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COVID 19 Lock Down Boredom – Activities To Keep You Busy

Around the world, many places are locked down, and workers are furloughed to help eradicate the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19). We encourage you to stay home during this period and follow the safety measures put in place by your local government. Yet day by day we are staring at the same walls and are getting bored.

Meanwhile, front line workers are doing their best to help those in need and keep modern society running. In response to their needs, people around the world are creating new 3D printed PPE (personal protection equipment) to help. Our current social heroes include doctors, nurses, ambulance & caregivers, cleaning crews, and so many more. Most of our team has taken it upon themselves to create face shields, mask clips, and other accessories. These basic PPE devices will not stop the virus, but they will help reduce the spread and add a layer of protection.

This productive use of 3D printing (at homes, schools, businesses, etc.) is having a significant role during this outbreak. Whether or not you can donate these forms of PPE locally, your 3D printer and related hobbies may help keep you sane. Below I’ll list many projects and search ideas that will keep you busy during the COVID 19 LockDown.

Create Useful 3D Printed Tools Against COVID-19

Useful 3D Printed Tools

There are many 3D models you can download and print to help you or your local area during this COVID-19 outbreak. You can print decorative pieces or functional components to help others around you. This may include face shields, valves, soap drip trays or masks.  There are many more items that front-line workers need. Printing some of these PPE can keep you busy and occupied during the Lockdown. Here are few links for COVID related 3D Models. Cults – Things

Besides PPE style, many other types of fun or functional masks are available. The Gorey Mouthpiece you see above could keep anyone occupied. Printing, post-processing and painting that mask would keep me busy for days. This is one of many unique and fun projects you can do during the COVID 19 lockdown. Here are some (currently free) fun masks to print from Gambody.com.

Take Care of Your 3D Printer.

During spring and summer, some people love outdoor and home improvement projects. Others focus on internal cleaning or remodelling. If you are like me, the thought of “spring cleaning” is not precisely a fun prospect to fight boredom. Regardless of how busy your printer is currently or if you run out of filament, now is a great time to do some spring cleaning of your printer(s). After all, that is (one of) your current hobby that you enjoy!

Here’s a shortlist of things to keep you busy and your printer running smoothly.

  • Clean – Simple enough? Well, take a good look. See all that dust build-up on the carriage wheels and lead screw threads? Not only is messy, but it could also be leading to poor print quality.
  • Lube -Some of the moving parts do require occasional lubrication. The lead screws and linear rails are two that come to mind.
  • Maintenance – Do you have loose screws, brackets, hot end nozzle, etc.? Be sure to check on them while cleaning and lubricating. After all, a loose and wobbly printer does not make pretty parts.
  • Modifications – Are there some exciting add-ons you’ve seen for your printer? Perhaps you want to improve part cooling, reduce vibrations, experiment with direct drive configurations or several visual changes. Now is the time to try something new. After all, you just cleaned and fixed your machine, why not spruce it up.
  • Calibration – Whether it’s bed levelling or finally working on fine-tuning, now is an excellent time to spending an afternoon or two printing a multitude of calibration files. I’m working on Acceleration and Jerk settings for my newest printer.

Here are a few calibration tests to keep you busy as found on Yeggi

Finish Your Printed Models

If you are like me, you have more 3D projects saved on your hard drives than you have time to print and paint them. Additionally, not everyone is an experienced painter. Well, now you might have extra time to practice and improve your painting skills.

Depending on the quality of your printed projects, starting to print them may be easy. Unfortunately, not every project turns out perfect, and it will require some prep time. Here are some of the steps required to get those projects done.

  • Printing – Well, obviously, you need to finish printing a project, figure, diorama, etc. Before getting ahead of yourself, collect all of the parts and do a quick test fit. Depending on your results, prep time will vary as you take the next steps.
  • Initial Sanding and Fitting – Some people sand before or after an initial (high fill) primer layer. Regardless it can be a long and boring process. The amount of sanding will depend on your parts quality, layer heights, desired results and personal formalist level. While sanding makes sure you test fit and work all those joints and pegs.
  • Prime – Paint primers come in many forms. Spray cans now include high fill & sandable primers as well as coloured paint & primers that are plastic compatible. Depending on your project, you may be able to to use acrylic primers meant for airbrushing.
  • More Sanding – Oh boy more elbow grease required for some projects. Well, keep sanding and reapplying thin primer layers as desired.
  • Paint – Yippie!! Finally, some colour. Whether you hand paint or airbrush your projects, the colours and final effect options are endless. Take your time or hurry up. It’s your project, so you decide.
  • Topcoat – Some projects may require a top coat to protect the paint and create a specific sheen. This may be flat, satin, semi-gloss, gloss or a combination.
  • Have Fun – This may be a lot of work for novice and experienced painters, but hobbies are supposed to be enjoyable.

Holiday Projects & PresentsStart Early

COVID Bordeom Gambody Blog

Credit: Gambody.com/blog

Sometimes we use our 3D printers to create projects for the holidays. These prints may be used for gifts, decoration, online competitions, social media post or all of the above. Working on these type of prints will help us look toward the near future and the expectation of spending time with friends and family during the upcoming holidays. Search engines like Yeggi and websites like Thingiverse will help you find hundreds of projects.

Here are some holiday ideas from Gambody – Christmas Ideas and Decor

Besides holiday trinkets you can also print gifts for people far and near. Lithophane (is a 3D representation of a photo that can only be seen when illuminated from behind)prints make great presents with their customized photos and frames. Creating quality lithophanes may require some tweaking of your slicer software and extra time to test your settings.

There is many Lithophane software out there.

  1. Luban 3D
  2. LithophaneMaker
  3. 3DP.ROCKS
  4. ItsLitho

Board Games, Puzzles & 3D Printed Fidgets

Board Game Puzzles 3D Printed

Whether you are home alone or have a large family, you may want some to do some activities away from your computer for a few hours. “Old Fashion” board game or card games can become new and fun again. If you like to liven up some of those older board games, why not 3D print some new or missing pieces? Don’t like your Monopoly token? Download some new tokens for your games and print them out. Between the millions of printable items, coloured filament and your imagination, the variations are endless. Have some fun by printing and playing games.

Online Gaming

What if you want to play an offline game with non-housemates while most areas are locked down, staying Home or social distancing? Well use modern video chat methods and play some games together. Who says you can’t use your deck of cards and play poker which your buddies? (Maybe you should point the cameras at your cards and sleeves).

If you are into Dungeons and Dragon or tabletop games, who says you can’t play during a video chat? Why not play some Magic The Gathering or similar strategy games? While you are interacting with others, you can always have your 3D printer running in the background.

play online games in COVID-19 SituationIf you want modern games, there are lots of Online Games available that you can play on your Mobile, Laptop or Tablets. One of the Most Popular Game is PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds). You can download this Game and play online with other team members. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is an online multiplayer battle royal game developed and published by PUBG Corporation. This Game has lots of features, just like you can chat with other team members or you can do voice call. You will never get Bored with this Game.

Productive Things To Do During Lock Down

Exercising during the Lockdown could turn into a lifeline for a huge number of adults/guardians stuck at Home with their families. Trying out new things is a unique way to assist with your learning and personal development. Move beyond your normal comfort zone and attempt some of the Productive and Fun Things to Do listed below during Coronavirus LockDown. Here are 5 Productive Things that you can do while staying home and social distancing.

Start Learning and Develop Skills

If you are getting Bored in your Home and you have finished all the Netflix Series, you could start Learning. This is a very productive and helpful activity that you can do in this Lockdown situation. Learning is beneficial to develop new ideas and skills. There are thousands of ways to start learning online while sitting at your Home. You just have to decide what interests you and decide which skills you want to learn online. Developing new skills can be helpful for your personal and professional lives.

Learn and Develop Skills from home in COVID-19 Situation

Tons of online courses are just at a mouse-click separation promptly accessible regardless of what our proficiency is. Now is the ideal chance to grow your knowledge and gains new aptitudes.You can start learning and develop your skills by just joining online classes of your desired course. I am also learning new stuff while staying at Home. In this Lockdown situation, learning different Languages could also be useful in your professional career.

Do a Fitness Challenge during COVID-19

Due to Coronavirus, we are all locked down and stuck in our homes. In this critical situation, some of us are eating snack foods non-stop instead of remaining health conscious. This is the best time to start a fitness Challenge and keep our self busy and healthy during our local Lockdown situations. For inspiration, you can check out the work out videos posted by several celebrities on their social media sites. Also, you can check YouTube videos about the exercises that you can do from Home. Physical activity should improve your sleep patterns and improve your temperament while stuck in the same space every day. You needn’t need to buy new equipment or programs for a decent workout; there are a lot of free online exercise regiments available.

During these periods of social distancing, working out is one of the best things that can do to improve your well being and remain fit. Although you may miss the Machinery in the Gym or sweaty atmosphere, a small space in your family room is sufficient to work out. You could attempt the 100 push-up challenge, squat test, or simply doing a 30-day bodyweight exercise challenge to remain fit at Home for FREE. Ensure that you don’t overexert yourself and warm up completely before you do any activity.

Give Time to Your Self

During this COVID-19 situation, it is a great chance to give time to yourself. In our busy lives, we have no time for ourselves. We are stuck in our real-life situations and may have no idea how to solve them because we have limited time to ourselves. This is also a great opportunity to reflect on our personalities and identify personal strengths and weaknesses. Now is a wonderful time to think about life Goals an how to achieve them.

Give Time to Your Self

You have to start thinking and making plans about how to get rid of your all internal and external real-life issues. Take a deep breath and start doing a self-assessment. Doing this during the COVID-19 situation, you can review your successes and failures while trying to understand yourself better. Develop new ideas and implement them to improve your lifestyle.

Start Blogging

If you are tired of watching television all day and you have finished Netflix series, you should try Blogging. Blogging is one of the best possible solutions to kill time while locked down in Home. Writing or filming a blog is very helpful for you to develop new ideas and express your feelings to the world.

Start Blogging in COVID-19

There are different Online Platforms available to Start Blogging. An Important thing about Blogging is that it can develop a person. Blog, whether writing or film will allow you to reach out to people around the world. New friendships could develop as your blog about your passion(s). Additional skills and knowledge will be likely as you research and have discussions about your topics. Regardless oh how popular your blog (or video channel) become, it will be a rewarding experience that can keep you busy for months or years to come.

Organize Things During COVID 19 Lock Down

A useful thing to kill time during the COVID 19 LockDown is to start organizing things. When you decide to tackle this project, here are a few plans to help you not to miss a thing:

Organize Things During Corona Virus Lock down

  • Update your Resume/CV
  • Clear space on your cell phone/tablet/computer
  • Plan out your day or week early
  • Sift through your email accounts
  • Sort out your photographs on your devices and the cloud
  • Plan your suppers for the up and coming week
  • Arrange your bills and desk work
  • Clean out that “junk drawer” (or room)

These are some Productive Things that you can do at Home during in this COVID 19 Lock Down Situation.

Keep in Touch

In our modern and busy world, too many of us have limited time to interact with our friends and family. This COVID 19 Lock Down event has affected many people’s lives and normal schedules. If you are bored, lonely, stir crazy, depressed or just missing people, your relatives and friends may be in the same situation. So take some time to reach out to them. Make a voice or video call. Have a conversation, play some games, sing karaoke, read to each other, watch the same show or movie together or any other activities you can imagine. Just because we are stuck at Home, does not mean anyone needs to be bored alone.

More Adult Stuff – No NOT That

If none of the above activities keeps you occupied, you can always do some adult stuff.

  • Spring Cleaning
  • Housework
  • Gardening – Things
  • Home Improvement Projects
  • Exercise
  • Who am I kidding – I don’t want to and probably won’t do any of that stuff 🙂
COVID Boredom Yardwork

Mechanic Bob Modrow Simply Avoids Yardwork

3D Print Ideas, Searches & Collections

Here’s a general list of things and projects you can work on using your 3D printer during the COVID 19 Lock Down, whether it be an Ender5 Pro, Original Prusa Mini, Elegoo Mars Pro resin printer or any number of popular machines or Home built kits.

  • Masks – Functional and Funky – Things
  • Cosplay – Have some fun –  Cults
  • Logos – Find your favourites – Things
  • Key-chains – Endless options – Things – Cults
  • Collapsing Stuff – Swords & More – Things
  • Low Poly – Quick Modern Art – Things
  • Flexi Stuff – Fun for all – Things
  • Gaming Controllers – Holder & Accesorries – Things – Cults
  • Cell Phones – Limitless ideas – Things
  • Fidgets – Standard and creative – Things
  • Gears – Fun to print and play with – Things
  • Photography – Show of your prints – Things
  • Kitchen – Things
  • Cookies – Things
  • Spices  – Things
  • Wood Working – Combine Hobbies – Things
  • Garage Stuff – Organize – Things
  • Sport – Remember sports? – Things
  • RC – Another addictive Hobby – Things
  • Drones – Distance Viewing from home – Things
  • Figure Busts – Easier to Print vs Full Figures – Things – Cults – RoberRollins
  • Support Free – Just Slice and Print – Things – MMFactory
  • Vases – Experiment with spiral/vase mode printing – Cults – Things

Search for your favourite hobbies, movies, games and millions of other 3D printable items:

While this may be an extensive list, it’s not the only one. Why not check out this useful things list at All3dp.com. Other ideas include unique fold-able objects found at Fab365.net, including several for free to get you addicted.

COVID Boredom Fab365

3D Artists – Just a Few

Beyond the popular search engines, there are hundreds of 3D artists creating printable figures and items. Many can be found on Facebook and typically accept Paypal. Below is just a small sample of artists that the team at Inov3D are aware of.

Even More Links to Click On!

If you made it to the end of this long list of things to help fight your COVID 19 Lock Down boredom, why not check out some more links and articles.

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