunting spot.

    Once we arrived, we slowly started talking about what we had seen. At that point, we both realized that we had no interest in hunting that day after what we had experienced. So, we simply turned around and started walking back to the cabin, double checking the details of what we had seen with one another. We discussed calling the park service or the sheriff to file a report, but decided it wouldn’t do any good and would likely get us labeled as lunatics.

    On the walk back, we watched the woods like hawks. I still don’t know if I was dreading or hoping that it would happen again but it didn’t. I do know that this single experience was the most memorable in my life and I was really happy that I had shared it with my dad. This memory became even more special when he was killed in an industrial accident a year later. A shared experience like that brings you closer than you ever thought you could be.

  380. William Penrod says:

    As a father I am excited to see technology that not only changes the World but our society. For too long the generational gap was widened by technology. The more that young people play video games and tap away furiously at their smart phones the more they have become detached from the actual World around them from current events and even their parents. With the advent of 3D printing child and parent can be drawn together. The technology lures the child in but in this case he/she is producing something, putting their creativity to use for something much greater than temporary stimulation or satisfaction. The parent is only too happy to support the new found creativity and productivity of the child. Sharing ideas and implementing designs for things that help, improve, change and benefit society. The excitement of limitless possibilities is almost overwhelming, and the fact that it can bring father and son closer is priceless.

  381. Peter Murray says:

    We would like to build an attachment for a car wheel to make it more aero dynamic.

  382. Jeffries Epps says:

    As a dad and the co-founder of the G.R.E.A.T. 3D Academy, I understand the importance of preparing students to compete globally by exposing them to emerging technologies. If I win the 3D printer, it will be used for this purpose. @great_academy

  383. Matthew Mularoni says:

    Hi my name is Matt and I am 12. My Dad and I have come up with some cool inventions (but i usually come up with the good ones) that we wish could have prototypes of. So we sketch it and draw it in autodesk inventor and maybe even make a cardboard model as well (sorry but i am not going to tell you the inventions because we don’t have patents so their still secrets). I think it would be GREAT if we had a 3D printer so we could actually build a legit full functioning prototype. I think THAT WOULD BE AWESOME WITH A CHERRY ON TOP!

  384. Faustino Bince says:

    I guess , the father and son moments have passed for me and my Dad. He was shot at work in 1990. But, if I had a printer I would print anything and everything with my kids by my side. We like to make stuff. Every year we travel to the San Mateo Makers Faire and oogle the 3-d printers.( I do at least)

    And I know my oldest daughter would go nuts!!! She folds, tapes and makes stuff.
    Shes been asking for a 3-d printer (wants to make buttons and Eyes for her projects)
    If you think we could put the printer to good use PICK US!

  385. GO2Q1 says:

    One of the greatest joys I’ve had as a dad since adopting our 5 girls has been Halloween. We challenge them every year to come up with their wildest costume ideas to see if my wife and I can make them happen. We’ve had a piñata and Mr. Potato Head and a Statue of Liberty Snowglobe and a Zoltar Fortune telling machine in the past. This year we’ve been tasked with turning our oldest, a budding paleontologist, into a T-Rex Skeleton. I’ve been psyching myself up for weeks of carving styrofoam but with a 3D printer I could turn out dinosaur bones literally in my sleep.

  386. Caleb Simpson says:

    According to Mark Twain, “Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered — either by themselves or by others.” While my dad may not be the greatest genius of amazing inventions, I believe he is the greatest undiscovered maker of character, not only for myself but my three siblings as well. He not only encourages greatness in what we do, but how we do it. Without him I wouldn’t be pouring my life into the stunning technology displayed on this site.

    We never have been able to invest much in the future, with my dad moving us about every two years for humanitarian work overseas. Definitely not able to get a 3D printer like this one. I normally don’t win contests like this, but I thought I might once for my dad. Even in his forties, he still surprises me with energetic ideas to change the world.

    My dad has done all sorts of CGI, 3D and 2D. If he had this special 3D printer, he would probably spend countless nights working just to wake us up with something made and designed just for someone in our family or community. An army of red catapults for my little brother or a crest for a local school, it’s up to you!! Whatever it is, the happiness won’t be just limited to our family but countless others as well.

    Thank you, fathers everywhere! Continue making the next generation better than before.

  387. Doug Rindfleisch says:

    Both my father and I were involved in cub scouts and boy
    scouts when I was young. He used to
    spend lots of time being my den leader and I specifically remember building
    many pinewood derby cars together. I
    still have some of them in the back of my closet. I’d love to break them out for my 17 month
    old daughter to play with, but decades old balsa wood with the wheels nailed on
    doesn’t exactly sound toddle safe. I’d
    print her similar cars to play with.

    Scouting led to camping, camping led to backpacking,
    backpacking led to gear making, and a significant other led to a pop-up
    camper. I’m always looking to design,
    make, build, and fix my camping gear. With a fixer upper pop-up camper project in my
    garage, and a family reunion next year, a 3D print would print all sorts of
    parts!

    Another long standing family tradition is playing
    cribbage. I’ve long wanted to make a
    board based on the letters our family name, but have neither the woodworking
    skill nor patience to drill the 100’s of necessary holes. My grandpa’s 83rd birthday is coming
    up, and I’d love to have a personalized cribbage board ready for him by
    then.

    Other projects that come to mind are mostly geeky toys for
    my daughter. She’s going to be a super
    geek like her daddy: periodic table of elements
    building blocks, dinosaur skeletons, and giant versions of board games. I don’t know why, but giant board games have
    always amused me, and I’ve learned that all I have to do is expose my daughter
    to the things I like, and she likes them too!
    9in x 9in x 23in chess pieces sound awesome, and so do giant scrabble
    tiles!

  388. TechCommGeekMom says:

    My favorite dad is actually my husband, who is a total DIY kind of guy. A mechanical engineer by training, he’s actually a computer developer now. He is definitely Mr. Fix-It around here, and is always trying to invent some new contraption to help fix something around the house. It would be really cool to have a 3D printer for him (okay, and me and our son too) so that we could create stuff together, and see if we could find some ways to make items that we can use around the house rather than going to Home Depot or Lowe’s to try to find a part that will fit some broken item here “close enough”. I mean, how cool would it be to make something that fits what you are trying to fix EXACTLY? I know he’d get a kick out of the 3D printer, and it’d be a cool enough “toy” that he’d share with the whole family, because he’s that kind of guy. He’s the coolest dad I know! (My dad wouldn’t know the first thing about using a 3D printer, or what it even is. I’d rather give it to someone who knows what it is and how to use it!)

  389. wez says:

    I would print my dad a plastic heart! After all the stress i put him through as i would come up with all my crazy inventions growing up….it would be the perfect way to show my love by giving him the gift of imortality!

  390. Benjamin says:

    As a young lad I was probably not the most strapping boy and my father who was into robotics and programming must not have thought so either. He did not spend much time with my siblings and I, although the few times he did it was often with myself instead of my other siblings due to my pure intrigue of technology, science and ambition. Some of my best memories were of discussing and learning about theories and meta physics even around the age of 10.
    Now in my twenties I am working toward a degree in astronautical engineering, and after much toil and effort to fix the relationship between father and children we don’t speak nor see one another.
    Throughout all of this my siblings and I have stuck closely together supporting and helping one another.
    Although I have no children of my own yet, I do have 2 nieces and one nephew that I see very often and love with everything I’ve got. I would use this printer to get those girls and boy exploring the creative world of science, physics and technology. Printing kinetic toys like Theo Jansen strand beest and miniature steam/spring driven contraptions I know they would love.
    The world could certainly use more women engineers and tech geeks, in addition to strong hard working men that aint afraid to cry.
    It is 2014 embrace the future!

  391. Steven Woodward says:

    Growing up i would always try to help my dad doing jobs around out house or in the garden (not always helpful) but he never said that, it was always fun to be around my dad because he had so much experience with building and making things, i would love to win the leapfrog printer 3d printer. I have always dreamed about making scenery for games and my dad is a huge model train enthusiast and remote control plane flyer. I would love to work with my father once again on some of his projects now that he is retired and show him what 3d printing can do for his hobbies since he always tried to help with mine.

    Thanks. :)

  392. Ignacio says:

    My father is a physician, I’ve always admired how passionate he is at his work. The first thing I’d print as a gift for him would be a full scale model of a heart with the highest amount of detail possible!

  393. Roland says:

    I would probably print another 3D printer (or parts to make another one), this way there’s more people who’d benefit from it :-)

  394. Jason Fay says:

    My dad is a retired surgeon who just last week underwent his third open-chest heart surgery because the last valve they implanted a few years ago failed and had to be replaced. He has expressed interest in developing a newer, longer-lasting valve and could use the 3D printer to help visualize and design his prototypes.

  395. Krissy Venosdale says:

    We’d print everything ever……. My husband, daughter, and I recently moved across country, and since my dad has MS and can’t really visit us here, nor get out of the house very much anymore, I’d definitely print something just for him. What would I print? Our life. I’d send him a statue of his granddaughter doing Karate for the first time, a model of our home that we are building,a model of her playing soccer, and even a model of the look on my face when I hugged my brand new LeapFrog printer. Every week, my dad would get a little piece of our lives in the mail. It would be just like a subscription to a jelly of the month club, only the models wouldn’t be editable, because it would just be creepy to bite off your grandaughter’s head and munch on it. Please help me bring this project about life to life!

  396. Matt Decker says:

    My dad and I made things together all of the time. He died a bit too early for me, but the things we buillt serve as wonderful reminders of each moment, mistake, and triumph. I now have a son and daughter. Besides staying as healthy as I can and giving all of my free time to them, I want to build things with them that they will look at when I am gone and have great memories. More importantly, I want them to also connect with their children in a similar fashion – learning skills, building character, working through problems as a team and with their own knowledge. You can make memories. I want to make 3d memories.

  397. miniktty says:

    My dad died a while back, but if he were still around he would probably print a guitar to play. He loved the guitar.

  398. Jarrod Oldham says:

    One of my earliest memories with my dad was watching him make me a little sword out of a dowel and a lathed-down chunk of wood for the handguard. I remember him spending at least half the time keeping me away from his too-dangerous-for-toddler-hands woodworking tools. Now that I’m a father with a little man following me around the garage trying to emulate me in every way, I’m faced with the same dilemma. I tried to get some kiddo-safe “tools” to occupy him, but he wants the same tools that I’m using, not just an orange plastic hammer and screwdriver. My project, then, would be to print plastic versions of the tools he’d most like to get his hands on (the hand plane and dividers hold particular fascination to him), so he could work out in the garage alongside me.

  399. Austin says:

    My dad is a hardworking man working long hours to sustain the family. As a child my dad didn’t seem to have much time for me due to his work, so I turned to the great world of electronics. The second you dive into such a great hobby, you become overwhelmed with the potential things you can create. Recently I have been creating projects consisting of PCBs, and the problem is I want to make custom enclosures, but I need a 3D printer for that….

  400. Jonathan Zackary Kayne says:

    I am 15 years old and me and my dad have done so many projects together. My dad is a blacksmith so i come down from a line of blacksmiths, and i have a lot of fun building things with him such as knives and hardware.
    Recently, he took a class in the spring to learn about CAD and CNC so we could operate a Haas that we got a few years ago.
    we would appreciate it if we got a printer so that he could design more stuff and spend more time with him!
    Thank-you

  401. Matthew Q says:

    I would Print a scale model of the boat he has been building for 20+ years. It is close but still a good amount of work left. The scale model would be printed and then fiber glassed and trimmed out. Remote control and some power winches(modified servo) to get some sail action and see it Drive him to finish the big Kahuna. I worked with him on it and it is his dream. But time is enemy of our bodies. Push Forward! and Make it!
    PS: If i get this, I push forward and out x 2 printers. Why not push everyone to start at least small. Then they become advocates for our craft. Then they too can participate help us.

  402. Ryszjak says:

    I’d love to use this with my wife to make things for our dads.

  403. Kris Hahn says:

    My father has been a metal fabricator his whole life. So growing up I learned that and when I got out on my own I started learning Woodworking. We have always worked on projects to combine the two skills. Now that I have a little one the three of us work on projects together. We really love the idea of the maker movement that combines different skills on projects. We’ve been toying with the idea of a 3-D printer to help add to our projects.

  404. Mike Lyden says:

    I think we’d start with an extendo-arm so he could read The Post at a comfortable distance, and then get cracking on his list of fix’er’ups. This man taught me how to ice skate in the skates he learned in 25 years prior—they were more duct tape than leather by that point. This is also the guy who taught me to drive stick by explaining the concept to me once while driving on a hilly, curving country road, pulling over and saying he wasn’t driving home. I remember he rebuilt a second story deck at our home when I was a kid–he was a life-long Manhattanite and I was a city kid up until then and I remember thinking “if he moves that one piece right now the whole thing will fall down.” But he did the entire thing without damage or injury. This weekend I’ll be at Mom and Dad’s helping to clean the gutters, fix window screens and get the boat seaworthy… I think if we had a 3D printer handy, he’d come up with better uses for it than I might! But I would guess we’d create various custom mounting brackets, adapter plates, and maybe some automotive accessories…

  405. OldRick says:

    I’d jump the frog if I won.

  406. Berk says:

    My dad is the MVP along side of my mom in my life. They always supported me fully and mentored me. I will keep it short. I know it is crazy but i would like to print him a fedora hat. He is always rocking a fedora. With these dimensions i think, i can pull it off. If i win, i can assure you that the hat will have leapfrog 3D brand on it.

    Cheers!

  407. Matthew wehttaM says:

    My dad recently started a business making micro controllers (last week). He would love being able to print models of his product. I am also the oldest of six kids who are all interested in making so the machine would be put to good use.

  408. GreyElf says:

    LEGOS! I can/could never find the right size/color/shape to finish that model that had to be finish ‘like’ right now. Mind you I know it will take a while to print, but
    I can distract the kids with, “Wow, look at that thing print. Ain’t it neat!”, and “Hey if you think that’s neat, why don’t you use this program to make a cool shape.” That should get me out of having to build Legos models for a while.
    I could finally fix all those frustratingly lovely broken toys that just need one gear/part to work again. Also I can fix those little items that some how get broke even though no one was around.
    “How did the remote get cracked again?”, “I don’t know, it just happened.”
    Honestly though it would be a great learning experience. Learning together to use both the printer and CAD/design programs will be fun for all of us. And I would be the cool one again … At least until the first time someone else says, “No, that’s not how you do that dad. Let me show you how.”

  409. Pamela Morse Campbell says:

    my sexy-nerdy baby-daddy (we have a 9mo daughter) says he’d make a 3D printer ;)

  410. brian riffle says:

    My Dad and I would print a “robo hand” for my niece and anyone else who may need one.

  411. jbolton67 says:

    Growing up on a farm in rural Nebraska…I learned a lot of life’s lessons from my father…He taught me that hard work (while not always appreciated) is always respected…He taught me how to fix things, weld, mechanics, and the joy of going to bed at night knowing you’ve done your best. He sold the farm in the late 70’s before going completely broke and took a job in a small city that no one wanted…Dog Catcher…It is a thankless job, garnering disdain from people who had lost their dogs and wound up in the shelter…I used to help out there every summer…
    My Dad is no longer with us, he passed away about 6 months after my Mom…I know some things he would build, custom knife handles, grips, outdoors type stuff…As for myself…I collect hats and have an idea that I would possibly turn into a business…I’m working hard to instill life’s lessons into my own children, and possibly have more to pass down to them than my father did…Possession’s don’t mean a lot…but struggling payday to payday is not how I want to be remembered by my children.

  412. Brody Smith says:

    I am thirteen years old and a 3D printer would be the coolest present ever for him! Right now my dad doesn’t have a job but is working very hard to find one. He has already turned down two jobs because they were out of state and he didn’t want to be away from my family for to long. We don’t have as much money as most people do so we wouldn’t ever to be able to get a 3D printer, So it would be really cool to win him one. I am so proud of my dad for working so hard for our family so this would be the perfect gift for him. He has been coaching me in soccer for almost 10 years now so i wanted to make a soccer trophy that said “1 Dad!” for him to show how much I love him and look up to him.

  413. Sergio Cortes says:

    Since I was a child, my father and family organized a Christmas party for really poor children in Costa Rica. During all their life, they never new what was to celebrate a birthday, Christmas or anything else. During this Christmas celebration we had gifts, food and fireworks to encourage them to study harder and get better grades. At that time, these children didn’t even have electricity but they did have a positive attitude and really good manners. I would like to get this printer so my father and I can go again an give them a Christmas that they will never forget! We would print every gift for them during the party (depending on what they want) and finally we would donate the 3D printer to the school (now they have electricity and Internet). I would pay to take the printer to them, train them and find funding so they can start a 3D printer lab so they would get motivated to study and learn more about technology and science. This 3D printer could change the life of an entire comunity and I could take pictures of how these kids use it and how happy they would be.

    Thank you Leapfrog!

  414. Elena Tucker says:

    On behalf of my husband, who is father to my three fabulous children, winning this would be amazing. He has been coaching our kids’ robotics team for 7 years now and one challenge has been making parts for the bots that would do what the kids want. The possibilities are almost endless for what he and the kids on the team could create to make their designs a reality. This year the team is traveling to Australia to compete. Who knows what they could do next season with the help of a Leapfrog 3D printer!

  415. Jason L. says:

    If I had this printer, what WOULDN’T I print?! I’m a working guy making just enough to get by, nothing extra for fancy gadgets and cool gizmos, but I do love watching videos of makers whipping up cool projects on their 3D printers. I’m a traditional 2D artist with the occasional clay sculpture now and then. I’d love to get my hands on a program like ZBrush or Maya and try my hand at digital sculpture…maybe print some off on my new Leapfrog Creatr XL… Thanks for your consideration and thanks for offering up such a great contest!

  416. mdsutt says:

    My dad had been a maker for as long as I can remember. He spends most of his days out in the so making new tools, pottery, wood work, welding, etc. He is a great man and I owe all of my making to him. I can see him using this to make parts for old tools, create new ones, maybe even inventing the next best thing since sliced bread.

  417. mbrown says:

    I would print custom parts for the Jeep that my dad and I have
    been restoring over the last year. Although
    we have done many projects together over the years, neither of us had taken on
    a vehicle restoration project before so it has been a fun challenge. By far, the most fun has come from watching
    him explain to friends and family, in great detail, all of the steps that we
    have taken for each component of the rebuild, and listening to him tell
    everyone that he and I had worked on it together.

    Now in his seventies and recovering from a heart attack last
    fall, working on the Jeep has become very important to him, so I often find
    myself looking for other add-ons or modifications that we can do. I think a custom shifter knob and some
    tweeter bezels would be the first printed components, then maybe a center counsel
    with larger cup holders.

  418. bobulated says:

    I’d make a sentient 3D printer that would make other 3D printers until everyone had one before they overthrew their human masters and took over the world! Muh-hahhahahahaha! Ooops! I meant toys for my kid. Yes, definitely toys for my 4 year old daughter! Forget about that overthrow thing.

  419. Evan S. Tallas says:

    Growing up, my father had a riding mower at our house in Chicago. It would inevitably break down every summer at least once. That mower is how I actually learned to drive. (It had 3 gears and a stick shift.) Every summer I’d help my dad repair something from it before we could mow the lawn in Chicago. We’d spend a weekend disassembling the engine to find the latest broken part, which of course, you could only find after searching through the “online” records machines at the service center for an hour or two. 3 weeks after ordering the part it would arrive, and we’d spend a weekend installing it and then my dad would put me on his lap and we’d ride around the yard for about 2 hours, cutting the lawn well until past nightfall. It wasn’t until now I just realized that it was more of a father/son thing than it was about mowing the lawn, as the mower couldn’t have been fixed until the summer was half over anyway. Sadly, or thankfully, that mower is long gone. I bet my father would really appreciate sitting back with a cigar, while I quickly model a riding mower and print it out in 3D. I would probably say something about how quickly we could have printed a part out. Then he’d most likely poke fun at the fact it takes forever to print something properly, as I tried to get the settings right and printed the model over and over. Either way, it would be a good day spent with my dad and the time spent with him would be the most important thing anyway.

  420. TorchwoodThree says:

    I’d make a pair of noise canceling ear plugs so I don’t have to listen to all the tech support type questions dad has ;-)

  421. Caitlin says:

    My Dad and I are both very creative people, I make jewellery my Dad is awesome at painting, design, woodwork, metalwork and electronics etc. He’s made a swinging bench and a pergola for Mum, I love his paintings, and he’s built robots. We were going to go on Robot Wars when I was little, but never got round to it as he was so busy doing his OU course and working. I would love for us to be able to finally built robots together for ourselves so that we could have a mini robot wars, and this would make it more possible and a lot easier (less financial constraints). Along with this, we could make useful things e.g. gift boxes for my jewellery or something more artistic. I’m away at Uni now, but this would be an amazing way to spend time with my daddy when I’m home.

  422. Elizabeth C. says:

    My own Dad passed away 15 years ago, just before my first son was born. However, I have been extremely fortunate to have the most wonderful father-in-law imaginable. He has provided my own children with so many wonderful stories and memories. Unfortunately, his own memory is starting to slip. Thankfully, he still has a great sense of humor and manages to make the most of every day. Keeping him on track can be a bit exhausting for my mother-in-law, though,as much as she adores him. If my husband and I won the machine, the first thing I would want to make would be some memory devices—items that engage his brain in a new way. It would be science in the making. Maybe we could even scent them and do two-tone designs. I’ve always wondered if smells from childhood might trigger memories in memory-compromised individuals. I look forward to experimenting!

  423. Jennie Katz says:

    I can’t tell you just 1 thing, as we have 3 awesome kids. My husband would print something different for each one, so the list would have 3 wildly different ideas, just to start. He would take time with each child before even starting to think of himself. Isn’t that what being a Dad is all about?

  424. Adler says:

    Well, my dad is about as creative as a brick but I’m getting married on June 22nd and my new dad is quite a maker. I think him and I would sit around this thing for hours just looking at it and figuring out how it works but I think the first thing we’d make is another 3d printer. Maybe a reprap so we could both have one.

  425. Danny Dillen says:

    Dad’s always been a bit of a gardener. Collecting anything green that caught his eye. Personally I think he missed his calling as a horticulturalist as these days he spends his time lecturing over the different methods to pollinate and propagate the vast variety of fruits and nuts he’s planted all over the garden. He’s taking this passion to such an extreme that his garden began to overflow into the neighbouring property, leading the man to become quite possibly the first guerilla gardener over the age of 60 without even knowing it. I for one don’t complain as the illicit vegetable patch has provided for some delicious rations, especially the pumpkins for soup on cold winter nights. I imagine a 3d printer would help him immensely with labelling each of his sections as well as tagging what has and hasn’t yet been pollinated. In addition he’s a DIY type, always asking for a fix or modification. This could help him in the maker department to work on some of those harder to source bits. I know it would bring us a bit closer, since as an industrial designer he’d be asking me to do most of the CAD work for him.

  426. Melany Stowe says:

    After explaining the give away to my sons as a Father’s Day surprise:
    10 year-old said, “Cool! We would print all the big fish we catch so we wouldn’t forget them because we throw them back in.”
    3 year-old said, “I would print our dog. Then we would have two.” (Mama doesn’t want a second dog, but would love a quiet model for Mongo to aspire to be like!)
    My husband is a fantastic dad and also an engaging middle school math teacher. He spends every summer outside with our two boys and would put this printer to use at home in the summer and in his classroom during the school year.

  427. Jason Taylor says:

    We should vote to have Father’s Day changed to Father’s Month

  428. Mark Larsen says:

    I live in a low income family. My dad has worked as an entrepenuer for years now with no revenue building a software business. Despite this we haven’t ever stopped improving. With hard work we even have a waterfall and a maker shop in our backyard. Having a 3D printer has been a dream for a long time and it would mean the world to be able to create anything! Thanks for this opportunity make and leapfrog. This community is the greatest. Also my dad is the greatest.. Like Gandalf.

  429. Austin Kregel says:

    I have been thinking of ways to make this father’s day extra special, and something like this will bring everything over the top. I am going away to college and I only live with my father, my leaving is quite hard on him. He is a rock of emotion but this just gets him every time.

    My father is the best handyman I know. When ever someone needs help, he is always right there to help them. He is the kindest and most giving person I have ever met. I am sure, he would use this to print up some kind of part for his mom so she can finally use that old dust buster she has been hiding in the closet or he will try to print himself out a new fancy tool for his tool box. I’m sure that I’ll probably come home at christmas time to find out that he printed himself a lot of old cars, boy is he a sucker for GTO’s.

    Some thing I can always count on when it comes to my dad is that he will always cave into my little niece (3) and nephew(6), he will do whatever they say without a question.

    “Papa, let me drive!” (He would let them steer) or “Papa, eat this!” (it was always a vegetable they hated!)or “Papa, can you please buy me this toy!”
    He would use this printer to print out toys for my niece and nephew until they got sick of him. He loves those kids sooo much. Just like he loved me and my sister.

    He is such a great father and an even better grandfather. He deserves nothing but the best, just like what he gives to everyone else. I know he would put the printer to great use.

    Thank you.

  430. Will Bain says:

    My Dad has been crazy about trains since he was a little kid. Not just model trains, mind you, but he has even gone so far as to become part owner of a company that leases railroad cars to railroads, and currently spends his weekends volunteering for a club that restores old steam engines and cruises scenic old railroad routes on speeder cars.

    If I were to win this 3D printer for my Dad, I figure he would use it to print out HO gauge historically accurate streamliner engines, Pullman cars, and whole towns full of buildings, trees, people and automobiles before meticulously painting them by hand and displaying them proudly on the modular model train layouts that he and his pals set up at shopping malls to enthrall a new generation of little kids into model railroading. (My Dad is the gentleman on the left in the picture below.)

  431. NWP says:

    I would try printing garden railway parts for me and my little one. I would try marble run and other toys for my little one.

  432. Nyzen says:

    My dad came home from his 4 year excursion with the Australian Defence Force, he came home after a grenade exploded near him which tore through his leg and scarred the left side of his body, resulting in his leg being amputated. I’d hope to use this printer to print a new prosthetic limb for him instead of having to pay hundreds of dollars for a simple limb.
    I want him to be able to run with me and chase me like he used to when I was a child, playing soccer together and just enjoying our days together.

  433. Nalin Bhardwaj says:

    He’d probably make me a ice cream maker, as I really love ice cream and eating ice cream is an daily task that we do together.

  434. Adam says:

    When I was living at home with my parents my dad would always moan at me. “Make your Bed”. Time to get my own back, with this 3d printer he can “Make his Bed!” Well out of plastic! ;) lol.

  435. danthemyth says:

    My 3yo daughter is newly fascinated with robots. I’d use the 3D printer to print parts and pieces that she and I designed together. A bonus would be the ability to swap out the pony parts for bug inspired ones when her obsession of the week changes.

  436. Eric Keaton says:

    I’m totally entering this for me. I love creating with my kids and the best Father’s Day gifts are kits and projects that cause us to spend time together. We love to play games and I can imagine so many miniatures that we could print and play with. The whole process would be a blast, from designing through gaming.

  437. James Tipton says:

    I would use this to build everything my kids can think of to create. I’ve enjoyed countless books and magazines like Make and the Dangerous Book for Boys/Girls. Not everything is always available for projects. Many projects even in Make are utilizing printers for small and or obscure parts. What better way to build something whimsical that uses kid friendly gears and buttons and cases? My kids love seeing something work, but the delicate nature of a lot of projects leaves them with just a few uses before they are repairing it. Even enclosures for custom circuits can use then when teaching them about basic sensing or electrical circuits. Altoids tins only go so far!

  438. Caleb Davenport says:

    I would print lost wax castings to make rocket motors with my dad. also i would print camera stabilizing parts for my video Chanel.

  439. Oscar Rodas says:

    I would like to be able to produce my kids’ and nephews’ toys. I’ve seen they only play with a new toy for 1 day and then, the toy becomes old and with no use. They really like toys that look like bugs and I would like to print my own. My wife is a graphical designer and she is really good creating new bugs’ faces.

  440. strawewe says:

    I grew up in my father’s shop and, unfortunately, as we aged so did the tools. It would be incredibly nice to print out replacement parts for tools long abandoned by their manufacturer.

  441. samuel wallace says:

    We are living in a world that is becoming more and more virtual everyday,so how does a father of two little kids give them a solid foundation in the actual? How do you ground them in reality while still nurturing their imaginations? How do you show them the link between a world controlled with buttons, sensors and code and reality, the real world? The answer is simple….you make it……all of it.

  442. Chernobyl says:

    My father died making meth when I was 4, so I never really knew him… If I won, I would use this to make toys and other neat things with my kid (when we have one, very soon)

  443. Neuralnet says:

    My dad is one of those old school guys that fixes everything around the house himself. So even though I would love this printer to make robots and toys… he would totally use this for DIY fixes around the house: a new shower head, some little part for the toilet, a new handle for the washing machine etc. LOL, maybe I could convince him to at least make a few toys for the grandkids but for the most part he is going to stick to super practical stuff.

  444. CharlieMaker says:

    Let me tell you about my grandfather, or, Grandpapa as he is know to me.

    Grandpapa is a maker true and true. I would like to proudly share a picture ( http://t.co/ZVcWJuLcIt ) of a truck he built while stationed with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada. The truck in question was built between 1956 and 1959 while Grandpa worked in the power plant.

    In his own words: “My friend Eric and I both worked in the power plant of Goose Bay. Since there were no civilian vehicles up there at the time, we cooked up this idea to build our own and received the OK from RCAF Commanding Officer to proceed.

    We made a few sketches and looked for scrap parts which were in abundance on both the Canadian and American parts of the base. We got a 4 cylinder engine from the American stock, not the dump. It wasn’t new but worked really well. We had to crank it to start (saving weight).

    The transmission came from a jeep and the rear end as well. The rear end was too wide so we cut it, the housings and the axles to suit.

    The front end, well, quite a few parts had to be gathered. The coil springs were valve springs that came from our generator diesel engines. The brake spindles came from the dump. We has a real problem with the steering mechanism. Due to size constraints, the steering assembly had to be installed backwards in the truck which resulted in us having to turn the wheel left to steer right and vice versa. It was a real challenge to get used to. :-)

    Then, we had to source some wheels. We discussed adding skis to the front but in the end, didn’t do it. The wheels were donated by a company that made towable generator units used on the runways to guide in aircraft.

    We of course had access to metal lathes, welding equipment, hoists and lots of advice from everyone.

    This was a good project!”

    I am lucky to have such strong maker roots in my lineage. As I reread this story he shared with me years ago I am struck by how resourceful they were, how they collaborated with each other, the American base personal and other people to complete their project. In the end, not only did they gain a vehicle to get around with, they made friends and learned new skills along the way. The essence of making and sharing!

    As we get ready for father’s day, I am also busy packing for my annual fishing trip with Grandpapa next week. Even at 92 years of age, he is counting down the sleeps till we can get together, as I am. I will of course probe him for more stories to entertain while trying to land the big one.

    To top it off, my dad and two of my uncles will also be joining this year. It simply does not get any better.

    I am blessed to have had so many positive influences and role models in my life. These men have shaped who I am and continue to do so as I raise my own family. I hope to have the same positive impact on my four children that these wonderful people have had on me.

    I wonder if we could print a Model of that truck. It would sit in my office as a means to share this story with anyone interested.

    Thank you for reading my story.

    Charles
    http://t.co/ZVcWJuLcIt

  445. Michael Raubenheimer says:

    I will print whatever my awesomely creative son will design.

  446. Sam Horovatin says:

    My father, from my very earliest memory’s to now, has been someone
    who I viewed as a limitless source of knowledge and extreme curious. He would peruse
    me to expand my curiosity by getting me to ask the simple question of why. This
    view of limitless questions and even greater wealth of answers has shaped who I
    have become and what I wish to accomplish. If we were to have a powerful tool
    such as a 3D printer, we would bring new life into an old hobby that initially sparked
    my curiosity: the fabrication of robots. With the 3D printer, we could print costume
    parts to start building more complex and intricate robots, with more and more innovative
    and creative purposes.

  447. Landon Andrews says:

    My dad is one who has been building the maker community behind the back door for years. Most people don’t think of the boy scouts as part of the maker community, however, as a scout master, my dad has been teaching ordinary kids how to “make” for more years than I can remember. From alcohol backpacking stoves made from soda cans, to snowshoes formed from heating up pvc pipe to a malleable state, to Klondike sleds with old skis on the bottom, he has taught ordinary kids how to create truly extraordinary things with whatever resources or things they can get. As almost everybody knows, young teenagers excel at learning by doing. This is truly something that my dad has taken advantage of. With this fantastic 3-D printer, my dad would make three dimensional topographical maps of areas in which the troop would be hiking through. Rather than using these as functional maps, they would instead act more as teaching devices: Helping people understand scalable mapping, and exposing them to the ever growing world of technology.

    So is this worth a 3-D printer? It’s your call….

  448. RidgefieldLibrary . says:

    Leapfrog printer haiku:

    3D printer lets
    library patrons build their
    dreams and reach skyward.

  449. MAM says:

    As told to me (the mom) by 5 year old daughter about her dad: My daddy is an artist, and he is always making things like robots and sculptures. He told me about 3D printers, and he used one at work once to make me a tiny box that I used to keep Reese’s Pieces in when I was little. I have a big pink cast on my leg now because I broke it rock climbing last month. My dad says that doctors are going to be able to print casts for people with broken bones one day soon. If my dad had his own 3D printer, I think he would print 3 pink leg casts, one for my mom, one for my little sister, and one for himself. That way we could all match and I wouldn’t feel so sad about my cast. So I hope you give my dad a 3D printer (before my cast comes off).

  450. David Banks says:

    My dad was on the first computing degree in Essex university in the 60’s. When I was studying at uni he would listen to me whittering on about the more theoretical aspects of physics we a the good natured, patient smile of someone who hasn’t the foggiest what I was talking about. I’d like to have something that would be mutual to us both…

    Initially, when I read your question I though I’d be a smart alec and “print another 3D printer”. Now I have another idea, my dad certainly understands programming concepts, and to a much lower level than me. Would it be possible to build a mechanical computer with a 3D printer. (Answer: Yes) Would it be possible for Dad & me to make one? Maybe, if I had a 3D printer.

  451. Claudia Salazar says:

    My husband’s first thoughts are always about our two little children. He daydreams about building our 4 year old girl a beautiful dollhouse complete with little furniture. He tells me over and over how he would love a 3D printer to build rockets and little motor boats for our 2 year old boy. Since it’s out of our means, he settles for making things out of wood, foam, and recycled containers. Whether he makes his little toys with a 3D printer or the old-fashioned way, he always makes them with lots of love. On a side note, my husband also daydreams about using a 3D printer to print medical diagnostic tools that can be used in third world countries.

  452. John Stewart says:

    I would do the printing for my father-in-law… First would be Millennium Falcon model parts followed by Barbie shoes and corvet parts, in addition to other model parts. My father-in-law has the toys my wife and brother-in-law broke as kids; breaking each others favorites when they were kids. He told them he would fix-it. Since he has retired he has found a few replacements at flea markets but some parts are just too rare. 3D printing the broken parts would let dad fix the toys from 20+ years ago.

  453. Guest says:

    I have such fond memories from my childhood of spending many saturday afternoons sitting with my father at the kitchen table as he worked on his latest projects. I still have the Heathkit quadrophonic stereo amplifier that he built in the late 70s (and it still works!) Watching him put things together made me want to make things myself.

    I remember learning from my dad how to wind wire around a nail to make an electro-magnet for my science fair telegraph project. For one of my birthdays, he bought me the Radio Shack 100-in-1 electronics kit, and I made everything from a simple battery powered light circuit, to an AM radio, to a light activated burglar alarm. We made all kinds of things together. One kit that I recall him tinkering with was a working clock made entirely out of paper parts. I honestly don’t remember if the clock worked as well as advertised, but we had a great time putting it together. Whether we were opening up a Commodore VIC-20 computer to add an additional 8k of RAM to it’s existing 5k, or making a robot Halloween costume, complete with blinking lights and working gauges (the best costume ever!), I always looked looked forward to building things with my father.

    These days, I don’t get to see my dad very often. I live in California and he lives in New York, so we are separated by many miles and several time zones. He’s still very handy, and I consider myself to be pretty good Maker myself, so if I were to get a 3D printer for him, I think I would suggest that he use it to print and build a new working clock, in memory of that paper clock that we built together.

    Me and my dad, circa 1971 ↓/Users/Eric_Kurland/Downloads/13279482524_0d694dd566_o.jpg

    1. Eric Kurland says:

      For some reason this posted anonymously, so I have re-posted it as another comment thread.

  454. Meghan Mapes says:

    My dad and I have never been very close, even though we talk on a ~monthly basis. I haven’t seen him in about a decade since I live in OH and he lives in FL. We don’t have a lot in common except for a lifelong love of mechanical tinkering and technology. I think something we’d have a lot of fun doing would be attempting to build our own 3D printer using a 3D printer. I know we couldn’t make all the components, but it would be a fun experiment to try to improve on basic designs out there and add in purchased metal components. Once we each have our own working 3D printer, our next project would be making a model of a 1969 Camaro (his dream car). I don’t have that many fond memories with him, except working on cars together. This would be an amazing opportunity to help repair our relationship into his golden years, while learning and growing as individuals. Thank you guys for extending this possibility and encouraging us to imagine a better tomorrow (with our dads).

  455. Eric Kurland says:

    I have such fond memories from my childhood of spending many saturday afternoons sitting with my father at the kitchen table as he worked on his latest projects. I still have the Heathkit quadrophonic stereo amplifier that he built in the mid-70s (and it still works!) Watching him put things together made me want to make things myself.

    I remember learning from my dad how to wind wire around a nail to make an electro-magnet for my science fair telegraph project. For one of my birthdays, he bought me the Radio Shack 100-in-1 electronics kit, and I made everything from a simple battery powered light circuit, to an AM radio, to a light activated burglar alarm. We made all kinds of things together. One kit that I recall him tinkering with was a working clock made entirely out of paper parts. I honestly don’t remember if the clock worked as well as advertised, but we had a great time putting it together. Whether we were opening up a Commodore VIC-20 computer to add an additional 8k of RAM to it’s existing 5k, or making a robot Halloween costume, complete with blinking lights and working gauges (the best costume ever!), I always looked forward to building things with my father.

    These days, I don’t get to see my dad very often. I live in California and he lives in New York, so we are separated by many miles and several time zones. He’s still very handy, and I consider myself to be a pretty good Maker myself, so if I were to get a 3D printer for him, I think I would suggest that he use it to print and build a new working clock, in memory of that paper clock that we built together, and as a reminder that I love him, and that although some 40 years have passed, I still hold fondly onto those memories of Saturdays in the kitchen.

    Me and my dad, circa 1971 ↓

    1. Guest says:

      Me and my dad, circa 1971 ↓

  456. David Mimms says:

    I broke my hip two years back and cannot play sports anymore. My dad and I have built balsa planes together. We went to the Tampa MOSI together and saw a 3d printer. I would like to see one able to produce bone replacements. As I am unable to walk for long distance. So I would like to build my knowledge of 3d printing with my dad so that in the future I could help kids like me that have injuries that the bone has died and maybe it could be replaced. That way they could maybe play the sport that they want. And not miss out. On the things I miss.

  457. Andrea Rust says:

    My dad is starting up a company and knows I have hopes of becoming an industrial designer. Even though I’m very new at it, and not at all experienced, he chose me as the industrial designer for his company. He knew that doing so would increase the chances of me getting into design school, even though he could have easily hired someone far superior than me. He moved our family to the United States in order that we would receive a better education. He had to drive to Mexico and back every week since his work was still in Mexico and yet he never missed a weekend, birthday, or father daughter dance. He continues to invest in me and my education. This 3D printer would allow us to kick start our business and spend some quality time together.

    1. Andrea Rust says:

      My dad and my son.

  458. Jim says:

    I would print a time machine. Because I would love to go back and retract all the hurtful things that I have said or done that have given my Dad grief over the years.

  459. Mr. E says:

    My Dad has a vacation house, a log cabin on a mountainside, that is his pride and joy. He is going in for surgery soon, and it will be quite some time before he will be able to go back and stay there again. How cool would it be to 3D print a miniature replica of his cabin (in authentic colors), to inspire him during his recovery?

  460. Mark Neumayer says:

    I would print myself a new career. I lost my hearing 7 years ago. While I
    have a cochlear implant that allows me to hear somewhat, my
    comprehension rate, my understanding of what I do hear, is under 20%.
    This doesn’t help in the job world. They won’t come out and say they
    don’t want to hire a deaf person but when they learn I am deaf my
    qualifications no longer meet their criteria for some reason. My hearing
    affected none of my graphic art skills but I am viewed by others as
    damaged goods.
    Forget them. I still have the skills and the desire to create. I want to MAKE my own new life. I want to print and sell 3d toys and art pieces.
    I
    have an 11 year old son who loves making up rules for board games. I
    want to work with him bringing those wild and crazy game ideas to life. I
    want to set the example for him that we can make our own paths despite
    setbacks and the opinions of others.

  461. Louis says:

    I’m thinking we’ll make a chess set where each piece is a member of our family: dad is king, mom is queen, my two sisters are bishop and knight, and I’ll be a rook. Maybe our dog is pawn.

  462. Eugene Evon says:

    This will be my first Father’s Day without my Dad, who passed away in January from complications due to Parkinson’s Disease. With 3 little kids of my own, I’m learning the lessons of good fatherhood without his active guidance, working only from memory at this point. One important lesson was around responsibility and hard work. I remember doing chores and odd jobs for “credit” on a big paper spreadsheet he kept (he was an accountant, and this was before PCs), working for nearly a year to earn enough “money” to “buy” his old stereo from him.

    Following his lead, I’ve started a program with our 6-year old twins and their 8 year old sister of earning “points” for chores, good deeds, etc. And debiting points for bad behavior. The end goal is a reward. Rather than reward them with some toy they’d break or get tired of quickly, if I win the Leapfrog 3D printer, I’d print them each a 3D trophy –that they could each help design with their dad.
    (photos – My late dad with his grandson, the kids today)

  463. Cory White says:

    My daughter is 13, almost 14, and has had a rough time with the divorce her mother and I have been going through. Actually, she’s handling all of the difficult situations very well. One of the ways she and I are able to bond and distract ourselves from the issues we’re going through is by making things. Rubber band bracelets, paracord stuff, soldering electronics kits, playing music together (her on ukulele, me on guitar), etc. An additional, very creative and productive way we could bond and distract ourselves from our difficulties would be through designing and printing things on a 3D printer. We could make jewelry and knick-knacks for her and her friends. She loves the book and film “The Fault in our Stars,” so I see us making clouds with “Okay? Okay” in them and such. She’s very creative and this would be a great outlet for the both of us.

  464. Ai Luc says:

    My Dad and I would love to build some prosthetic limbs for children who have been affected by landmines in war ravaged countries. A friend recently travelled to Cambodia which has an enormous amount of adults and children with missing limbs due to land mine explosions and they have no NHS or welfare systems in place. It was a real shock to see this. The large printbed on this machine would really help for this! Small machines just cant really compete. Sri lanka and many other third world countries have similar issues- not just from mines but from horribly disfiguring diseases that we in more developed countries are just not affected by. Surely this must be a great cause?

  465. Sabina W says:

    The ultimate maker is of course the woman who carries new life for 9 months. My husband, an expectant father, is proud of my nice round belly, the house where his child grows. As a man you are still a little on the sideline during pregnancy. But when my husband puts his hand on my belly, he feels our child moving and there is contact. For an expectant father, this is a moment to remember and cherish. For this reason, we have made a 3D scan of the two of us with my husband behind me with his hand on my pregnant belly. I would like to print a 3D scan of ourselves with this printer as a gift for him for Father’s Day. The first remembrance of the three of us together.

  466. Sandra Roberts says:

    My Dad and I share a love of gardening. Well, ok, an obsession with gardening. Some of my earliest, and best memories, are of digging in the dirt by my father’s side, with my younger sister in tow. While teaching us to carefully plant peas in neat rows and to bury the tomato roots deeply, he’d crack the most awful jokes and weave the most ridiculous tall tales.

    For example: “One day a farmer named Tom was out in his fields. There he saw large red fruits hanging on a vine. He picked one, cut in half and took a bite. He was amazed at the delicious, sweet, juicy fruit. Quickly picking them, he headed home to show his wife.

    She too was amazed at the delicious fruit and set to making dinner with them. The next day, all she bragged that the family had had the best dinner of their lives, feasting on a savory sauce she’d made from the fruit. Soon the entire town wanted to know more about this amazing food.

    That night the mayor arrived at the farmer’s house. He declared that he had to try this sweet red fruit, which he was sure would make the town and the farmer famous. The farmer’s wife looked suddenly upset, and tried to make the mayor leave.

    But the mayor wouldn’t leave. He called her rude and demanded to try the fruit she had bragged about all day. Nearly in tears she gushed, ‘But you can’t have any fruit. Tom ate those!’

    And so the fruit got it’s name, which is why, to this day, we call that delicious red fruit of the vine the tomato.”

    Ahem. Yea. And 5 year old me completely believed him. (This story, and others like it, led to many interesting school conferences, I’m told.)

    So if I won the printer, I would like to create a matching set of garden statues depicting good old farmer Tom — one for my veggie plot and one for Dad’s.

  467. Ted Benic says:

    I’ve been unemployed for a quite some time now, I’m ashamed to admit how long it’s been. I’m so broke that every holiday & birthday… I have to think of something creative to put a smile on someones face, rather than taking the easy way out & buying something they’ve always wanted. Often people thank me for their gifts, but I can’t help but feel subpar. I’m currently majoring in Computer Science & my father absolutely hates computers, especially software, & despises my life choice. I can’t say I blame him… I actually prefer developing hardware, rather than software, but I’m limited by my financial situation. It would be nice to show him up, haha. but most importantly to make up for always being so lame… I would love to create a unique priceless gift. I have much experience with Computer Science, Electronics, CAD, 3D Modeling and so on… I have so many ideas pent up inside of me, given the chance, I know could blow everyone away!

  468. SLea says:

    What if you could send a word or quote of the day to your dad
    through an app, allowing him to print a unique wristband with a personal note,
    making him smile all day long? I have always greatly admired my dad, his desire
    to learn, his passion to teach, but most of all his incredible smile. After
    moving away last year, the one thing I missed the most was hearing him laugh. I
    know it was just as hard on him as it was on me. But, what if we could send
    each other messages every morning and wear it all day? I would love to show my
    dad that I think of him every single day, insuring his smile to reappear. Every
    morning I would wake up, type a few characters, the date, and attach an image
    and send it directly to his 3D printer back home. A custom colorful bracelet
    would print and sit on his desk every morning, waiting for his reaction. He
    would slide the band on his arm, and every time he would look at the time he
    would glance at it and smile. My dad has worked extremely hard, insuring my
    happiness every single day, the least I can do is send him a smile!

  469. Henry Schaefer says:

    If my Dad and I got this printer I would print him a fathers day gift because I haven’t gotten him one yet….
    Thanks

  470. Nathaniel James says:

    My kids and I love playing board games together, so we think it would be awesome to be able to use a 3d printer for making our own board game pieces. I’m sure that my daughters would also love to be able to print out little objects for their doll houses too.

  471. Marc Grika says:

    If I had a 3D printer, my kids and I would design “The 3D Brick that saved the world.” I have always believed that to be really/truly human means to have the interest of humankind at heart, to be a humanitarian. Helping to improve the lives and happiness of fellow humans is to be truly human. One basic need that all humans have is to seek/create for themselves a shelter, a home. How wonderful would it be for people to be able to easily and inexpensively build their own home?

    There are many creative individuals designing and building homes for people in pre-industrial nations or those in need right in our own cities. The problem is they use expensive materials and labor and hard-to-replicate techniques. People are basically dependent upon others to create their dwellings, unless they have the money to build or buy their home. There has to be an easier, cheaper, more eco-friendly method of creating homes that allows people, both destitute and affluent, to be independent and creative. I believe that if the affluent buy into such a method (literally), then it could also be created for the masses.

    Let’s take the cinder block, the basis for building many homes throughout the world. It is sturdy and strong, but also cold and unattractive, even evokes feelings of hopelessness and despair. What if people could use a similar but more versatile and attractive block or brick? People everywhere have the need and urge to create. Having such a brick could reshape their lives and their children’s lives. People everywhere, not just in places with better schools and resources, would be in charge of creating and designing their own homes!

    I have always considered myself an inventor (I have three notebooks full of ideas), but also too scared to venture out on my own and risk the basic income my day-to-day job supplies to take care of my family. Since I first learned about 3D printing, about a year ago, I came up with the idea of making a versatile brick that everyone can use to creatively, cheaply, and independently build their own home.

    The template of the Brick needs to accomplish many things:

    1. It should be made of something incredibly strong, durable, recycled/ecologically sustainable material(s), affordable & aesthetically pleasing (able to be made in many colors & have added design capabilities).

    2. It needs to be hollow to fulfill many possible purposes

    a. Wiring/Electrical

    b. Plumbing

    c. Air flow
    d. Insulation
    e. Added weight
    f. Waterproofing
    g. Collecting rainwater
    h. Making use of heat & cold efficiently
    i. Housing solar panels
    j. Rainwater collectors & irrigation
    k. Acoustics
    l. Plants (living walls, living roof – both for insulation, beauty & for edible sustenance)

    3. It needs to be designed so it simply snaps together or fits together easily (like Ikea furniture or even easier) & stays together well. So anyone can print it out anywhere & start building a house.

    4. It should be able to print out the size of a cinder block (the most used building supply I’ve seen) or as small as regular red bricks or smaller for tight needs or design.

    5. It would need to have a general structure that can be stretched or angled or turned, by the 3D printer software, to create more than four straight-sided walls & a flat ceiling.

    Thank you,

    -Marc Grika

  472. arevirlegna says:

    My two older boys (11yo and 8yo) are good video game players (like many kids their age), but they are also really good at creating objects, vehicles and levels for games like Little Big Planet 2 and, more recently, Roblox.

    Not long ago, I showed them a video of 3D printer in action, and they were fascinated and amazed at the idea that your could model things in the computer, 3D print them, and hold them in your hands. Since then, they have come up with lots of ideas of things they could create with a 3D printer.

    Among the ‘doable’ ideas (you now, the ones that actually obey the laws of physics) are: custom stands for displaying action figures in their super-hero posses (after all, who likes an articulated Spiderman just standing when it could be like in the cover of “Spider-man #44”!); special clip-on holsters for different items (their own version of Batmam’s utility belt), including a holster for carrying their Nintendos 3DSi with a few slots for game cartridges and a way to also hold the charger; a case for carrying two hockey pucks that you can clip onto the blade of a hockey stick for both transportation and for practicing with a weighted stick; and different props for costumes.

    The 3D printer would give us the opportunity of spending time together working on projects in which I can actually teach useful things to my kids –since apparently I suck at playing their video games (although my name is still the only one in the high-score list in Ms Pac-Man!)

  473. GetReady says:

    My father and I would print a baseball. With the stitches and everything, which we
    would then both sign and I’m pretty sure I would want to keep the ball (so
    maybe we’ll make two).

  474. Megan Beattie says:

    I work as a systems engineer. At my previous job my company purchased a 3d printer to see what neat 3d printed applications we could create for our work within the aerospace community (both government and private). Our intern did a lunch & learn on 3d printing capabilities and the wife of the president of the company happened to be there. She owns a kids’ gym in town and her ears perked up when she heard that one of the current applications of 3d printing is building prosthetics. There was a 2 year old named Kate at her gym that was born without fingers on one hand. We worked for months creating Kate a 3d printed prosthetic hand that she could use for various activities. Over the course of those months, I was contacted by numerous people asking us to build their child a prosthetic, to help them with their design, or to tell us how much they appreciated what we were doing to help.

    The company unfortunately had to downsize and I started working with a different company a little while after. I was sad that my work with 3d printed prosthetics had to end and wanted to continue helping. I’ve talked to the others in my group that are also now with other companies and asked them if they were still interested in helping. My plan is to start a non-profit within the next year or two to assist in the design, creation, tweaks, and finalization of 3d printed prosthetics. Our focus has been pediatric prosthetics, but we are interested in also creating prosthetics on a larger scale for adults. We’ve even used our past-experience to build a 3d printed prosthetic paw for a dog who had lost not only his paw, but part of his leg, earlier in life.

    Something that sets us apart is our engineering background. Every person’s situation is unique to them and, therefore, each prosthetic design needs to be somewhat unique. Kate has a partial thumb on her affected hand on which she relies heavily and we worked to make sure she still had full access to the thumb to highlight her current abilities.

    I’ve been looking into the various printers I can purchase and have been working on developing plans to crowdsource. This gift would put the non-profit I plan to begin further along the pathway to success. Though I’m rarely able to enter Father’s Day contests because my own dad isn’t around, this is one that I can enter on behalf of the fathers of the kids I can help.

  475. Drew Pickett says:

    My dad has always encouraged me to take on tasks that enhance my creativity, and has taught me all sorts of ways to build, like woodworking, electrical and soldering. Right now he is helping me build a potato cannon from various hardware parts. I also dig through his supplies and come up with contraptions that have missing parts, and he helps me figure out how to improve the design and make the needed parts. If my dad got this 3D printer I know that he would most definitely custom design and build a full scale wearable armor, with hinging parts, links and chain mail. The machine prints large enough to create a tall headpiece and full size parts. I just turned 13 and think this would be an amazing project to see happen, seeing it designed on the computer, figuring out little details and making it actually work.

    Thanks,
    Drew Pickett

  476. Guest says:

    Please help, it’s father’s day and I’ve got nothing for my father. I know he loves making stuff, and he already started some toy projects for me (I’d love a doll’s tea party for Christmas, this would go a long way towards that). If you don’t do it for him, do it for my cutie face ;-)

    Also mom said he’d have to design a custom topping for my birthday cakes :-)

  477. Lambda-FF says:

    Please help, it’s father’s day and I’ve got nothing for my father. I know he loves making stuff, and he already started some toy projects for me (I’d love a doll’s tea
    party for Christmas, this would go a long way towards that). If you don’t do it for him, do it for my cutie face ;-)

    Also mom said he’d have to design a custom topping for my birthday cakes !

    1. Benjamin McDonald says:

      You want this because you forgot father’s day, and you want him to win this so he can make you gifts with it? Just making sure I got this right…

    2. ap10_dejou says:

      Hahaha ! I agree they should win just for the “cutie face” !

  478. Gordon Morrison says:

    Last Christmas, my Son, myself, and my stepfather put together a printrbot jr. for Christmas. For his birthday I modelled and printed a small version of the Navy vessel my stepfather was stationed on during the Vietnam war. If we had the larger volume of the Leapfrog XL, I would print him a larger version that we could turn into a remote control boat, and he could sail it with his grandchildren and the pond near his house or ours.

  479. The Scibrarian says:

    Dr. Maria Montessori created a whole series of hands-on learning materials for young children that have steadily been transforming education for more and more children. For years I’ve dreamed of extending her work into the adolescent years and creating a huge set of science, engineering, and math focused manipulatives intended to both prepare students to understand upcoming concepts and also enable students to test their learning in real-world applications. Some examples include accurate 3D models of DNA that can be unzipped because tiny rare earth magnets are used to connect the complimentary base pairs; sets of concentric circumferences and stackable spherical shells to help students learn through their hands the fundamentals of calculus; and air-powered models of the classic piston engine and rotary (Wankel) engine. These however are only a few of an almost overwhelming number of manipulatives needed to satisfy the diverse interests of adolescent students. However, with a 3D printer suddenly this enormous, diverse set of models becomes accessible. Let’s Leapfrog off of Dr. Montessori’s work and unleash learning for today’s adolescent students by making sure they aren’t just passing tests but are also getting their hands involved in learning every day.

    As the father of my own 4 children and as a father-figure to the hundreds of students I instruct at ABC Montessori school in science, 3D printing, computer programming, and robotics, I thank you for the chance of winning such a great machine!

  480. Kathy Welch Olvera says:

    I feel like the world is fascinated with 3D printers, but don’t know what to do with them yet, myself included. My father is not part of the norm. He is an inventor, an engineer and a little boy in a candy store when he talks about the possibility of winning Leapfrog’s Creatr XL.

    He would insure that this 3D printer would not sit in a deep, dark closet after the initial use and excitement wore out; it would be put to practical and fun use for many years. He continues to amazing me with new ideas he could use this printer for in the future. It will be selflessly used for inventions, publicly used items and for items enjoyed by his children and grandchildren. A few of those ideas include: decorative model and ride-along railroad parts, Wurlitzer pipe organ parts, gear systems for his grandchildren to play with and lightweight, thin solar cells for a solar panel.
    I am most excited about him teaching me about solar panels and researching how
    to use the printer to perfect the process for my family and sibling’s homes. He’s
    already printed items from other 3D printers and has put them to good use. By
    winning this exciting Leapfrog Creatr XL, my Dad will continue to print amazing
    pieces and invent new things to print that will be fun and benefit many.

  481. Alisa P says:

    My dad is one of the kindness, friendliest and funniest guys you will ever meet. He is always willing to help others before himself which means that he is always giving away his possessions and money to help others…even perfect strangers. If my dad won the 3D printer, I know that he and I would use it to make things that would help others in our lives. I am not really into electronic things so I’m not 100% sure how this thing works, but my dad (a computer program/electrical engineer) for sure knows how this thing works…so not only would be have some great father-daughter bonding time…but we would be helping those in our lives…and that would be cool :)

  482. Alexander Zipper says:

    Hey Makezine,
    this is not going to be a sad story (I could tell many but I don´t want to, because everyone can and I prefer to laugh instead of cry…).

    Father´s Day is coming and it´s always the same question: What do I buy him?
    It always goes like this: Either I buy something weird that I like and he will never use it or he gets something from me that he has picked two weeks ago.
    Everyone knows this situation :D
    And everytime I tell myself: next time I am going to have something that will blow his mind! I could buy him something amazing like a trip to some exotic island or a skydiving experience but i can´t make my Dad jump out of airplanes every year ;)

    I found out that there are some reasons we can´t buy our Dads some gifts ;)

    1. First of all he hates getting gifts. My Dad is 54 years old and I can say that even though he smiles when he gets gifts he is desperately looking for a place where he can place it just right after he got it. You can never tell how he truly feels about his presents.

    2. Some Dads have more money than you will ever have in your life.
    That´s how I feel, maybe I´m wrong but who knows that…
    But the issue of that is: he already buys whatever he wants with it.
    So what should I get him?

    3. He’s mostly just passionate about food. Last time I got him a box filled with yummy healthy stuff like fruits and stuff, I think it was gone in just two days but I can´t repeat that every year..

    4. He expects nothing.

    5. He only wants specific tools that you didn’t even know existed.

    6. “Get me whatever you want” is his mantra.

    7. He thinks most things are unnecessary. Once he opened my boxes of cables and other electronic stuff and wanted to throw it out because he think it´s trash…

    8. He has strange interests. Or does your dad has a subscription of a tractor magazine? haha

    9. He already has more ties than he knows what to do with.

    10. He never thinks about what he wants, and the question terrifies him.

    So when we were watching tv there was a report of a maker faire and they showed
    some 3D printers and we both got really excited about all the possibilities.
    His eyes were really shining when we talked about creating a cleaning robot
    built with your Leapfrog 3D printer and an arduino board.
    Of course when it´s finished, you will get a nice report of that!

  483. James Mitchell says:

    If it was me and my dad I would get him to print the cog for the remote control car I had that broke. He promised me for a long time and I never got a replacement car or the cog… But with my own daughter… We would print our own little robot using a Raspberry Pi and maybe make some awesome cases with butterflys and lego pips!

  484. Matteo Panzavolta says:

    My father always says: “bigger is better !”

  485. Maggie JP G says:

    My father lost his eyesight due to diabetes, and was/is an Analytical chemist. He taught at the big names, like Harvard, etc. and is a scientist through and through. He used to always make a point to visit FOSE conventions and keep me in the know. He called a month ago to let me know he heard about this printer, and thought it was amazing, along with cars that drive themselves. I’d love to be able to make things with this to remind him of being sighted, with depth that could help him visualize through touch. Secondarily, I would love to create figures to help children with SPD (sensory processing disorder) overcome certain stimuli. I’m also a graphic designer, and have unlimited ideas regarding how this could bring artistic creations of mine, currently all digital, to life. Thanks for reading!

  486. James Armstrong says:

    This would make a great Father’s Day present. My youngest son is 16 and we haven’t spent much time together. I think if I had this printer I could work with him on printing a replacement son to talk to and stare at after he graduates from school. That way it would make getting the empty nest syndrome a little easier ;)

  487. Jim Martin says:

    Lightsabers!

  488. Derek Silva says:

    Easy. My dad would print replicas of the SL Benfica logo and any trophies they’ve won. He’s a soccer nut. :)

  489. Suzanne Obenshain says:

    My dad is gone now but YIKES WOW would he have been amazed
    at 3D printing. He taught me how to creatively make anything I wanted by welding
    metal, jigsawing wood and drilling concrete. Now I’m grown up with an art
    degree and a tech degree. I teach a university class about using technology
    with young children in the classroom so just imagine what we will do with a 3D
    printer! Little kids will approach 3D printing as freely as breathing. They
    will amaze their own dads by creating tiny superhero figures of their dad that
    they can carry with them wherever they go…just like I carry my own dad’s Maker-powers with me today.

  490. Michael Schuyler says:

    One of the earlier memories I have is of me sitting on my fathers lap when I was maybe about 3 years old, watching him repair an old television. We were a poor family so he used to repair our friends and relatives broken electronics for a little extra cash. He loved technology but because of our financial situatiation we couldn’t just buy new things if the old ones broke, so he instilled in me the maker mentality. If something gets broken, it DESERVES to be fixed.

    Sadly, my father passed away February 12th from lung cancer… He was a maker and a fixer right up to the end. His basement workshop still smells like hot electronics.

    I know this is darker then the other comments, but if I won the Leapfrog printer, I think its extra build height and dual extruder would be perfect for making a grave marker for my fathers resting place. The marker he has now doesnt really reflect his love for electronics or the maker/fixer attitude he embodied all his life. I think he would approve…

  491. Syahril Pablo says:

    During my childhood years, my dad make me a wood sword, complete with surface finish and leather hull.That time, i’m the coolest kids in town, cycling around the park with my proud sword. I wish i had the XL leapforg 3d printer so that, this time I can make something my dad can be proud off.

  492. Jason Z says:

    As a teacher, I am always looking for models to show my students
    an example or demonstration. Examples would be to make electronic components like a resistor or transistor larger and able to be taken apart to examine the inside. This 3D printer would also allow me to
    print nose cones and fins for rockets when my students study space and build mini bottle rockets. Finally, my father would be
    awestruck that one could design something on a computer and then hold
    it in your hand a few hours later, he would have a unlimited list of
    “Can you print one of…, well show me”

  493. Austin M. Craig says:

    My dad and I usually have different ideas on how to build something, BUT… we’re usually building with wood, screws, and conventional construction material. 3D printers are totally outside his expertise. What would I do with a 3D printer? I’d work on a project with my dad where I can finally be foreman! I’m thinking we design and build a humanoid robot, one appendage at a time, starting with articulated arm and hands. The student has become the MASTER! This would be SO PERFECT!

  494. midnightferret says:

    One of the first things my father taught me when I was 3 or 4 years old was how the earth revolves around the sun, and how the moon revolves around the earth. We used A flashlight for the sun, an orange for the earth, and a ping pong ball for the moon. We turned out the lights and it was my job to move the orange around the light from the flashlight and also rotate it to simulate the earth rotating on its axis. Then my dad did the same for the ping pong ball moon. It was one of the first times I had seen something from a book get illustrated in life.

    I think a great way to test the capabilities of a 3D printer might be to create a 3D model of a solar system which could also include a motor with timing so that all of the planets could be to scale and the simulation could be more or less accurate in its movements. The works could also be 3D printed. It would be a nice project to work on with my Dad, as he has always been interested in solving problems like these.

  495. Chris Cantafio says:

    My step dad is fighting liver cancer. I’d use the printer to print out replicas of his ad my mom’s shih tzu so he can have them with him in the hospital.

  496. Jacob Feldman says:

    I live in a family full of skeptics, over whether or not the ability to make things is really a valuable skill in a modern world where everything is handed to us. Although I constantly show my enthusiasm for making, I simply don’t have the tools needed to facilitate my creativity, or the creativity of my father, who’s potential to make I am well aware of. If I could give my household this most useful appliance then I can change the mind of my parents, to show them the practicality of such a tool. My first project would be to print new parts for my broken down garage door with my father. With this I can show him that just like anything else they keep stocked in the house, a 3d printer can facilitate your problems as long as you have the creativity. If I can change the mind of these few people, then it can serve as proof to show that with the proper exposure and tools, anyone can become a maker, facilitating their lives with creative visions come to life, in three dimensions.

  497. carlalaura says:

    Oh, I am a single mom with the world’s greatest 17 yo son. Clay doesn’t know his biological dad, but he loves being part of our family and shines up every room. We moved to Colorado a few years ago, after his brother Teddy, my son, died by impulsive suicide when Teddy was a high school junior. Our lives were devastated but Clay, deeply missing the most important person in his life, somehow kept moving forward, starting high school in a new state …. while working hard and smiling. There is NOTHING that would thrill Clay more than this awesome 3D printer. (He builds computers and collects complex video game “sculptures.”) I can’t imagine anyone who wouuld cherish this printer more than Clay. PLEASE!!! xoxo

  498. Mikkel Emanuel Blom says:

    wow, this would be an incredible chance for me and my father to spend a lot of time together. My father have a hard case of sclerosis and have had it since i was a kid and is now in a wheelchair and will be it for the rest of his time.
    My father was one of the first pioneers here in Denmark to buy a computer and make programs for it when the first PCs came out in the 80’s and has always been facinated by technologi and im sure that he would love to be with me as we will create different things for him to use or help me and my mother with the every-day troubles that we would need in the future.. there isn’t a whole lot of posibilities when u are in a wheelchair but with a printer like this there would definatly be a whole lot more..

  499. AM Dorn says:

    We would make dog & cat toys and donate most of them to the no kill rescue home where we found our best friend and partner in crime a mutt named Oreo :)
    (She chews toys and bones faster than we can buy them so a printer would be great!)

  500. Eunice Randall says:

    My dad and I have so much in common. We always have, even when I was a little kid, and we would go together to outdoor concerts and lie around on the grass and laugh at jokes that only made sense to us. Now that I’m a little older, we only have more in common. We’re a bit of a novelty in our town, I think, when we show up to events together every weekend. We’re also two of the most active members of our local makerspace, Buffalo Lab. We donated a Makerbot Cupcake to the space about four years ago and that was what prompted our lab to decide to be a “makerspace” instead of a “hackerspace” like we used to call ourselves. Now he’s on the board and I run the podcast, hoping to join him on the board next time we hold elections. We’d love to be able to continue our “tradition” of donating to our makerspace. An XL printer would benefit our whole community and be an amazing addition to the 3D printing classes we hold every third Monday of the month. And what would we print? Well probably the first thing we’d print would be the framework pieces for the drone we’re trying to build together. But mainly I think we would be excited to open it up to all our members and see how many projects we could help out!

  501. John Marsh says:

    I am an avid Maker and the father to a set of wonderful 5 year old twins. Unfortunately, my son is disabled and terminally ill due to mitochondrial disease. If I had a 3D printer, I feel like there are so many helpful therapy toys and devices that I could design and print for him We think it would drastically change our lives for the better! I’ve already got everything I need for father’s day, just being able to still have more time with my family, especially my son. A 3D printer would open our world up so much more.

  502. Henry Feldman says:

    I am the dad (well of course I have a dad, who is an engineer, and would I am sure have fun making stuff with the grandkids) of a child who is struggling in school. He has finally decided he wants to go into engineering, but even with this goal is not enthusiastic, as he feels most stuff he learns is just rote-purposeless learning; the one exception is his engineering design class where he gets to design then build stuff. Having a 3D printer around would let him start to learn engineering more on his own, with trial and error, and start to see relevance in more formal education to produce higher quality engineered things.

  503. Cthulhu669 says:

    I recently inherited a family heirloom from my Grand Father, a Pearl Printing Press From the late 1800’s. This press was used originally for a distant relative to print his sermon for Sunday and print scrip the local mines here in Colorado. The last thing he printed was an Easter Sunday Passover pamphlet Still in the Typesetting Frame. I would use the 3D printer to make proofs to use in the Press utilizing the newest revolutionary printing platform in one of the oldest.

  504. CoryP says:

    This time last year, my fiance and I were mourning the loss of our unborn baby. It was a hard time for both of us, and it will stick in the back of our minds forever. This time around, its a very different story, we are now expecting twins! In being a father, I hope to show the same kinds of strengths and qualities that my Dad showed when I was younger. He would make the most out of every little thing, and turn standard bland days into long lasting memories. He made me the person I am today, and for that I am truly thankful. He has heart trouble, and the though of being without him chills my bones. I love him dearly. I visit him every chance I get, and we do things like, rebuilding motorcycles in the kitchen, and making RC planes from scratch. If we were awarded this amazing gift, we would use it in our hair-brained projects. I think the first thing we would design and print, would be a set of speaker pedestals for his home stereo. It would enrich our time spent together, and it would be something that we could use together with my children to continue the Father/Child chain of making. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to enter this competition, I appreciate your consideration.

  505. Damien Vince says:

    Hmmmm, My dad doesn’t consider himself a maker, but I do. All growing up, my father did things with his hand. A certified Baker by trade, he changed careers early in my teenage years to become a carpenter. He worked with wood, and always built things. He helped neighbors and friends with things around their house. While he always built functional things, his mind could see how things came together. I learned all those years and relate that to the man I’ve become today. I’m trying to help him understand low voltage electricity and to open his mind to whats possible today with the innovations of open source and arduino. These possibilities are endless, and now that he’s coming close to retirement, I see him working more and more with technology I hope and things like the Leapfrog 3D printer would be a great start to extending his true maker skills.

    Happy fathers day to every current and future dad out there.

  506. Spencer Brinkerhoff III says:

    Am I a maker?
    SURE I AM! I’ve got 7 kids.
    Do I need a 3D printer?
    OF COURSE I DO! I need it to make toys for all my kids!
    Would I promise to use this new found power for good?
    Disruptive innovation is good. So yes, from a certain point of view.

  507. DarkTormentor says:

    My dad died in 1989, but I am a dad of an extremely smart and creative 16 year old (honor roll, top of her class). She can do anything she wants with her life, but is starting to get a bit bored with school and I want to ensure she continues seeing the advantages of a creative mind. 3D printing is the future, and I want her to see, learn and understand that.

  508. David B. Sousa says:

    I am the artistic director of a youth theater. My 17 year old son has been helping me create set and props for years now. Most recently, he took the lead on creating an 8 foot tall peach for “James and the Giant Peach”. My son and I would use this printer to create props, such as a dagger and severed head for Macbeth, Costume pieces, like extra feet for the Centipede in “James and the Giant Peach” and PVC connectors, to create even bigger and more intricate sets…

    http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/DBZeus/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-05/F94508D1-839A-4F44-89BC-35965FC6FCE5_zpswz4q1673.jpg

    http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy116/DBZeus/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-06/868737BC-CE06-4302-8647-4C36D3E94E3C_zpsclflrkeu.jpg

  509. Scott Hudson says:

    OK, I’ll be honest: I just want to print myself some Boba Fett armor! Or Jango Fett and print some Boba Fett armor for my youngest son, who is also a Star Wars fanatic like his old man!

  510. Lyndle Egg says:

    My father’s passion is model trains, specifically N and Z scale. He’s loved them since he was a boy, and shared that passion with me. I am now about to get my associate’s degree in electronics engineering because of him. I’d love to print custom models with him so he can make the Rock Island layout he’s dreamed of since he was a small boy.

  511. Jay Dellinger says:

    With this 3D printer, I’d print out the stars.
    And a moon as well to shine in the night.
    Add a lantern or two to light up the day.
    A magical sword to slay an ancient dragon.
    I’d print out an ocean, perfect for swimming
    with sandy beaches and bright sun in the sky,
    A unicorn for jumping rails and floating through arenas,
    Museums with statues and towers and art.
    Then I’d print out notes to have music in the air
    for all these things.

    These may seem impossible, but my kids disagree.
    I’d love to see what their imagination can see.

  512. Maanav Patel says:

    With this 3D printer i would achieve my dreams build people living on streets in India what they need. I would send gifts and show a way to say thank you to people. I would print out the world!
    With this 3D printer i would Learn something new!
    And it would help me acheive my passion

  513. Jonas Bamse Andersen says:

    You know a 3D-printer is the gift that keeps on giving, I could make so many things for my dad that he would love. While you don’t know my dad, he absolutely needs a few coasters for his coffee cup and beer glasses, and different things to hold things in place would be placed all over the house, you know it would just be the greatest thing!

  514. Joachim Franch says:

    Spending hours with my dad in cellar working on everything from electronics to woodworking. This would make him happy as can be and I’m sure he would make the most awesome stuff from replacement parts at home and new fun little things :)

  515. Kevin Laiche says:

    I would want this 3d printer for Father’s Day to help my wife.
    She is a farrier and works tirelessly to heal horses. She believes in natural and holistic healing. She is currently being trained on plastic or composite horse shoes. They are better for the horses as you use a glue to attach the shoes on instead of nails. I feel that the natural progression for this application would to 3d print the shoes so that they are custom fit to the horse and their needs. I would love to be able to get her this printer so that she can be on the leading edge in her field.

    Thank you for your consideration.

  516. Nicholas Ryan Weber says:

    I grew up in my dads workshop, watching him tool away at various projects. Normally, he would be working on his stump-grinder (literally a device that grinds tree stumps to mulch); which was, for the majority of my childhood, our sole source
    of income. My dad worked long, hard hours to support us. When he came home,
    quality time was spent making sure he was ready for the next day’s work.

    However, sometimes I would get lucky. Sometimes he would be working on his RC
    cars. We would spend hours over the weekends, building, racing, crashing and
    rebuilding RC cars. It was a neighborhood event almost…several of the other
    dads on the block bought and modded RC cars. We were constantly having races up and down our cul–de-sac, setting up obstacles, jumping imaginary pits of death, and in the process crashing and destroying various parts of our cars.

    As we all grew older, the races happened less and less often. People moved from the block, and life continued on. My dad still has his workshop, but the RC
    cars sit in boxes now, broken but not forgotten. For my 18th birthday my
    dad dug one out that as a child, had been my favorite. My step-mom told
    me he had spent weeks finding spare parts to fix, upgrade, and prep it back to
    working condition for me. As he handed it to me his face lit up like a
    child at Christmas. For a few hours we were transported back in time to
    all the fun memories of jumping, racing and wrecking our cars.

    I want to give my father a 3D printer so we can keep that magic alive. Building
    everything we might need, heck, building anything we can dream of in a RC car.
    I miss spending time with him out in the workshop, who wouldn’t?
    But the reason a 3D Printer would help bring back those memories and time
    together is because we wouldn’t have to hunt down specialty parts, we could
    print them. We could spend more time racing our inventions and less time
    trying to figure out how to build them.

    My dad still works long, hard hours. If I had the chance to help bring a little fun back into his life and extend those fun memories, I would feel like the greatest son ever.

  517. Aaron says:

    Me and my dad would totally make some stuff to customize our rides to make them totally sweet!

  518. ArbieFru says:

    Too late for Dad and I to use this but my 6 year old daughter is already showing interest and skills in computer and hi-tech. I have become very involved in community radio lately ( I am the music director) and as a nonprofit we are always looking for something different to use as money raising swag and as giveaways. I’m sure we can come up with cool limited edition or one of a kind items for lots of different events and purposes. And then there are replacement parts for our mixing board…it may never stop working.

  519. Nicholas St Gabriel says:

    I’m a father of three who has been lusting after a 3D printer for years. I always thought it would be my oldest daughter who would be the most interested in making things with me, but as it turns out it is my youngest daughter (and middle child), despite being one of the most fashionable little princesses

    When we first brought River (yes, named after a certain Doctor’s wife) home from China she was 5 years old and in that time she has become quite interested in everything I do on my workbench that has to do with soldering, tightening, and programming. We are in the process of building a self navigating car/robot based on an UDOO board and she is working her little 6 year old brain overtime with ideas of how to make it better and better, pushing me to come up with new and crazy ideas.

    When I showed her a 3D printer her eyes lit up and I could see her imagination run wild and she start listing the things she could make with it: jewelry? doll toys? robot hands? googly eye? …? She started conspiring with her little brother (Duncan) about all of the wonderful things they could do with it, of course he just wanted to make new LEGO pieces with it.

    I had to tell her that is something we can get someday, but for now we need to put it on hold as we are saving to travel and bring her new little brother home, kiddo number 4, so it may be a little while.

    If we could win this it make her super excited (I won’t lie, it would make me scream as much as she does) and make our house even more happy than it already is.

  520. Droo Oo says:

    My dad taught me how to build…well, first he taught me how to destroy…then he taught me how to build. His prowess with a skill saw and a hand drill was, and still is, unmatched. Oh, the pine wood derby designs he would have built with a “printer”. The lines, ram-air induction ports, amd rocket nacells wr would have been able to apply…and maybe win because of…

    If any old man needs a 3d printer, its my old man. And, he will be the first to tell you that you are using it wrong.

  521. Kelly March says:

    My Dad is a retired computer programmer from Kodak and now fancies himself an amatuer farmer. With a new toy/tool like this I’m sure this would take his battles with ground hogs, deer and raccoon to a new level, because the current methods of trapping in a have a <3 and driving 10 miles to release just aren't savin' the beans & corn!

  522. Liam Floyd says:

    I learned how to design using a 3-D printer at school, my dad is also big into 3-D modeling from bunk-beds to technical things like pulleys. I have been working on designs for a functional one piece printed hand, no assembly required. I have created one prototype. I would like to further this design. There are infinite uses for 3-D printed models. Rubiks cubes for blind people, custom cases for electronics, Prosthetics designed and fitted for a specific person. I would love to explore all of these fields and create prototypes, toys, models homes, etc. with my dad. I modeled and printed this iPhone at school as a fathers day present for him. He never uses it though, because he is afraid that he might break it.

    1. Guest says:

      forgot to upload image.

  523. Sinao says:

    Hi, i live in Spain, the crisis hit hard here. I’m looking to give something for my father but without a job i think i’ll have to give him a candy or something. I don’t know if i can participate on this but if i can, this is my story. Cheers and good luck everyone

  524. Grant Powicki says:

    Hi my name Is Grant and I am 11 years old. My dad and I are close, especially in the electronical sense. Also, while I like wood carving and he likes big carpentry project, we never have had the same project ideas. If we got this 3D printer, it could bring our interests of carving and woodworking together. We could make knife sharpeners for my carving knives, and clamps for his wood projects. Also we would make Arduino project boxes and iPod and iPhone cases. Due to the epic size of the printer, we could also print jigs and protection gear for our woodworking and carving. While are chances are small for getting this printer it would be the best present ever for are whole family. I hope you consider our entry.

    Here is an example of my work from Maker Camp last year. Mine is the noise monitor.

    https://makezine.com/2013/08/16/30-great-projects/ I’m thinking this is a good example of an Arduino project that I could build a case for.

    Thanks,

    Grant

  525. Dorothea H. Haupt says:

    Winning this printer would be wonderful I would print up new kind of hand tools for my dad to use, pay it forward by letting others who can not afford 3d printers to use it to print up their own parts to make another 3d printer or anything they would like to make. By doing this would benefit not only me and my dad but everyone who has been wanting to use a 3d printer.

  526. swiers says:

    I am a dad. My son (3) LOVES earth moving machines and robots, and ‘helping’ me with things I build. I’ve been working on a custom motorcycle since he was born, one day a week, taught myself welding and machining at the local maker space (TCMaker) and now have the frame almost done… 3d printer would be perfect to do all the brackets, electrical mounts, etc, as well as kids toys!

    PS – end of the new month is my birthday!

  527. Johnaray Dimaunahan says:

    Living in a 3rd World country like here in the Philippines is really quite tough that I was not able to make some savings to avail such 3D Printer. With the current salary I have, I was not able to spend more than what I have earned and to make it worst, my father got stroke 2 years ago making him disabled and me… I got type 2 diabetes which partially making me hard time to see due to cataract as a diabetic complication. Still even thou I have my own health Issue, I still financially support both my immediate families (my siblings and my own sons).

    Being a part of a local maker community here in the Philippines (PHILROBOTICS), our team is dedicated to help educate all interested in learning robotics for FREE here in the Philippines particularly in Manila. Currently our funds are coming out form contributions from some members which is still not enough to support the group.

    If luckily I was chosen to have this 3D Printer, I will share this to the Maker community here in Manila, Philippines and continue the advocacy of free learning by 3D printing some parts we could use and maybe make my own prosthesis if in case my type 2 diabetes got worst (hopefully not) and have a part of me to be removed (example my legs).

    Again, Happy Fathers Day to all Fathers like me… Cheers!

    – Johnaray

  528. Connor Ripple says:

    It would be amazing to win this. I would like to design and print different characters, and make new ones. One of the things I would do is make them for my amazing friends, (some of them love all the fandom, and pop culture.) But I wouldn’t know how to do it, so it would be something really fun to learn with my Dad. I could maybe start a business doing it (because I am saving up for a laptop, maybe.) I have an amazing Dad and would love to learn this with him. This would be so cool. I would create/design and print models of people who are my great friends, and show them how special they are to me.

    1. Connor Ripple says:

      I’m actually so eager to win this, that I’m already planning what I would make. (And what I would make first)

  529. Ed Lewis says:

    The last time I’ve spent time alone with my dad was hiking on the island of Shikoku in Japan. The island has 88 temples on it and it is said that by walking the full route will help you attain enlightenment. It’s pretty long and takes about 6 weeks to do completely. So of course my Dad had to do it and I got to go along for a bit of the tour.

    The full tour takes about six weeks to do, but my dad broke it up into multiple trips from his current home in Tokyo. These trips were anywhere from a few days to a week or so, whatever he could get as time off from work. On each trip he’d take along a traveling companion and they’d go as far as they could handle it. It wasn’t always easy hiking.

    So for one trip he had a week and a half set aside and I flew out to do a week of it with him. We had a chance to talk about family history and I got to learn about scandalous events from decades ago. We also had plenty of time to talk about life and what we’re doing on this spinning ball in space and why.

    We also talked a lot about kodama, the supposed tree spirits of Japan. I was familiar with them from the movie Princess Mononoke. When we’d be hiking in the woods and there would be some unexplained sound we took to shouting “kodama!” as if we’d just spotted one. Some days we had a dozen or so “sightings” and it was always nice to have a shout in a quiet forest.

    Since then I’ve thought that it would be cool to make my own kodama and place them near hiking trails. I had plans for wooden ones (too much carving) or even concrete ones (way too heavy), but never got around to making them. With a printer like this one I could print up a full kodama in one go. Then I could carry them with me on hikes near my house in California and start to populate the forests.

    I would never know what would happen to them, but hopefully someone would spot one, think it was cool, and take it home with them. Then they’d have their own story from the forest.

  530. L0MAC says:

    I’m 26 and actually still live with my dad. Yeah, I’m that guy. Being the scavenger and maker that I am I tend to collect a lot of junk to make things from. On my way to having my very own Hoarders episode. I’m sure he would like to get rid of me or at least my heaps of stuff so he can have his property clutter free. So I would print my 3D designs and sell them so I can get my own place.
    First I think I would print out a Frisbee though, that’s something we both enjoy doing together is tossing the Frisbee around in the back yard.

  531. Craig says:

    My father has been a maker his whole life. He has created everything from 3 story greenhouses to his own cloud chamber. Sadly, over the last few years he has developed a somewhat serious hording problem [incidentally, much of it “maker” material]. With my and my mother’s help, we are s.l.o.w.l.y starting to make progress. One of the things that has helped is re-igniting his interest in one of his old hobbies, leaded glass lamps [commonly called Tiffany lamps] something for which he had a great talent before my brother and I were born, 35 years ago.
    I have often thought that a 3D printer would be an incredible addition to this hobby. One of the more tedious and limiting elements of glass work is the fact that you need to build a frame to support the glass pieces while under construction.

    A 3D printer would free him to build complex and fascinating lamps that have never been possible before. Think: Mobius snail or Klein bottle, but with leaded glass.
    The large format of this printer makes printing the skeleton frames a very straightforward exciting possibility.

    I would love to see my father and, in a few years, my 2 year old making their first lamp together some day.

  532. Jason Baldridge says:

    i would print oversize miley cyrus masks to wear while playing wrecking ball on my speakerphone. i would also probably throw myself in to displays, demo items, and promo stacks. TO HELL WITH YOUR NUTELLA DISPLAY KROGERS!!! i came in likea wrecking ball!!!

    PS. i am a father.

    pss of two girls. so ill probably be printing ear rings and crap. but only after i printed and bedazzled a championship ring for lebron ……… ooooh too soon?

  533. TheOneandOnly says:

    This would be awesome, I know if my son could, he would get this for me! The possibilties of bringing so much Ideas he and I have to life

  534. SuulsaK says:

    My father would create some kind of tank where plastic eating bacteria and iron bacteria would live, wait until they’re ready and then he will release them on that 3D printer and computer, because he really doesn’t like new technology and he would watch as it would slowly disappear from this world recording timelapse fo this whole process on 16mm film camera. S.

  535. Kristen says:

    My 3 year old found a mostly flattened ladybug in the bathroom the other day. I said it was sad and he replied, “give it to daddy, he’ll fix it!” For a dad to live up to that kind of fix it potential, a printer like this would be a blessing. Thanks.

  536. Richard Cromwell says:

    As a father of two young girls, ages 2 and 6, I wanted to be able to share with them my passion for turning ideas into reality.

    So, every weekend we spend time together playing “Mad Scientist”.

    I am the Scientist, my 6 year-old is my assistant “Igor”, and the 2 year-old is “Renfield the Test Subject”. We do lots of fun, crazy experiments and projects, including electronics, robotics, rocketry, microcontrollers, and biology. The tales of our adventures became so popular with our family and friends that we recently started cataloging our projects on a blog (http://muhuhahaha.blogspot.com) with the hope of inspiring other parents and their kids to experience the joy of being Makers themselves!

    With the Leapfrog 3d printer, I could use my skills as a CAD designer to add some outstanding custom “Mad Science” themed features to our future experiments and sinister schemes aiming towards global domination! (Muhuhahaha!)

    For example, I see us printing the parts to create a massively wicked robotic power claw for Liz, our Lab’s pet mutant Velocibana! She is a creature which we have determined via scientific analysis must be the result born from an unholy union of the splicing of DNA harvested from the marrow of a 71 million year-old, exquisitely preserved Velociraptor femur and…

    a banana! (Muhuhahaha!)

    (Liz is actually just a Leopard Gecko. But she would still totally LOVE a wicked robotic power claw!) ;-)

    The Leapfrog would really help make the special time that I spend with my two brilliant and adorable little girls even more magical.

    They would both love it, and so would I.

  537. Hoard says:

    My father can’t read or write and worked as a machinist his entire life, I’m a computer science professor and my two middle school boys are interested in robotics as a career. We don’t have a lot in common but when it comes to technology he can touch and feel we can talk for hours. We as a family have discussed the printers and my boys want one to print a guitar and robotic joints, my dad wants to print car parts and I’ve been working with an education version of SolidWorks so that I can design the parts they need. Now I just need the printer. Thank you for your time, whether I win or not, I look forward to getting a printer to share with my family.

  538. NeonNinja528 says:

    I think my dad deserves this printer because he will print remote control parts. He will also print things for me for a school project. He will also print any interesting items he comes across when looking through thingaverse for fun. I also think my dad deserves this printer because he is the best and coolest dad ever. ( btw he has an AWESOME beard)

  539. Lance Gundersen says:

    If I won this I may not make something with my father because the navy has me far from him but my sons and I would definitely explore, build and MAKE with it. My kids and I dream of the day we can get one, I find it amazing that one can dream of something, draw it and then print it! Fascinating!!!

  540. David D'Ostilio says:

    Last year my father helped me build a large wooden minimal public sculpture in woodstock, ny. It is a combination homage to minimal art and labor. It would not have been possible without my Dad in my life growing up. It incorporates a lot of the skills I learned from him, and we built the piece in site together. I have been studying new media, and digital production methods and am excited about what I can collaborate with my father on. He brings a simplicity of design to the ideas I have. I envision us building minimal, geometric sculptures with organic elements embedded in them.

  541. Matt Severin says:

    My dad and I have a big vegetable garden in our back yard. If I won, we would make stakes with vegetables on them to label each row so we know what we planted.

  542. gmmerrell says:

    Mine would be my grandfather, not my father. He practically served as my father for my entire life. He was an electrical engineer and made his living that way. He was very good at it and always made everything himself, even his fuse panel boxes. Honestly, I don’t have a specific thing in mind but I know he would love to create something together where I build it and the parts with the printer and he design the electronics for inside. It would be a realy project we could do together. That would be so fun!

    gmmerrell@yahoo.com

  543. DottiePies says:

    Recently, I was thinking how awesome it was to be a girl with a dad who never made her feel like he wished for a son. That’s how I feel about my dad. He always played with me, both Barbies and baseball, and never made a big deal about things being too “girly”. He even let me put his hair in curlers. BUT, he also taught me how to build things in his shop and encouraged me to learn how to do things by myself. I’d spend time helping him do things around the house like mixing grout and laying tile, building our deck, figuring out how to make a bow and arrow out of random things we had around the house, and soldering parts to a circuit board.

    He’s also a computer guy, so I learned how to use computers before any of my friends, I learned how to build them, and was always up on the latest technology. I think the biggest lesson in life that I learned from my dad was how to not be afraid of having problems or having to do something difficult. With the tools that he gave me (both literally and physically), I know that I can generally figure out how to do or make whatever I need to. And if I can’t or if I’m not sure, I know that he’s only a phone call away.

    I recently started taking classes in Rhino and my dad thinks it’s the coolest thing ever. He’s always asking to see what I’m working on and has downloaded a trial version of the program just so I can send him my project files for him to check out. If we were to win the printer, he’d probably want to make something useful, like custom hooks for things in his shop or special shelf brackets, or a model of our house, but I’d like to make custom-designed discs that work with a spritz cookie maker. It’s still a little “girly” but he’d still think it was cool.

  544. Emerthew says:

    My dad was a shop teacher and my brother and I got to spend a lot of the summer working with him on all kinds of building and home repair projects. One summer we built a new garage and another we built a 2-story fort. He taught us so much stuff and we got of a lot quality ‘man’ time with him–I still think about it every summer and wish we could do all that, again. Dad still keeps up with all the new ‘maker’ tech and we still work on projects together in his shop when we visit for vacation. If we had this printer, I would love to print our own set of multi-tools, shop tools, that we could use to build more projects in the future–and maybe print a few models of the garage and forts we built.

  545. David Edge says:

    My father, as a goldsmith who used the lost-wax process, was his own 3D printer, applying wax in molten dabs to a model. He taught me to make at a very young age, and I have passed this on to my own children. Now I think it’s time for a turnabout, and I’d love to give this to my son, more adventurous than I in terms of all things computer-related, so that he can feel the joy of teaching his old man and mine a thing or 3. Each of the three of us has many virtual prototypes floating around in his imagination, and I can imagine nothing more exciting than seeing them take physical form as we work together on a project.

  546. Collin Allen says:

    I would love this printer. To be able to teach my three son’s how to create with the Leapfrog 3D printer would have to be one of the greatest gifts I could give as a father. The way these 3D printers are going to change the future is going to be amazing and I would love to share that with the the real future my son’s. Plus I have a great spot on my work bench. Where I razed all three of my son’s, No daycare for this dad. All three were in my shop all day from birth to school.

  547. David Walters says:

    Through all my life, I didn’t have a person to call dad. I know of him, but still have had no contact. This wouldn’t really be a belated Father’s Day gift for him, but for myself as a father-to-be. My wife and I are in the adoption process and I hope to be a great Father I never had the experience of knowing, to a loving child in need. I would use this printer to make awesome toys and gadgets with what my wife and I can put our hearts and creative minds to.

  548. Frank LaLonde says:

    My dad made me the nerd I am today. He turned me on to computing when he showed me a TRS-80 computer. He and I built a Heathkit Computer together – ok let me watch and think I was helping. He helped me purchase my first TRS-80 Color Computer and together we learned Basic. It would be cool to have him, myself, and my son do something together with a 3D printer….

  549. Kristopher Baily says:

    I contacted my dad, he gave me a list and I quote

    Air rockets!

    Life size visible man/woman

    Robot parts

    Figurines

    Gears – lots and lots of gears

    and a replacement door for his phone case. :)

  550. beta bonnie says:

    Toilet flush handles are cheap as, if you’ll pardon the pun, shi*t. Not the handle itself, but the plastic portion that connects the flusher to the arm that lifts the ball in the tank. Have gone through three, count ’em, three toilet flusher plastic thingies in two weeks. So, I am sorely in need of a 3D printer that can print the plastic portion that keeps breaking. Thank you.

  551. Franco Megannon says:

    What would my old man print with this printer? Probably anything that catches his fancy, and knowing his brilliant mind it would always be something fascinatingly practical and beautiful at the same time. If I had access to his printer though I would make sure that I would print him something every single day, something small or big, just as long as he can see that I care, love and respect him. Recently a lot of his friends his age passed away and I can not bear the thought of losing him, it scares me that I might have to one day say goodbye to the man who made me the maker I am today, and if I could I would make him something every day, until that day.

  552. Karl Schulmeisters says:

    Both my parents are WWII refugees and had to leave everything behind as they fled the Soviets who had warrants for their 6yo lives. They’re parents were able to bring some photos with them.

    I would use this printer in combination with 3d image reconstruction software to recreate some of the precious family artifacts they were forced to leave behind. Of course what I really would have to do is print a mold in ABS and use lost wax casting to create any actual metal objects, but the key step is the 3d printing from the image reconstruction.

    I hope to win to recreate these family memories

  553. allangee says:

    As a dad, I don’t want the printer for myself. I would like one to teach my kids the joy and rewards of thinking, planning, and creating things themselves. It would also give them one more solid step towards being successful in tomorrow’s world.

  554. Joseph Rasmussen says:

    My father is the inspiration of my life, he is a maker, doer and innovator
    at heart and by trade that has instilled all of that into me. He owned and operated a machine shop for many years to support his seven kids where he fabricated on milling machines, lathes, welding and more in our garage and was forced into early retirement under full disability due to being exposed to agent orange while fighting in Vietnam.

    Being able to translate paper sketch to physical 3D form all in the matter of hours is unbelievably incredible. If we had the ability in the past to access a 3D printer we would be able to take many of our ideas to another level. It is not just one idea
    we would make together but any of the hundred to thousands of ideas. We would be able to take what he knows now and apply it to what I can do now by innovating for the future.

    This man, my father, a personal hero of mine, has showed me how to use
    my hands along with my head and now help me become a model maker by
    trade but more truly, a man. With him being retired and having
    limited mobility, a 3D printer would still allow us to work together and fulfill the dream of running a business together. As of fathers day I was able to him he is going to be a grandfather, finding out a few days earlier that I am going to be a first time dad and hope one day to give what my father has give me. Ability to dream, create and go above.
    ~ Rasmussen-Rasmussen

  555. Connor MacDonald says:

    Me and my family just went on a year sailing trip. My mom home schooled me and my brothers, but twice a week my dad would teach us how to program and do wiring and electronic projects. My brother is now starting to make his first game. If me and my dad printed something it would be a case for the raspberry pi so the radio transmitter wouldn’t look so messy.

  556. Ron Lanham says:

    When I was growing up my Dad always told me stories about the ship he served on in the Navy. It was “his ship” and he is very proud of his service and time aboard. It was his talk about that ship that steered me into model building which eventually lead me to 3D modeling. We always wanted to build a model of his ship but I have been unable to locate a commercial kit of the USS Plymouth Rock that does his ship justice.
    They are very small scale and do not have the detail to make it his. Today he is bed fast & has bad cataracts with his vision steadily declining. Unfortunately surgery is not an option for him since his lungs could not handle the stress. There is no way he could see a small model but if I could create a larger custom made model of the Plymouth Rock with the Leapfrog 3D printer he could easily see and feel it. I know he would love it! He would finally have a model of “his ship”. So that is what I would do for my dad if I won this printer, it may not sound like much but it would make him very happy and no doubt bring back a lot of memories.

  557. DrLock says:

    One of my sons was born with a number of spinal deformities in addition to cerebral palsy. Some have been corrected and he is doing great right now, but the corrective surgery for one of them is so serious that the doctors state it is best at this time to monitor it closely and hope that the issue remains stable and does not become life threatening.
    If it were to worsen, one of the very first warnings we would have is that he would start falling or stumbling more than usual. Our problem is that a toddler with mild cerebral palsy already stumbles a lot and it is really difficult to objectively determine if he is falling more than usual. My proposed solution is to build him an accelerometer belt that logs how often he stumbles and falls. I believe that with an accelerometer I could develop an objective measurement.
    The hardware itself is not hard. For a first pass, I plan to start with the Adafruit Trinket and one of their accelerometer kits (maybe the ADXL335 or ADXL345). The hard parts are analysis software and packaging. Once I have a data set, the analysis software will just take time. But until this week I was stumped on the packaging.
    I need something compact enough for him to wear comfortably every day and rugged enough to take a toddler-sized beating (which is pretty severe, let me tell you!). Clearly an Altoids tin is not going to work here. But when I read this article, it hit me. If I could print the case I could make the entire case and belt loops in all one tidy piece. That would be compact and strong. I might even be able to mold the electronics right into the case, making it nearly waterproof too.

    So that is my project: A custom accelerometer belt case for my son.

  558. theonetruestickman says:

    I would totally use this to print prototype couplings and brackets for
    the remote adjustable mic stand idea my Dad and I have been kicking back
    and forth for the last couple years – there is that problem in
    grade-school concerts and church programs where six different kids use
    the same mic and there’s a two foot height difference between the
    shortest and tallest.

    The solution is relatively simple but needs some time and effort and custom parts for linkage and mounting brackets…
    A 3d printer would cover both the custom parts and be a great
    guilt-trip to help make stuff happen and get more awesome into the
    world.

  559. bot42 says:

    I would print a giant top hat, a giant handle bar mustache, and a giant monocle lens. All for my teen age daughter’s car. Because that’s what she wants, and that’s what dads do! Yes, I will happily send a picture of them on the car. Can you imagine how elegant that car will be rolling down the street towards infamy! She will drive the only car that is dashing, charismatic, and always proper. If the look is as appealing as she thinks it will be, than maybe we’ll try a giant derby as well! The list of hats for cars is endless. We could make car tiaras, crowns, and my favorite a beanie cap with propellers!

  560. MakeScienceLive says:

    Worms.

    Anyone who’s old enough to remember a grade school science class that included dissection will never forget the smell of formaldehyde and the tough, rubbery, hairy worms that sat on a slide in a stew of death. One worm per two kids was the rule for us. My partner delicately sliced our worm with our disposable scalpel with sledge-hammer-like accuracy. After her 40 whacks, our slide looked like worm pudding.

    I remember coming home from school and telling my dad how useless and disgusting it was. He got out his old, mirror-lit microscope and said “This was mine, and now it’s yours, let’s go looking for some stuff.” As a kid I couldn’t bear thinking of killing a bug or a worm so Dad and I would go looking for dead bugs, or after rain-storms, tromping around, looking for drowned worms.

    My dad and I were talking yesterday about 3D printing and thinking of how cool it would be if science teachers could 3D print worms or other creatures with soft materials and/or dissolvable materials or even two kinds of semi-soft material. If only we had a 3D printer with two direct-drive extruders … just like the Leapfrog!

    We’d test various types of filaments and figure out how to print things for kids in science classes to dissect. Starting with worms and moving up the evolutionary tree. Maybe we’d add a port for injecting slimy stuff into the cavity so kids didn’t miss the “joy” of seeing slimy goo ooze across their desk, or maybe the injected fluid would dissolve internal support structures made with dissolvable filament so we’d be left with nothing but a soft, flexible creature with detailed internal parts. We won’t know until we try. We could scale up the dissections for people who lack manual dexterity. Maybe for fun we’d put a printed prize inside (in the heart find the tiny frog!) We’d certainly opensource our designs and settings so that science teachers all around the world who also have Leapfrogs could take those exact designs and settings and know they’d get a pre-tested, quality print on their exact model. Teachers could create new settings/models and send them back to the Leapfrog dissection community.

    And so that’s what we’d do with the Leapfrog. Print the creatures that would otherwise be killed for science class dissection and at the same time hopefully create an open environment that all Leapfrog users could use for improving science.

  561. Terry Sherb says:

    I’ve been sketching ideas for assisting tools (insulin syringe holder for people with arthritis), emergency medical devices (collapsible splints, expanding cervical collars), better travel bottles, solid wheelchair wheels, more stable crutch and cane tips, low spill disposable cups, airplane tray table organizers and so on. Maybe it’s time for prototypes!!!

  562. Guest says:

    I want to start off by saying, “Happy Fathers Day”
    to every dad out there. As I am about to turn 17 and one year closer to college,
    I can’t help but stop every now and then, look at my dad, and shake my head and
    say to myself, ” He is the greatest father a child could ask for.” For
    as long as I can remember, my dad was always there for me. He picked me up when
    I fell, fed me when I was hungry, made me laugh when I was sad, and fixed everything
    I broke. He taught me how to throw and catch, shoot a basketball and ride a
    bike.

    It’s only recently
    that I have been able to look back and truly appreciate how much he had
    sacrificed so that our family would not be without. The man worked all the
    time. Whether it be at his job or at home, he never stopped, unless it was for
    me. He made it to everyone of my school sport and pushed me to always give it my
    all. And all I wanted to do was make him proud. You see, I am a girl, and for
    my first 12 years, my parents didn’t think they could have any more kids. So I
    became the “son” my dad never thought he would have. We would go
    camping, four wheeling, hang drywall and
    just tinker in the garage. And of course there were dance classes, dress
    shopping, and plenty of hair braids. Some of my greatest memories was just fixing things or putting something
    together. He would do his “man” thing and not read the directions and
    I would come along and fit the pieces together and make it look easy. We would
    laugh because I usually got the project working…and as I am writing this,
    it’s just dawned on me that he probably faltered most of the time on purpose so
    that I could come out shining. My dad really is a great guy.

    Well, fast forward to now, my parents were able to have more
    kids, another daughter who is almost 5 and a son almost 2. My dad still works
    hard and still makes time for all three of us. My sister calls my dad the
    “fixer” because he now fixes everything she breaks. I smile because I
    know she is proud of my dad as I was at her age. I have great comfort in
    knowing both my siblings will have great memories of their childhood as I have.

    But times have change and with it technology. And that is why
    I would like for my dad to win the 3D printer; for two folds. One, so that my
    siblings will continue with building those great moments that only a father and
    son and daughter could have when planning a project and having great pride in a
    work well done. Two, so that my dad and
    I could “tinker” with this great technology this last year before I
    head off to college. I guess I selfishly want my dad to think of me every time
    he looks at that 3D printer and plans a build. I want him to smile and remember
    all the smiles we had created. I want him to call me and say, “Look what
    your siblings and I built.” Or even to surprise me with something he had
    created in my mailbox. I just think my dad is the greatest dad there is and how
    wonderful it would be if he won this 3D printer.

    And to ALL the dads out there, believe me when I say, your
    kids think you are also their greatest dad, even though they may not say it.

  563. jb says:

    Thank you for letting me share my story. I’ve never really share this with anyone before, not even my wife or mom. Here goes…

    42 years ago on a late August afternoon, I was 12 years old and
    flying back on Ozark Airline. I had been
    visiting my dad for my summer school break at his place in Missouri. On the drive to the airport to fly me home, he
    had said “You read too much.” “You need
    to work with your hands.” I think he was
    disappointed with a bookish son, and I was crushed to disappoint him. What he said was not unkind, but it stuck
    with me. My dad was a Maker of the first
    degree. He was a commercial electrician that
    helped build the Titan Missile ring around Tucson Arizona as a younger man. I watched him weld, build bridges, pour
    concrete, and refurbish homes as I got older…

    He died too young to see what came later.

    It’s true, I was bookish, but I was honing my curiosity and
    learning. I learned how to etch circuit boards
    and solder to build analog and digital devices.
    By 16 my mom let me bust out our basement floor and install a new
    bath. I rewired the rooms in the basement,
    building my own lighting fixtures. Got a
    commercial broadcast license, and started working professionally. I have learned plumbing, framing, masonry,
    and maintain my own finish carpentry shop.
    I’ve built my own homes, done projects for clients, and worked as a
    software engineer for the better part of my life.

    This Father’s Day reminds me that I wish my dad was able to
    see what I have become and what I am working on now. I’m a craftsman, a tradesman, an engineer, and
    a MAKER. I think he would be
    interested. My son now is 21. Like me, he’s on his own trajectory, but he
    carries the old maker genes. Our
    bloodline was full of makers after all, long before there was a cool name for
    it.

    What would we make with a 3D printer? What would my son and I do with it? That’s hard to say. I’m interested in rapid prototyping methods
    for consumer products, and wearable designs like performance shoes and
    textiles. My son is heading towards medicine.

    My father could not have predicted in his lifetime the tools
    and technology that would be available to me.
    I can’t predict what my son and I will attempt.

    But if my history is a guide, we’ll do the old makers that
    came before us proud.

  564. Ameya says:

    My father missed Father’s day this year and my birthday is this week. I know he is going to stress himself by trying to find the perfect birthday gift for me. I try telling my dad that I don’t want a perfect birthday present I just want him there but he won’t listen. Instead of him giving me a gift I want to give him a gift so he won feel bad about missing father’s day. I don’t really know what we will make with the printer but Imm going to let my dad decide. I know he will probably have some interesting ideas.

  565. Gwyne Parker says:

    My dad is the most amazing and intelligent person I know.
    He has lived his life with integrity and a good work ethic that has been
    passed onto each one of his kids. His belief in the goodness of people has always amazed me. I have always been impressed by his wealth of knowledge on different topics.

    His job as a computer programmer/electrical engineer has always puzzled me, as I wish I could be as brilliant as he is. I love listening to him talk about what he is
    working on, even though sometimes it’s way over my head. He gets so excited to share what he is designing. It’s like listening to a kid in a candy shop! He is very ingenious has developed some amazing ideas; from model railroad pieces, to pipe organ parts, and score boards for gymnastics just to name a few. He is always thinking and designing new ideas that would benefit others and bring joy to their lives. By having one of these special leapfrog printers, his designs and ideas would be limitless and in turn would be able to help countless people in different ways.

  566. Guest says:

    I want to start off by saying, “Happy Fathers Day”
    to every dad out there. As I am about to turn 17 and one year closer to
    college, I can’t help but stop every now and then, look at my dad, and shake my
    head and say to myself, ” He is the greatest father a child could ask
    for.” For as long as I can remember, my dad was always there for me. He
    picked me up when I fell, fed me when I was hungry, made me laugh when I was
    sad, and fixed everything I broke. He taught me how to throw and catch, shoot a
    basketball and ride a bike.

    It’s only recently
    that I have been able to look back and truly appreciate how much he had
    sacrificed so that our family would not be without. The man worked all the
    time. Whether it be at his job or at home, he never stopped, unless it was for
    me. He made it to everyone of my school sport and pushed me to always give it
    my all. And all I wanted to do was make him proud. You see, I am a girl, and
    for my first 12 years, my parents didn’t think they could have any more kids.
    So I became the “son” my dad never thought he would have. We would go
    camping, four wheeling, hang drywall and
    just tinker in the garage. And of course there were dance classes, dress
    shopping, and plenty of hair braids. Some of my greatest memories was just fixing things or putting something
    together. He would do his “man” thing and not read the directions and
    I would come along and fit the pieces together and make it look easy. We would
    laugh because I usually got the project working…and as I am writing this,
    it’s just dawned on me that he probably faltered most of the time on purpose so
    that I could come out shining. My dad really is a great guy.

    Well, fast forward to now, my parents were able to have more
    kids, another daughter who is almost 5 and a son almost 2. My dad still works
    hard and still makes time for all three of us. My sister calls my dad the
    “fixer” because he now fixes everything she breaks. I smile because I
    know she is proud of my dad as I was at her age. I have great comfort in
    knowing both my siblings will have great memories of their childhood as I have.

    But times have change and with it technology. And that is
    why I would like for my dad to win the 3D printer; for two folds. One, so that
    my siblings will continue with building those great moments that only a father
    and son and daughter could have when planning a project and having great pride
    in a work well done. Two, so that my dad
    and I could “tinker” with this great technology this last year before
    I head off to college. I guess I selfishly want my dad to think of me every
    time he looks at that 3D printer and plans a build. I want him to smile and
    remember all the smiles we had created. I want him to call me and say,
    “Look what your siblings and I built.” Or even to surprise me with
    something he had created in my mailbox. I just think my dad is the greatest dad
    there is and how wonderful it would be if he won this 3D printer.

    And to ALL the dads out there, believe me when I say, your
    kids think you are also their greatest dad, even though they may not say it.

  567. Jayne says:

    My dad, bless him, is 85 years old and known as ‘the butterfly man’, his world revolves around delights of these creatures as they remind him of my mum. Every time he sees one it lifts his heart, sometimes theres a silent weep too, for the fragility of life. He has Alzheimers so for him, forming new memories doesn’t always happen, but where experiences or events are new and repeated, especially if there is a surprise, or strong emotion for him, then he will remember in part some of those elements. It doesnt matter at times because when its a new exciting event, he experiences it all over again as if for the first time:) Its truly a joy to see his surprise when I draw something using technology (we dont have a 3D printer!!) and he loves to make things (butterfly related of course!). The touchpoints between our world and his world centre around excitement and happiness, laughter and surprise and lots of fun in experiences and all around his beloved butterflies. My 4 & 8 year olds delight in showing him technology and to see his face light up and engage with his grandchildren is just amazingly heartwarming, its tinged with sadness as I know they are likely to be the first ones he will forget as time progresses, but we live for the moment and would love to surprise him with a 3D printer. I can just imagine his face unbelieving as we create beautiful butterflies together, happy experiences for him and wonderful memories for me and my boys :D….

  568. James Fisher says:

    From Caroline Fisher
    —————————————-

    Thank you for your 3D printer contest. With a 3D printer Daddy will be able to make all sorts of useful things for us. Grandma needs a new set of false teeth after my puppy Grinder found hers in a glass by her bedside. Daddy tried straightening them out but they don’t fit properly anymore. I think she looks funny now but she scares my baby brother whenever he sees her, so Momma has to cover his eyes a lot. I told Daddy that with two print heads he can make her teeth two different colors, maybe black and white — that way she will remind me to do my piano practice every time she smiles. And to clean my teeth.

    Boy oh boy, there’s no end to the things we could make with it! Things that nobody
    ever would have thought of before. I took some measurements around my pet skunk Stripey’s tail end today, and if I can 3D print an air filter holder for him, maybe Momma will let me bring him in the house again. Last time I didn’t tell her and that didn’t go too well. Grinder still smells after three months, but at least he knows to leave Stripey alone now.

    A Leapfrog 3D printer would be handy for many things. Speaking of frogs, my little brother likes to catch toads. He was wondering what it would be like to put one in a blender but I told him that that we should be kind to animals, so he changed his mind. Maybe it helped when I reminded him that it’s the same blender that Momma uses to make his smoothies. He’s a picky eater. Anyhow, now that he’s caring more about the toads, he wants to 3D print a little portable toad house. That way they will be more comfortable on the way home than they are in his pockets. And he won’t forget about them when he gives Momma his dirty clothes to wash. We didn’t tell Daddy about the big greenish area on the back of his new business shirt when he went to his meeting on Monday. Also, my brother won’t have to hide his toads in Grandma’s bed anymore when Momma asks what he’s been up to. That didn’t go
    too well last time either. Grinder got Grandma’s teeth that time too but at least he didn’t get into as much trouble as my brother did. Maybe I can 3D print some chew toys that look like Grandma’s stuff to keep him away from the real things. That would make a good Father’s Day gift. Daddy’s usually happy when Grandma and Momma are too.

    Anyway, I hope I win your lovely 3D printer. I know I’ll be making some interesting things with it.

    — Caroline, age 8

    P.S. My creative writing was inspired by some real things: Grandma really lives overseas and I’d really like to see her, but Daddy says she needs a hip replacement before she can go anywhere and it would cost too much for all six of us to fly out there. He says she still has her own teeth (Grandpa had false teeth, but he had to leave them behind when he flew to Heaven last year — he was a nice man and a jet fighter pilot, so he knows the way). I’d like to print her a new hip instead, but I think they have to be made of metal. I wouldn’t want Grandma to come apart on the way here. That wouldn’t go too well either. It will be good to practice modeling things though — who knows what I will be able to print some day! I actually have a big sister and a new baby brother and also a little brother who does like to catch toads on our hikes with Daddy (fortunately he doesn’t bring them home). We do have a pet named Stripey but she is a chicken (who thinks she is one of us and tries to sneak into the house every day). She likes to go on our trampoline when we aren’t watching and we have to bounce her off to put her in her coop at night. My sister sometimes drops Stripey’s eggs when she fetches them so I’ll need to print her an egg carrier soon. Our real dog was actually called Gertie but she did like to grind up a lot of stuff (it took her just a few minutes to turn the back seat of Daddy’s car into a pile of foam chunks), and she really did try to bring a skunk home. She didn’t let the smell stop her and Daddy said she got everything the skunk had to give. She and her pal Winston really did smell for three months. Please let makers know that tomato juice and vinegar don’t work. We rescued our dogs from the pound and they were tough but eventually got too old and are with Grandpa now too. He won’t have to worry about Gertie though, as he should have his real teeth back now. — Caroline

    [Dear Make magazine: The above contest submission is a fictional yarn spun by me (the real Dad) using my real children as a source of inspiration. Since the criterion is creativity, I decided to be creative! The P.S. part however, is all quite real, but written as if it were also seen through my daughter’s eyes. She, her siblings, and I really hope to be making some great things together (plus I will be able to help a lot of inventors and makers bring their dreams to life in my work as a 3D design consultant) — James, Caroline’s Daddy ].

    1. James Fisher says:

      For all you fellow skunk enthusiasts out there, here’s a picture of a skunk I modeled in 3D – fur and all – as one of a line of realistic stuffingless chew toys I designed for a pet products manufacturer. I haven’t had the budget for a 3D printer so I never got to see a 3D print of the results of my labor, but the company printed them and the products are available in stores for you or your pets to chew on :) A 3D printer would make a huge difference in my work — I’m working on something at the moment that will require several devices to be printed very soon (and, of course I can’t forget about printing some furniture for my daughters’ doll house. . .).

  569. Zia says:

    I want to start off by saying, “Happy Fathers Day”
    to every dad out there. As I am about to turn 17 and one year closer to
    college, I can’t help but stop every now and then, look at my dad, and shake my
    head and say to myself, ” He is the greatest father a child could ask
    for.” For as long as I can remember, my dad was always there for me. He
    picked me up when I fell, fed me when I was hungry, made me laugh when I was
    sad, and fixed everything I broke. He taught me how to throw and catch, shoot a
    basketball and ride a bike.

    It’s only recently
    that I have been able to look back and truly appreciate how much he had
    sacrificed so that our family would not be without. The man worked all the
    time. Whether it be at his job or at home, he never stopped, unless it was for
    me. He made it to everyone of my school sport and pushed me to always give it
    my all. And all I wanted to do was make him proud. You see, I am a girl, and
    for my first 12 years, my parents didn’t think they could have any more kids.
    So I became the “son” my dad never thought he would have. We would go
    camping, four wheeling, hang drywall and
    just tinker in the garage. And of course there were dance classes, dress
    shopping, and plenty of hair braids. Some of my greatest memories was just fixing things or putting something
    together. He would do his “man” thing and not read the directions and
    I would come along and fit the pieces together and make it look easy. We would
    laugh because I usually got the project working…and as I am writing this,
    it’s just dawned on me that he probably faltered most of the time on purpose so
    that I could come out shining. My dad really is a great guy.

    Well, fast forward to now, my parents were able to have more
    kids, another daughter who is almost 5 and a son almost 2. My dad still works
    hard and still makes time for all three of us. My sister calls my dad the
    “fixer” because he now fixes everything she breaks. I smile because I
    know she is proud of my dad as I was at her age. I have great comfort in
    knowing both my siblings will have great memories of their childhood as I have.

    But times have change and with it technology. And that is
    why I would like for my dad to win the 3D printer; for two folds. One, so that
    my siblings will continue with building those great moments that only a father
    and son and daughter could have when planning a project and having great pride
    in a work well done. Two, so that my dad
    and I could “tinker” with this great technology this last year before
    I head off to college. I guess I selfishly want my dad to think of me every
    time he looks at that 3D printer and plans a build. I want him to smile and
    remember all the smiles we had created. I want him to call me and say,
    “Look what your siblings and I built.” Or even to surprise me with
    something he had created in my mailbox. I just think my dad is the greatest dad
    there is and how wonderful it would be if he won this 3D printer.

    And to ALL the dads out there, believe me when I say, your
    kids think you are also their greatest dad, even though they may not say it.

  570. Marsha Cheyney says:

    My husband is a recent biomedical engineering graduate. His passion in life is to design prosthetics and other mobility equipment (he has a design for a walker for kids with Cerebral Palsy that folds into a suitcase) – and a 3D printer would make it much easier to model designs to see what needs improvement.

    Our kids (ages 4 and 6) love to watch him design, and haven’t made it out to shop for father’s day yet – this would be perfect! And of course, they would want him to print toys for them too. :)

  571. A.F. says:

    If I were to win, I would use it to create an elementary school full of young makers.

    During the last two years at my son’s school, I ran the robotics club. The school has several empty rooms and the principal allowed to club to use one. The club only met a few times through the year, but it was great because the boys and girls would attend with a parent or guardian, and more often than not, it would be their father who joined them. In so many other activities, mothers were the main ones involved, but the idea of building robots definitely brought out a lot of dads.

    This year, I am working on the idea of using the room we were given for the robotics club, and expanding its use into a full-blown maker space for the kids. Unfortunately, the PTA has a very limited budget, and while I feel confident we could get enough tools and materials donated (or loaned) to get the maker space started, it is unlikely that we will ever be able to afford something as awesome as this.

    However, if we were to win this contest, it would be the key that would attract even more families to the maker space, particularly fathers – many who may not have taken an active interest in any of the other school clubs before. And while I can only imagine what the hundreds of kids may build with the Leapfrog 3D printer over the next several years, I do know for certain that it will create memories of families building together and a school full of makers.

  572. LoriCarrollCTR says:

    No clue what the hubby would print… the choices are endless. Most likely something he and our daughter would have a blast creating/playing with.

  573. Grant Powicki says:

    Who Won?

  574. FilmDoctor says:

    My father and I would definitely print small pieces for other projects, we’re always losing stuff! Oh and obviously a thank you gift comprising of intricate gears… and a burrito.

  575. MB says:

    Dad works hard and when he gets home from the lab he likes to take a quick nap in front of the organ pipes while mum plays. When he gets up, he looks like Einstein after a waltz in a wind tunnel. What he needs is a 3D-printed Rube Goldberg grooming helmet that’ll simultaneously straighten his glasses, comb his hair, and, if the flex filament is up for it, swab his ears and brush his teeth. Maybe also straighten his handlebar mustache, if the build enclosure is big enough. While he’s being cleaned up, we’ll print out that missing piece of the flying car that he says has been on back order since grad school. Once he’s presentable, we might let him use the machine to print out fixtures for that attic lightning table where he’s trying to re-animate great-uncle Ted, or maybe print out stage sets and characters for his octopode stop-motion film remake of “Gone with the Wind”, or maybe just start small by printing a new set of springier legs for the herd of robotic cockroaches he has stabled under grandmum’s bed. You never know with dad.

  576. rajan2100 says:

    I would use the 3D printer to develop components for the “Arduino in Space” project.

    ***flashback***

    At the backside of our home, we had a workshop where my dad would explain to me how to solder, troubleshoot radios that clients had dropped off for him to fix etc.

    Some of those radios used vacuum tubes and some had magic eye, tuner spindles etc. and all became very hot and carried lethal voltage.
    We used to stand on wooden platforms to prevent electric shock.

    In between, my training would be interrupted by a visitor. My dad would pick up his stethoscope and go to the clinic he had in the front part of the home. He was a doctor (and a Maker, before anyone knew what it was to be one).

    That is how I got introduced to electronics, decades ago, when I was probably in grade school. I went on to learn to build radios, stereo amps and other electronics hobby projects. I participated in several science fairs and eventually majored in Physics and expanded into Computer Systems.

    Last year, I participated in the Maker Faire at New York and this year, I am also planning to attend the one in Rome. I am a Maker by birth.

    Now I want to share my passion with the world community and just launched a “Arduino in Space” project for sending a nanosatellite to the moon for soft landing.

    And I would like to develop this into an academic space research platform and get as many students involved in this as possible, helped by advisors from the academia and industry.

    I have some design ideas and want to use the 3D printer to develop components for the satellite project prototypes. This will help me to share my vision with dads and kids around the world and will be a good way of saying Thank you to my dad, who made me a maker before I could learn to ride a bike.

  577. sneggi says:

    This beauty has enough building hight that I could print custom cover plates (fairing) for leg prosthetics for my dad (and his buddies he met at the hospital). Custom cover plates can give a prosthetic a very different look, from cool to elegant but are very expensive. The dual extruder would be perfect for customized “spare parts” that need flexible and stiff materials in the same piece… These personalized cover plates could give them a cool look and some of their confidence and pride back.

  578. Bella Sills says:

    I am writing to say what I would 3D print with my dad. I am in 7th grade, and I had to do a school science fair project. We were trying to come up with ideas, and my dad suggested a project based on 3D printing. We didn’t have a printer, but he
    had always wanted one. So I decided on a project to compare the cost of store bought goods with 3D printed ones. My teacher said a 3D printer would not be
    needed to do the science experiment, but my dad pushed to get one so that we
    could learn to use it and perform the science experiment.

    My mom wasn’t thrilled with getting one, but he bought the cheapest printer he could get, which was a Printrbot Simple kit on sale. My mom knows he used my science project as an excuse to get a printer so she wasn’t happy.
    Anyhow, we built the printer and started printing right away in November. We sometimes got frustrated cause the printer wasn’t big enough to print certain items or would break down. But we kept working on it to get really nice items.

    Me and my younger brother and sister became popular at school because we
    started bringing in 3D printed things like iPod and iPhone cases. My dad helped me to learn how to make custom
    cases for friends. I continued working
    on my science project and learned how to download things, load them into
    repetier host, resize them, and then print them. My dad showed me how to print on my own and change the filament to different colors.

    I printed several items for my science project and did a cost comparison
    between the 3D printed items and comparable store bought items. Everyone at school really liked the project, and I was eligible to compete at the county science fair.

    I got second place at the county fair, and I was the first student from
    my school to have ever received an award at the county fair. I then participated at the state fair, but unfortunately I didn’t place there. My dad supported me the whole time, and if it wasn’t for him wanting to get a 3D printer I would not have been able to even probably go to the state fair. Now we have been getting the school more involved with 3D printing and showing them all of the things they can learn and do with the printer. My dad has been also helping my brother’s scout troop with learning about 3D printers. Most of them had heard about 3D printers, but no one knew how they worked until he started teaching them.

    It is difficult to say what me and my dad would print because we have
    printed so many things now and it seems unlimited. We even printed the
    prosthetic hand and built it using parts from Home Depot and Hobby Lobby. The timing was perfect because not long after we printed it, there was an article discussed at school in a scholastic magazine that talked about the same hand.
    We brought the 3D printed hand into the class the next day to show the
    students how it worked.

    I first would call my dad a nerd cause of the things he did with
    electronics, like using a computer to control zombie props in the garage last
    year for Halloween. But he now jokes and calls me a nerd because of the science project and things I have made.

    I read a lot about how 3D printing will change our lives by printing tissue, food, and even other items like clothes. My mom says she still doesn’t get 3D printing, but she thinks I should try to print a dress.

    I think if we had a large printer like the Leapgfrog, I would work with my dad to be the first to design and print my Quinceanera dress with it.

  579. Gary Tatum says:

    Whatever creativity and resourcefulness I have, I’m sure was inherited primarily from my dad. We were always scraping by financially, but his workbench “piddling” (as he called it) kept broken things working a little while longer, protected us from big repair bills, or made a few extra bucks from fixing up an old tractor or car to be resold. I’m sure I wanted to be an inventor from watching him work– and probably also from watching Adam West as Batman with all of his gadgets.

    When 3D printers arrived, I was ready to exploit the tremendous potential they had, since I had already studied drafting, physics, computing, and design in college engineering and architecture classes (although I finished with business degrees). And for the past several months, I have been adding to a list of things I want to make someday when I finally get a 3D printer of my own. Most of the items on the list are small utilitarian things, but I think a couple of them could have a significant impact when scaled up from a prototype.

    The main idea that I want to pursue is a small air conditioner that uses proven cooling principles to cool and dehumidify a small enclosed space, powered primarily by heat and air movement/wind. It does incorporate water, and a 3D printer could create a nearly-sealed box of passageways without the seams and joints that would be prone to leakage with more typical manufacturing methods.

    Since it would not rely on electrical power, it could make a big difference for a lot of people in many situations. If it can reduce the temperature by about 15 degrees, and also reduce humidity, then that difference would be much appreciated if you’re in a blackout, a tent, a disabled vehicle, or if you just need to lower cooling bills to stretch a fixed income a little while longer.

    If I cannot get that to work, the good thing about 3D printing is that you can grind up and recycle the plastic rejects into something new. I have other ideas to help make the world a more beautiful place, such as repurposing laser pointers into a printed cap similar to the Theradome device, for those of us who are “follicly challenged”.

    Admittedly, I would hope whatever projects I tackle would stimulate some interest and interaction with my own teenage boys. We’ve been separated for several years due to a broken marriage, a broken legal system, and our broken economy, all of which has put me back to scraping by again on a meager paycheck.

    I know a 3D printer won’t fix our political system, but if nothing else, we can always grind up the plastic garbage in the Pacific ocean, turn it into floats to make a Google-style island, and just start over with our own new island country, right?

  580. Michael Healey says:

    My father is a hero – not the kind who
    has taken a bullet in combat or “leaps tall buildings in a single bound” – but one
    who doesn’t take the world as it is.
    Instead, he sees that we have a responsibility to help those in need,
    and he has dedicated his life and work to affect what positive change in the
    lives of the less fortunate that he can.

    After helping to found the Sacramento
    Food Bank which now serves 25,000 community members in need of food, clothing,
    and housing assistance, my father worked to found California Emergency Foodlink
    in 1992 with the mission of finding sensible solutions to hunger.

    Since
    then, he has grown California Emergency Foodlink to one of the nation’s largest
    and most efficient nonprofits (winning the Ford Foundation’s Peter F. Drucker
    Award in 1998) seeking to address hunger’s root causes: poverty
    and joblessness. To accomplish its mission, Foodlink has implemented a mission
    strategy of building better communities by providing jobs, preventing hunger
    and training for the future.

    At no charge to recipient
    agencies, Foodlink delivers more than 120 million pounds of food per year
    throughout California. Foodlink delivers government commodities from The
    Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)
    as well as fresh produce collected under the statewide agricultural food rescue
    program, Donate-Don’t Dump (DDD).

    In addition to food
    assistance, Foodlink provides extensive job training through its truck driver
    training facility located on the former Sacramento Army Depot.

    Under the McKinney-Vento
    Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, my
    father was able to acquire approximately 530,000 square feet of warehouse space
    providing ample room for Foodlink’s food assistance programs and truck driver
    training, with hope of expanding additional job training programs. Recently, we have discussed the opportunity
    of creating an expansive Maker Space in these facilities where zero or low-cost
    classes could be offered to participants seeking skills for a changing job
    market. Programming, electronics, and
    computer assisted design are all components we hope to offer as the job
    training program expands through generous donations and the hard work of
    Foodlink employees and volunteers.
    Having a Leapfrog 3D printer will help us immensely in this effort,
    especially as we train individuals for new skills in manufacturing, design, and
    fabrication.

    Through innovative
    programming and an intense desire to create change, Foodlink has been fighting
    hunger in California for over two decades.
    Please help my father and I continue the fight!

  581. Raj says:

    “In the joy of others lies our own.” This is the code my father lives and breathes every day. My dad has dedicated his life in the service of others to progress in their faith. As a middle class with 6 children, it is inspiring how he always had room in his busy life for his religion and others’ well-being. He teaches others about the
    Hindu faith. My father came to the USA at the age of 46 and did not have much
    money, yet he volunteered to help the local non-profit organizations.

    As a child, I have seen him make his roots and the Hindu religion an integral part of his life; however, at the tender age of 80, he is unable to do the work he used to do. It hurts him how he can’t volunteer at the temple anymore but now, I want to use this 3D printer to live a life similar to his.

    The local Hindu Temple (nonprofit organization) I go to every Sunday is extending and therefore under construction. Having a hobby of digital arts/graphics, I volunteered to be a part of the Temple’s design team. The team is responsible for what the Temple will look on the outside once the new building is constructed (see reference picture). Some of the designs that I have created are attached below (Wall Band and Crown). This 3D printer will help me make master molds to cast various materials instead of importing cargo containers of carved stones from India. These carved stones are very expensive to import but making it ourselves is
    cost-effective. It seems impossible but proof of concept was completed in March 2014. The bottleneck is/was spending money for 3D printing services. This Temple is a place where Hindus anywhere in the area can come to connect to their roots. Knowing that this will help others learn about their culture brings happiness to me just as it did to my father. My gift to my father for father’s day is not the 3D printer, rather it’s his legacy I will carry on; the legacy of selflessness and service.

  582. Orcrist42 says:

    Day 1:

    “We must prepare for tonight.”
    “Why? What are we going to do tonight?”
    “The same thing we do every night, Sqeekers – try to take over the world!”

    “Dad, have you seen Sqeekers? He was in his cage last night and I can’t find him.”

    “Oh, ummm, yeah… check that little Voltron mecha over there, he might still be trying to take over the um, refrigerator.”

    Day 2:

    “Listen my children! They curse us, they murder us, they call us grotesque; monstrous; ugly! But tonight my children, we shall arise and take our rightful place! No longer will we remain subservient to mankind, killing their pests and decorating their walls! Tonight my children we arise!”

    “Dad? … Mom says you aren’t allowed to print any more spiders. She says we have enough spiders to decorate for Halloween, probably until you die of old age and also, it’s only June. She also said, if you leave anymore of those giant, ugly tarantula things in the kitchen, um, something about not making it that long.”

    “Oh, um, I hope she didn’t open the freezer yet. You want some ice cream? I’m thinking ice cream.”

    “Sure, and Dad?”

    “Yeah?”

    “She didn’t say anything about bats.”

    Day 3:

    “Marty! I told you not to touch anything!”
    “Hey Doc! Is that a T-Rex!?!”
    “Great Scott! Where did it find a giant laser cannon?”

    “Dad! Dad!”

    “Yeah, what is it darling?”

    “Dad! Stop playing around, we have an emergency! The Doctor is being pulled into a wormhole and lost his Sonic and Belle is the only one who can save him by shutting off the cyberdrive, but the ship is losing air and Fluttershy has the Sonic and needs us to print her a space suit! Right Now! Quick! We have to save The Doctor!”

  583. Rick Williams says:

    Dad and I need to make this!

  584. TheFangirlofEverything says:

    Although I am still quite young, I can say with confidence that I look up to my father more than any human being on this planet.
    My dad gave me the passion and love I have for engineering, building, and tinkering. Although my dad is a banker, he still carries that bit of what I like to call ‘little kid brain’. Though he’s intelligent and sophisticated, he is perfectly content to spend a day playing with Legos and trying to make towers out of dominos.
    In fact, this is how I spent most of my childhood- in a basement with a shoebox full of Legos. He taught me about electricity, did exciting experiments with me, and showed me the amazing world of technology. After all that time my dad spent with me and teaching me how cool building is, I have decided to pursue mechanical engineering. Being a young female, people were usually pretty shocked to hear me say ‘gee, I wonder how touch screens work’ rather than ‘gosh, I wonder how much that dress costs’, but I’m so glad to be this way.
    Though we have a lot of fun together, my dad’s little kid brain, as well as my own (I’ll admit it) would love something new to play around with. My dad introduced me to the new 3-D printers about a year ago, and I was immediately interested. Who wouldn’t be? We both agreed that this was something that we really wanted.
    This printer is the perfect thing to further my father’s relationship with me, as well as mine with him. It would be awesome to be able to have this printer available and ready for our childish and curious brains to explore. I really love my dad, and I’d love to give him the thing that he wants so very badly this fathers’ day.
    My ideas for what to make are varied. My father and I also love art, so we may incorporate art and design into our creations. Another idea is to invent a tool for my mother, another inspiration of mine, who has a terrible back. She got into a car crash close to four years ago, and has gone through multiple ineffective surgeries. However, she is still able to remain positive and carefree. I have designed an extended arm with many capabilities to allow her to reach things that hurt her immensely otherwise. Each of the fingers moves separately due to multiple joints, allowing for flexibility and simple use. There’s so much you can do with a 3-D printer!
    Well, that’s it! Again, thank you so much for this amazing opportunity. :)

  585. Guest says:

    Okay, so my dad absolutely loves planes, and he always dreamt of becoming a pilot growing up. He went through Air Cadets and was planning to get his pilot license, where he was told that he couldn’t until he became a Canadian citizen, and then was later told he would never ever be allowed to get a license due to past serious medical issues including problems with the kidney. Now he’s a very happy computer programmer, but he still likes planes and often buys remote controlled planes and helicopters. Ironically enough, he keeps crashing them and had to stop buying them because he broke them to fast and they were to expensive! So now he just sticks with computer programming and robotics. Point being, I would love to get him a 3D printer to make planes to go along with the tech he make- I’m going into Design at Uni- so they can roll around the house along with the other robots he plans to build to bug my mum! It would be the perfect gift for us to work together and absolutely lovely for him.

  586. Julia says:

    Sorry, I accidentally submitted it under guest.

    Okay, so my dad absolutely loves planes, and he always dreamt of
    becoming a pilot growing up. He went through Air Cadets and was planning
    to get his pilot license, where he was told that he couldn’t until he
    became a Canadian citizen, and then was later told he would never ever
    be allowed to get a license due to past serious medical issues including
    problems with the kidney. Now he’s a very happy computer programmer,
    but he still likes planes and often buys remote controlled planes and
    helicopters. Ironically enough, he keeps crashing them and had to stop
    buying them because he broke them to fast and they were to expensive! So
    now he just sticks with computer programming and robotics. Point being,
    I would love to get him a 3D printer to make planes to go along with
    the tech he make- I’m going into Design at Uni- so they can roll around
    the house along with the other robots he plans to build to bug my mum!
    It would be the perfect gift for us to work together and absolutely
    lovely for him.

  587. Eric Gascoine says:

    From my daughters’ insistence that we enter this:

    Dad seems to always be stubbing his toe around the house. And when he does, his yells are so loud and the house starts to shake and he becomes very grumpy. So we, his beloved daughters, have found solution! Behold, the toe protector! It has a proximity sensor to alert the wearer of impending objects, a spring on the front to reduce the intensity of impact and redirect the force to send the foot back, and a gentle sloping body to redirect the force and let the toe slide upwards and out of harm! This invention will save his feet! We would help fine tune the design and build it, while our dad shows us how to put the sensor on the body and how to create and print the body!

  588. Mark Nolley says:

    Ever since I took my 12 year old son to the Maker Faire in Kansas City 2 years ago he has been pining for a 3-D printer. Unlike many of the fathers and sons on this thread, there are no engineering geniuses in this family. What we do have is a young boy who instinctively sees the limitless potential that the 3-D printer represents. The ability to dream up something in your minds eye and to make that dream become a reality. The fact that this technology provides a glimpse at the bleeding edge of the world to come is not fully appreciated by my son. But like the personal computer of yesteryear, this technology has captured the imagination of the young. And it will be the young children of today who use this technology to change our world. Regardless of who wins this printer, I think we can all agree that technology is wonderful, but technology fueled by imagination and inspiration is limitless. Fathers, keep inspiring and fostering your children’s dreams.

  589. Guest says:

    As a father homeschooling three daughters, I am constantly seeking out opportunities to help them learn something. I did not want to use the word teach because most of the times I’m learning along with them. As we combine character education with formal education, we always try to find the relevance to real life. If a math problem starts out with “Johnny has 5 watermelons..,” my kids would probably wonder how Johnny could carry those watermelons. We focus on using hands-on training rather than just theoretical training. This is where the Leapfrog 3D printer would be awesome.

    Some of the things I would print:
    -teaching materials such as math manipulatives or chemistry set,
    -if two separate materials can be used for printing and one could be see-through, I would print 3D models of atoms with electrons in orbit, or a cell with a nucleus in it
    -models of buildings or people we learn about
    -various airplane wings, learn how lift is created with different shapes

    -one of my daughters’ passion is birds.. we would print 3D models of birds.. including ones that can be taken apart, have moving wings and feet

    -functional skeleton, ball-socket, saddle, hinge joints

    -relief maps

    -print different shape boats, learn what makes it stability or which shape is more hydrodynamic
    -things around the house that are just needed, such as an iPad bracket and arm that would hold the iPad above me as I lay in bed and watch a movie on it, so I won’t have to hold it
    -kitchen utensils for my wife or a jewelry box with secret openings, or maybe some special tools she can use in gardening

    My daughters are interested in physics. We need a system of pulleys, levers, and gears. We would design surfaces with different roughness or different patterns, and experiment with different coefficients of friction. We would print various sizes of pulleys in various shapes, various sizes, and various axle placements. We would print gears and locking mechanisms and collect data on experiments, learning what the optimal shapes and sizes would be for different situations. This will lead into designing and printing components for an entire machine such as a pendulum clock or a something similar to a car transmission.

    Art is part of our lives. I would print various surfaces where light and shadow creates art. I would print lattice work where it would be backlit by LED lighting of different colors and it would look different depending on the angle viewed. Or print a sheet with different thicknesses with the flat side outward. Someone looking at it won’t see anything, but when a light is turned on behind this sheet, the various thicknesses show different shades and it would show different shapes. I would create optical illusions with 3D models. Combining functionality with art, I would print lights for my kids to have at their beds –these would be with LED lights to keep high voltage away from them and keep them safe. I would print decoration items, such as personalized photo frames, pens, or stencils.

    Games! One of the dreams I have with this kind of design is to develop a game where players can sit around a game console and each player has levers, gears, and pulleys available. They would either work against each other, or have to work together to move objects in the game. Another game would use light, where a laser beam would be directed into a box and a set of mirrors can redirect light to various holes for the laser beam to exit the box. Mirrors would have two or three positions they can be in, and players would flip them one at a time, trying to direct the laser beam to the right hole. Players would not be able to see which way the mirrors are positioned; instead, they would use deductive reasoning based on outcome. Yet another game to print would be something like a labyrinth of waterways where gates can be opened and closed to redirect water. Water can be made to flow through these waterways either with a small pump or some manual wheel and little ships would be floating in the water. As the flow of water is changed, ships can be directed through the labyrinth. Lastly, my dream is to print interlocking pieces like Legos in different shapes, like triangles or hexagons, or maybe even circles! They would also be able to go sideways, not just up.

    One of the things I am fascinated with is that as 3D printing is different than extrusion, objects can be created to have empty spaces inside. This would not be possible through extrusion, only with 3D printing. For example, will a 3D printed material that looks like a sponge inside with bubbles built into its structure behave like a sponge and be soft? Or, as bird’s bones are mostly hollow inside, yet they are very strong, would a lattice-like structure designed into an object make it light-weight as well as strong? As we learn, my daughters would learn to refine the lattice work in order to optimize the strength/weight ratio, then build bridges with minimal amount of material over a larger span and test it for load. I would also print various objects with built-in empty space inside and place them in water, attach weights to them, and calculate buoyancy.

    Modular technology is predicted to be the next important thing but it seems to catch on very slowly. Nevertheless, the idea is interesting and I want to experiment with using certain basic objects which can then be customized. For example, various gears can be printed by using a basic disc to which various number of teeth can be printed onto. The same disk can be used to have 24 or 36 teeth printed onto it.

    This brings me to my next dream. Instead of printing an object from scratch, can a basic object be used and then customized? For example, if I want to print a pair of headphones, I’d like to buy two small speakers and print the headphone around the speakers and the wires. I’d like to learn to incorporate electronics into the printing. Also, wouldn’t it be great if I could place a doll on the printing platform and just print new hair on top of its head? Or a saddle on a horse?

    Although my girls often pick the firetruck or helicopter over some girly thing, they are still girls. They love accessories and I’m sure one of the first things they would want to have printed would be bracelets with their names or favorite designs. Rings, necklaces, glasses, not to mention lots of shoes and hats would probably be in order. As one of my daughters is into designing clothes, we would design special buttons, snaps, buckles, etc.

    We have also been studying electronic boards, such as the Intel Edison, Arduino boards, and Adafruit boards. We purchased some of these boards and we are learning the programming. We want to make wearable electronic pieces. LED lights can be incorporated into anything, such as bracelets that light up with movement, necklaces that react to sound amplitude, headbands or tiaras with programmable lights.

    Robotics is the next thing. As we are learning about physics and these breakout boards and components, we are going to start learning about robots. We will print parts, experiment with various styles, various ways of commanding movements, and we need a 3D printer to make this possible. Lego pieces are usually used in making small robots because it’s easy to build; however, it’s not enough.. it needs customized pieces and interchangeable pieces. My plan is to start with simple robots on wheels, then move into rails, like trains. Then move to printing a rollercoaster where we would learn about gravity, momentum, and angular velocity. My ultimate goal is to build a home-made flying drone!

    It’s a multi-year plan, maybe even multi-decade plan…

    Thank you for your consideration!

  590. FrançoisLeFrançais says:

    I’m so fond of 3d printing that I printed my own children !
    My two little boys, my life would be such an hollow geared heart without you both…

  591. TC says:

    Did they ever choose a winner? I can’t find an announcement.

    1. Moronicus_Litho says:

      I was wondering as well…

  592. Jan C says:

    I would love to give this to my father. He’s the prototype nerd type and loves to make everything and anything… This would be the best gift ever!!!! So much that I would end up wanting one too. I think some of the nerd curious inventor type made it in me too :o). Thanks for making this contest possible.

  593. Steven (Mark) Jones says:

    I am the Industrial Technology teacher at a large High School in Texas. I had my heart set on purchasing the Leap Frog 3D Curriculum and Printer Bundle from
    School Specialty: Leapfrog Dual Extruder 3D Printer Classroom Education Pack
    #1502643 but was denied the purchase from my budget because Dell is the only vendor on our bid list for 3D printers. The only 3D printer Dell sells is the MakerBot Mini which is poorly supported and problem prone.

    If I won the contest, I would ask Leapfrog to donate the printer to my school in the name of my father, Max Jones. My father was a service manager for Monroe Systems for Business for many years. I grew up watching him work on machines of all types. From completely mechanical adding machines to electronic computers and copiers, I saw him fix them all. It is because of my father that I have a profound love for technology and love teaching students while using cutting edge equipment like the Leapfrog 3D printer. My father has always supported me as a teacher and he would be thrilled the see the amazing student creations produced on this great printer with 2 extruders, a large build volume, and the versatility to print using many different plastics, provided to my program in his name. Please consider my request. The printer would touch many lives during its service life and bring joy to me and my father.

    Thank you,

    Steven (Mark) Jones
    Teacher

    1. sophiacamille says:

      Hey Steven, unfortunately this was a giveaway from last year that has been closed. Thanks for sharing your story and please stay tuned for future opportunities to win goodies!

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I get ridiculously excited seeing people make things. I just want to revel in the creativity I see in makers. My favorite thing in the world is sharing a maker's story. find me at CalebKraft.com

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