1-2-3 Block Unit Markers

prusaprinters

1-2-3 inch blocks and 25-50-75 mm blocks are handy tools to have around the shop for layout, reference and even paperweights. I guess I went crazy with it and have both unit types floating around the shop. I like to be able to tell them apart instantly. Creating these little marked plugs with the unit on them was the best solution I came up with after some trial and error. They take advantage of the five 3/8"-16 (approximately M10) tapped holes in the both inch and metric blocks that with deep chamfers these blocks always have. The plug can be driven in using a 3mm hex (allen) key from the back side and should sit about 0.5mm below the surface so they don't interfere with the reference face.The text is quite small, only 2.2mm tall, so a 0.25mm nozzle is required. Even with a 2.5mm nozzle I found the details so fine that the body filament would fill the lettering completely if it was printed first of as a negative space. The best results I found was to print the text first before color changing to the body color. Even with an FDM friendly font it still turns out a bit chicken scratch because the letters are just so small. With some good contrast colors it's still very easy to read compared to other solutions I've tried.Update 2023-05-06 - As a bit of a joke I added a “junk” unit text in case you get blocks that are totally out of spec and can only be used as a square or paperweight. Hasn't happened to me but one does see those reviews on Amazon.