If your yard looked like my yard this fall, then this is the print for you! We have lots of oak trees bordering our yard that every few years just unload the acorns. The dog was eating them, they were shooting all over the place with the lawnmower, and in some spots it was like walking on marbles! Yeah, it was a lot…

I headed to the local hardware store, only to find that the nut collectors they had 2-weeks ago were sold out at this time. So I did what any hobbyist 3D printer would do and searched my favorite 3D print download sites for one, I couldn't find any… So I made one, and here it is.

This is a pretty straight forward print with really only a few parts that need printed. It will require a handle of some sort, I was able to find one in the broken handles section of my garage. It will also require some wire hangers, 36 of them to be exact. Once you have all the parts a little bit of assembly and you're in Nut Grabbin Mode!

For details on the assembly, print orientations, and some general background on this project be sure to check out the associated video I made on it. You can see what issues I ran into along the way so you don't make the same mistakes I did, LOL. Overall it came out GREAT! I couldn't be more impressed with how many nuts I was able to collect in such a short amount of time.

Best yet, now there is a nut collector on here for everyone to download :)

Check out the YouTube Video to see if this is the print for you, if you made it this far it probably is…

https://youtu.be/jfXBKu5OMf8

Model Files:

Bending Tool - Qty 1 Printed

End Hub - Qty 2 Printed

Frame - Qty 1 Printed

Hex Nut - Qty 2 Printed

Lock Cap - Qty 1 Printed

Shoulder Screw - Qty 2 Printed

Washer - Qty 2 Printed

Wedge - Qty 1 Printed

Handle - Qty 1 (Not Printed)

Hanger - Qty 36 (Not Printed)

Non Printed Parts:

Hanger - The hanger I used was the only wire hanger from Walmart I could find, it had a white coating on it. The diameter was 0.13" [3.3mm]. I bought (4) packs of (10) so I have 4 left over.

Handle - I (for some reason) have a pegboard hook in my garage filled with misplaced or broken handles. I was able to use a Libman brand metal handle which had a broken end (Bonus!!!). The handle was 0.85" [21.59mm] diameter. I'm sure that slightly smaller diameter or larger diameter would work. The bore in the frame for the handle is only 1.00" [25.4mm] diameter though, so it can't be bigger than that without some model rework.

Wrap Up:

The model I printed was done from all PLA materials, including the threaded parts.

Impressions: This assembly worked really well!

What I would change… maybe in the future I'd think about putting bearings in the axles, but it never broke or wore out in the time I used it. If this were more than just here and there around the yard, like for commercial nut collection, I'd definitely buy the right one from the store.

I hope you enjoy! Thanks for checking it out! If you like things like this be sure to check out the many other models I have here.