Large throwing and garden games are not printed solid. A throwing baton in PLA is heavy, expensive, breaks on the third throw and stands grey in a corner a year later. Print the connector and let a wooden dowel from the hardware shop carry the load. Sleeves, caps, foot plates, angles and rings – all bodies of revolution, all printable without supports.
Dowel diameters differ between countries and suppliers: 28, 30 and 32 mm are common in Europe, while imperial stock runs 1 in (25.4 mm) and 1¼ in (31.75 mm). Type the measured number in rather than picking a preset – that is what the generator is for.
Frames for throwing games, tripods for garden lights, ring goals, target stands, the repair of a bought set whose plastic corner broke. The printed part is the joint; the wood is the structure. That division keeps the print small, the print time short and the whole thing repairable: when a connector breaks, you print one, not a new game.
| Weight | A solid 30 mm baton, 40 cm long, is roughly 280 g of filament. The dowel costs a fraction of that and is lighter. |
| Strength | Printed parts are weak along the layer lines. Wood is not. A throwing game loads exactly that direction. |
| Print time | Sleeve and cap together take about four hours. A solid baton takes a working day. |
| Repair | Wood splinters visibly and can be replaced for a euro. A cracked print has to be reprinted whole. |
The angle piece is not two sleeves glued together. Both arms meet in a mitre along the bisector, so the wall thickness stays even through the corner and there is no notch where the load peaks. Below 45 degrees the mitre becomes long and the piece needs a wide plate; the generator says so in the data table.
A check worth knowing: a 90 degree angle for 30 mm dowels comes to 28.3 cm³, exactly the same volume as a straight sleeve with the same arm length. That is the sanity test that the mitre neither doubles nor loses material.
| ASA | UV stable, dimensionally stable in sunlight, tough in the cold. The only material for parts that stay outside. Needs an enclosure and produces fumes – ventilate. |
| PETG | Survives a summer under a roof. Yellows and softens in direct sun; a black part in July gets soft enough to deform under load. |
| PLA | Indoors only. A PLA connector in a parked car is a puddle. It is fine for prototypes and for indoor games. |
| Colour | Dark pigments heat up more. For outdoor parts prefer light colours – not for looks, for the softening point. |
The default clearance is 0.4 mm on the diameter. That suits a printer with reasonably calibrated flow and a dowel measured with a caliper. If the sleeve slides on loosely, reduce it in 0.05 steps; if it will not go on at all, increase it. Do not sand the wood – the next dowel will differ again. Adjust the print, not the material.
Wood swells with moisture. A joint that fits in a dry workshop in February can bind in the garden in August. For parts that must be taken apart, plan 0.5 to 0.6 mm; for glued joints 0.3 is enough.
This page carries the essentials. The detailed sheet – materials, print profile, assembly and care – is in German: documentation. Every control here is a number or a slider, and the German page uses the same order.