The Lizard Collection: a Tool and a Tag for Your Scaly Friends!

I designed multiple items to help with lizard care, as I have a leopard gecko. The multitool that I designed is able to be used as a scooper, a spoon, and tweezers. I also designed a name tag that can be attached to a cage using suction cups in order to customize my lizard's cage.

3d printer (I used an Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro, but any will work) (link)

3d printing filament (I used Hatchbox PLA, but any stiff filament should work) (link)

2 Small Suction Cups (link)

Hot Glue Gun with Hot Glue (link)

Scissors (link)

First, I designed a tool that had multiple uses. I wanted to create a tool that could scoop things in my lizard's cage, that could scoop out calcium powder, and that also had tweezers. To do this, I created two ends, one that looked like a spoon, and one that looked like a shovel, creating two sides with 2 different uses (Image 1). Additionally, I also designed tweezers (Image 2) and a gap in the handle of the multitool (Image 3) that could fit the tweezers (Images 4 & 5). The tweezers are slightly smaller than the gap, so they fit well without falling out.

To export the file on Tinkercad, click export at the top left of the screen (Image 1). Then, click STL under "For 3d Print". (Image 2)

Next, import each file into a slicer (I used Ultimaker Cura).

Then, slice it at 20% infill with a 0.2mm layer height and a brim for bed adhesion (Image 3). Then, click slice (Image 4). This results in a GCODE file that can be used on a 3d printer. Then, click "Save To Disc" or "Save To Removable Drive" (Image 5), which saves the file to your computer; or a SD Card, MicroSD Card, or Thumb Drive.

After slicing the file, send it over to your 3d printer via Octoprint, SD card, wifi, or any other method. After transferring it to your 3d printer, Print it, which will result in these 2 parts (Image 1).

Then, to put the tweezers inside of the tool, find the gap in the tool and place the tweezers in the gap (Images 2-4).

To use the tweezers, remove the tweezers from the gap in the tool and use them as normal tweezers by putting the thing to hold in between the tips of the tweezers and squeezing the back to grasp the thing being held (Image 1).

To use the shovel side of the tool, push it into what you want to shovel and lift it up (Images 2 & 3). This will shovel leaves, dirt, and other things in a lizard's cage.

To use the spoon side of the tool, use it like a spoon and scoop what ever you want to scoop (Image 4). It can be used to scoop most things, but I use it to scoop calcium powder and sprinkle it on my crickets (Image 5).

Open Tinkercad and create a new 3d design.

First, create 2 cylinders with a diameter of 23mm and a height of 1mm (Image 1). Then, create a text from the shape collection. Set the height of the text to 1 and type in your pet's name and lift it 1mm above the design floor (Image 2). Next, create a box with a height of 1mm, a width of 23 mm, and a length of the length of your text (Mine was 48.94mm)(Image 3). Then, center the rectangle and the text in the length and width (Image 4). Then, place each cylinder on either side of the rectangle and make sure that exactly half of the circle is overlapping with the rectangle (Image 5). This creates a seamless design that looks good. Then, hit ctrl+a to select everything and then ctrl+g to group everything (Image 6).

Then, export each file on Tinkercad by clicking export at the top left of the screen (Image 1). Then, click STL under "For 3d Print" (Image 2).

Next, import each file into a slicer (I used Ultimaker Cura).

Then, slice it at 20% infill with a 0.2mm layer height and a brim for bed adhesion (Image 3). Then, click "slice", which results in a GCODE file that can be used on a 3d printer.

After slicing it, lift the slider until you find the layer that prints right before the letters start printing (Image 4). This was layer 5 for me, but it could be different depending on your settings or design. Then, click "Save To Disc", saving the GCODE file (Image 5).

For Octoprint Users Printing the Nametag in two colors:

Then, open the GCODE in Notepad (on Windows) or TextEdit (on Mac) and find the layer right after the layer you found. (this would be layer 6 for me). Then, right before this layer starts, type @pause (Image 6). This command line pauses the print for people who are using Octoprint.

Then, turn on your Raspberry Pi hosting Octoprint and go to octopi.local to open Octoprint. Next, open Settings on Octoprint (This is the button with the wrench logo) (Image 7). Once Settings is open, click on GCODE scripts (Image 8). Then, go to "After print job is paused" and paste this script (Image 9):

{% if pause_position.x is not none %}

; relative XYZE

G91

M83

; retract filament (3mm), move Z slightly upwards

G1 Z+5 E-3 F4500

; absolute XYZE

M82

G90

; move to a safe rest position, adjust as necessary

G1 X0 Y0

{% endif %}

This script moves the nozzle to a safe location where the filament can be changed without affecting the already printed material.

Then, go to "Before print job is resumed" and paste this script (Image 9):

{% if pause_position.x is not none %}

; relative extruder

M83

; prime nozzle

G1 E-3 F4500

G1 E3 F4500

G1 E3 F4500

; absolute E

M82

; absolute XYZ

G90

; reset E

G92 E{{ pause_position.e }}

; move back to pause position XYZ

G1 X{{ pause_position.x }} Y{{ pause_position.y }} Z{{ pause_position.z }} F4500

; reset to feed rate before pause if available

{% if pause_position.f is not none %}G1 F{{ pause_position.f }}{% endif %}

{% endif %}

This script moves the nozzle back to the place where it was paused and resumes printing.

For SD card users printing it in 2 colors:

Wait for the print to start printing the letters, then manually pause the printer and switch filaments. Then, continue the print manually.

For Octoprint users printing it in 2 colors:

Start the print and when it automatically pauses, change the filament and resume the print via Octoprint.

1 color:

Start the print and wait for it to finish.

Once it is done printing, you should have a name tag (Image 1).

First, isolate the suction cup from whatever it is attached to. Because I used a popper toy, I removed the string and the bottom. Then, cut the suction cup down until the part that sticks out is only slightly above the suction cup part. Next, repeat this for the second suction cup. This creates two identical suction cups that can be attached to a 3d printed name tag easily with hot glue.

First, use a hot glue gun to place glue around the ring of the suction cup (Image 1). Make sure to cover it completely to prevent gaps, which hinder the suctioning power. Then, place it on the left side of the name tag and push it down (Image 2). Then, wait for it to dry completely. Once the first one is glued, repeat for the other suction cup (Image 3). This creates a name tag that can stick to a flat surface (such as the outside of a cage) using two suction cups (Image 4).

I have attached the file and Printables link for the multitool I designed.

https://www.printables.com/model/916460-lizard-care-multitool