These 4 3D-printed desk tools solved problems my expensive purchases never could

Published Oct 2, 2026, 3:30 PM EDT Dhruv Bhutani has been writing about consumer technology since 2008, offering deep insights into the personal technology landscape through features and opinion pieces. He writes for XDA-Developers, where he focuses on topics like productivity, networking, self-hosting, and more. Over the years, his work has also appeared in leading publications such as Android Police, Android Authority, CNET, PCMag, and more. Outside of his professional work, Dhruv is an avid fan of horror media spanning films and literature, enjoys fitness activities, collects vinyl records, and plays the guitar. You can't be a tech enthusiast and not be interested in 3D printing. Recently, I picked up a Bambu Labs A2L printer, a little out of FOMO, but largely because I wanted to add one more tool to my tinkering hobby. While I'm yet to make headway on printing out parts for the hundreds of projects I've been dreaming up, I've certainly printed my fair share of desk toys, trinkets, and tools. Each of these solves a small or large annoyance in keeping my desk tidy. The goal here wasn't to replace everything on my desk with plastic. That wouldn't be feasible, and not every product is a good fit for 3D printing. Instead, I focused on printing products that needed customization or tweaks for my specific use case. Or products that didn't quite match my aesthetic, and that I wanted to make a bit more bespoke. Over time, most, if not all, of these products have become permanent parts of my desk setup, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Gridfinity My solution to desk clutter Calling Gridfinity a singular print would be doing it a disservice. It's much more than that. That said, I'd call it the most useful 3D printing project on my desk. The modular system is built around the concept of a standard grid, with bins, trays, and more fitting into a well-defined grid for better organization. Why is it my favorite? It brings order to my chaotic desk clutter. Desks collect things, and things don't always have a defined place to keep them. Think USB dongles, memory cards, cables, and other things you need often enough that putting them in a pouch or drawer wouldn't make sense every time. Gridfinity gives all those bits and bobs a defined place to live. I use different-sized bins depending on what I'm storing, and I even have custom-sized trays and dividers for things like air conditioner remotes or my television remote. Since it all fits on a grid, I can place it wherever I want, and it will never slide around. If one 3D print solves a problem every day, it has to be this project. Headphone stands and holders A hook for when I need to step away I've accumulated a bit of a headphone collection that I keep displayed on stands. I'm also a bit of a stickler for consistency. So, when I couldn't find the exact same stand that I was using earlier on, I decided to print out a series of stands that looked the same. Simple as that. Realistically, there's nothing special here. It is, after all, just a headphone stand. However, it gives me a consistent look on my table and shelves. Elsewhere, I've also printed out a desk hook for headphones. While I prefer to keep the headphones away on a stand, when I'm just getting up to grab a drink from the fridge, I prefer to chuck my headphones on a desk-clamp-style headphone stand. Easy to print, easy to use. Wrist rest A fully customized fit As someone who is glued to a desk for well over 12 hours a day, wrist aches are a given. Lately, I've been taking steps to reduce the impact of keeping my wrist at an unnatural angle all day. Before I ended up 3D printing a wrist rest for myself, I went the commercial route and picked up an option or two on Amazon. They were fine, but none really fit the curve of my wrist well. There had to be a better option. So, I decided to look up a model on Amazon and print it out instead. This mesh-style wrist rest has been an instant upgrade on my desk setup. Before printing it, I measured my wrist and adjusted the model by scaling it to fit me better. It's a small improvement that has genuinely alleviated almost all the wrist aches I used to feel over hours of use, and it simply wouldn't have been possible unless I printed the model. Controller stand A permanent home for my PS5 controller I keep a controller handy on my desk to jump into my favorite titles whenever I have downtime. But the problem with that is that when I'm not using the controller, I'm just shifting it from one side of the desk to another. I wanted it to have a permanent home. Unfortunately, most commercial solutions tend to be fairly bulky. When I came across this discreet controller stand design over at MakerWorld, I immediately printed it out. With the controller on the stand, it looks as if the controller is floating. I love the discreet look of the stand that basically disappears the moment you put the controller on it. Not only does it solve a problem, but it also looks cool while doing so. Win-win. Functional prints are the best prints Look, I've printed plenty of random things over the months I've had a 3D printer. Some were useful, some not. But the ones I've actually kept instead of tossing out were always the functional prints. 3D printing is a side benefit, not the reason I use them. These are products that solve everyday problems for me, which is why they've become my favorites. Bambu Labs A2L The Bambu A2L is a large-format bedslinger 3D printer capable of printing large volumes, and in multiple colors with AMS compatibility.