Nov 6, 2015 | By Alec
Cats are somewhat of a paradox in human life. We love them and they look adorable, but they are indifferent towards us and reward our generosity by destroying our toilet rolls and knocking over our drinks. Have you ever come home to find a toilet paper massacre in your bathroom? Fortunately, if you own a 3D printer you can finally fight back against your furry adversary. A frustrated cat owner called Johnny Lawrence has shared 3D printable designs for a toilet paper guard, that is guaranteed to be claw proof.
Jonny himself understands the woes of cat owners, because he is one. ‘Our (now 6 month old) kitten Mochi loves to destroy the toilet paper any chance he can get. This is my attempt at out smarting him, and it seems to have worked so far,’ he says of his creation. Johnny is an engineer over at GE Aviation, and is very familiar with 3D printing technology, so he came up with what he calls the Kitten Proof Toilet Paper Guard.
They look innocent enough, but are killers.
As you can see in the clip below, it’s essentially a four-piece container for toilet roll that features a sliding door to allow non-claw humans to access the paper. It is completed with a grip pad that can be bought at Home Depot or similar hardware stores. Once you’re done, just close the door and protect the precious cargo within. It should fit most regular toilet paper rolls, though Johnny admits it can get a bit snug when filled with a completely full roll.
If you’re interested, head over to Thingiverse here to get your hands on the 3D printable files. Johnny adds that you’re welcome to tinker and improve the files as well. He has 3D printed all parts in PLA, with support being needed for the ‘Toilet Roll Protector Slide’. Raft settings don’t matter, he adds. Upon completion, you will need to do a bit of sanding to get a good finish on the sliding door. ‘It will depend on what resolution you print at. I printed everything at .3 (just to quicken the process) and I had to sand a bit to get the action of the mechanism to be smooth,’ Johnny says. The rest of the parts can be assembled with glue.
The results, you’ll find, are definitely worth it. Usually, we see 3D printing projects intended to help animals, but the Kitten Proof Toilet Paper Guard proves that we can also use it to protect ourselves from them.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
Maybe you also like:
- 3D Printing helps Tazo, the handicapped dog, regain his mobility
- Uniform 3D printed embryonic stem cells could as used 'building blocks' of life
- Customizable, open-source 3D printable EEG headset from OpenBCI now on Kickstarter
- Jason Loo 3D prints amazing life-sized BB-8 droid from upcoming Star Wars movie
- Seiko Optical Europe, Materialise to introduce 3D printed sports eyewear collection
- Make a 'fake' colour 3D print out of paper
- Local Motors' LM3D Swim 3D printed car to be on sale for $53K next year
- MIT's Self-Assembly Lab 3D prints shape-shifting shoe
- 8-bit video games inspire 3D printed fashion accessories by Katty Xiomara and BEEVERYCREATIVE
- Large and incredibly complex forms created through cell division simulation & multimaterial 3D printing
3Ders.org provides the latest news about 3D printing technology and 3D printers. We are now seven years old and have around 1.5 million unique visitors per month.
