ZCatch Tool and Nozzle Holder

thingiverse

As always I will promote and reward the first people to post quality makes, must enable tips on your profile for reward. A quality make is a successful, complete, hopefully decent looking print at 100% scale. Doesn't need to be shown it with z catch but bonus points if it is. Alternative version here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4141393 I recently received a ZCatch 3D Printer Nozzle Removal Tool for Christmas and I'm absolutely thrilled with it. This luxury 3d printer tool has genuinely made my life easier and helped me fix problems I had with the nozzle change process. The machining work on it is superb, and I wanted to showcase it better with this holder. I only recently started experimenting with different nozzle sizes, and this tool has been a game-changer. Having to juggle two tools in a limited space without getting burned, dropping my nozzle, or damaging delicate wires in the heat block was a real challenge. Honestly, that struggle is why I rarely swapped nozzles, as getting a printer to work can be challenging enough, and I didn't want to risk messing anything up. I started with https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3441470, even bought the official metal parts from printed-solid. To be fair, I like that design; it looks great, and others have sworn by it. However, personally, I never got it to work right once, even after printing with pc-max (a very tough, expensive polymaker material). The two metal parts would spread a little and slip off the hot end when trying to use it. So then I had to go back to the crescent wrench and socket. This little tool has opened up the use of bigger nozzles on my Prusa MK3s and others with easy, quick nozzle swaps. I no longer hesitate to swap to the nozzle size best suited for the task. One downside is that it doesn't have nozzle storage in its little box so hoped to improve that, with this design, the holes are threaded for E3d M6 nozzle type threads, shown with Nozzle X in photos. This holds it in an space-saving, easy-to-grab, and easy-to-use form. I've included a pre-oriented, supported, and hollowed SLA version (shown in Prusa Tough Resin Red). For those who may enjoy the irony of 3D printing a tool holder for a 3D printer tool that will never be used on the type of 3D printed that made its holder...also SLA prints look nice; just make sure to really get all the uncured resin out of the threads before curing. * Update!: https://www.thingiverse.com/Justin87/about was one of this thing's "First Make Awards" winners, check out their page! * Update!: https://www.thingiverse.com/ShadowBrother/about was another winner of this thing's "First Make Awards", check out their page! Different places to find this tool: https://z-catch.com/product/nozzle-removal-tool/ https://www.amazon.com/ZCatch-Printer-Nozzle-Removal-Tool/dp/B07W3XXQ51 https://www.printedsolid.com/products/zcatch-1-4-drive-nozzle-removal-tool https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5oBboGu4bk