"looks like a gun, ATF contacted"
--Bambu labs.
this post was submitted on 05 May 2026
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Steam Hardware
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A place to discuss and support all Steam Hardware, including Steam Deck, Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and SteamOS in general.
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I hate to be a fanboy for a corporation, but this move is rad. I really wish every company would release models of their products.
It took me ages and ages to try to accurately measure the inside curves of a 3M respirator so I could work out a glasses holder mod. I ended up just giving up and fashioning something out of sculpey.
It's not the first time Valve did that. The CAD files for Steam Deck were also released before. Expect to add them more with future hardware under: https://gitlab.steamos.cloud/SteamHardware/
I really wish every company would release models of their products.
Every fastener McMaster -Carr sells has a 3D CAD file...which helps them sell more.
I genuinely wish every online retail company was exactly like mcmaster carr in almost every way. The web site is god-teir. When I was a manufacturing engineer, I bought from them more often than grainger just because their web site was better.
I honestly think it should be mandatory. With online shopping these days, a customer should be able to see the exact dimensions of a product before they purchase it.
If you ever want to try again, you could try with photogrammetry.
If you've never heard of it, it uses multiple pictures of the same subject to produce a 3D model automatically. Here's a link to a video showing off Meshroom. The link jumps a few minutes into the video to show off the point cloud generated from the images.
https://youtu.be/yKbyVDK2Ep8?t=520
I can't speak for the quality of the video overall, but I do like this guy's channel. I have used Meshroom myself to genetate models. Note: it requires an Nvidia GPU. Although, I hear there's an AMD compatible fork called MeshroomCL.
One thing you need to worry about when doing photogrammetry is having a precise scale reference on the object. The software has no idea if you're taking pictures of a tiny elephant or a real elephant. So you need this scale reference on the object so you can precisely scale the object up or down later to have the real size. It can either be some feature on the object itself that you can measure very precisely, or you can tape a little printed ruler on the object (if there's a flat surface), or even just two marks that are a known distance apart. Basically put two tiny pen marks on the objects and then measure the straight line distance between them using digital calipers. The further apart they are, the better.
And then you can use normal 3D modeling software to use this generated object to make Boolean subtractions from some shape you made. This lets you 3D print an object that perfectly mates to the thing you scanned. However, the scanned object is often just an empty shell and you will have to give it some volume before you can use it for Boolean operations. I think I used Mesh Mixer for that.
In your example, you would have a model of the respirator, and you could use that to subtract from some eyeglass holder that you design, and then it would mate perfectly to your respirator. You could use glue or epoxy to attach the printed object to the respirator.
It's not sufficient for precise models. But, I did once use it to reconstruct a broken sculpture and 3D print the sculpture after I fixed it in Meshmixer.
Certainly precise enough to slap a doodad onto a respirator with some 3M VHB tape!
Steam released the CAD files of the Steam controller, on gitlab, under a creative Commons license !
I was on the edge about wanting to buy a steam controller but now definitely want one. I'll keep an eye open for when they are back in stock.
If I'm understanding correctly, it's a noncommercial variant, so if you use these files to design a custom replacement shell, you can't sell it, right? Seems understandable, but a bit of a shame.
If you are interested in creating a commercial product based on the Materials, please get in touch with Valve.
It's the second line of the license file. So the license does not automatically grant commercial right but they are addressing straight away that they are open to the idea.
I don't know in practice how easy it would be to get the right from Valve to commercialize a product derivated from these files.
IANAL but I believe that license only applies to the files not for products created with those files as those don‘t include the CAD files. But you are not allowed to sell derivative CAD models of those CAD models.
How long until someone adapts it into a sex toy?
Anything is a sex toy if you are brave enough
Flared base, body-safe materials...
self cleaning.
It already vibrates so
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