Tis the season for the Christmas Community Print Drive. 2024 marks the fourth year of the 3D printed toy drive organized by Loyal Moses and his family. Several designers create new, theme-specific, free models for the community to print and send to the Loyal Moses for inspection, sorting, and packaging in sets each year. The toys are then distributed to children throughout the United States and several other countries, and they receive them at no cost to their families. For many recipients, these are the only Christmas presents they may receive.
I learned about the Christmas Community Print Drive through my online activity with the 3D printing community. It was a spark of joy and a new way to connect with the world. And it meant more 3D printing! In this ever-expanding guide, we will feature remarkable highlights and design themes.
Table Of Contents
- About Christmas Community Print Drive
- How to Participate
- Highlights 2024 – Design Theme: City
- Highlights 2023 – Design Theme: Pirates
- Highlights 2022 – Design Theme: Space
- Highlights 2021 – Design Theme: Farm
- Conclusion and Extra Links
About Christmas Community Print Drive
Christmas Community Print Drive is a crowd-sourced 3D printing community effort to design, print and ship fun, family-friendly, safe and inspiring 3D printed toys to children and families in-need all over the world!
About the Models and How to Participate
Each year, designers create kid-friendly models that are easy to print without support and generally unbreakable if printed within certain settings guidelines. Toys are fun, imaginative, and representational. There are no boundaries to colours, filament swaps, and slicer ‘painting’ to add even more variety and allow folks printing to put their own creative spin on the final products.
Visit the official website for more details and printing guidelines. Follow Loyal Moses on X/Twitter and tune in to his show on Twitch during his live streams.
Highlights 2024 – Model Theme: City
The 2024 Print Drive has a ‘City’ theme. With over 40 designs to choose from, anyone who enjoys 3D printing is welcome to contribute! New in 2024 is that Polymaker has become a HUGE sponsor for the Print Drive by providing thousands of spools of filament for Loyal Moses to give away to anyone who wants to print.
As a result, the Loyal Moses family made stops in several cities along the way, giving away boxes and boxes of filament while encouraging people to print for the toy drive. Additional pallets of filament were shipped to cities around the U.S. for free distribution. Loyal Moses regularly gives away spools during his Twitch streams. Anyone may enter the draw via the live chat! Polymaker also provides staff to process printed toys and manage logistics. In 2023, over 20,000 toys were sent out, and folks involved expect to far exceed that this year.
Photo: Loyal Moses
My Involvement and Contribution
I was so pleased in 2024 that the ‘City’ theme was announced at the beginning of summer. With the end of the school year behind me, I created a flurry of designs! It was fun trying some new techniques while still working within the constraints of the print drive guidelines. Seeing what I am creating now while reflecting on the previous Christmas Community Print Drives shows me how much participating in the Print Drive project has helped me grow as a designer and as a maker.
3D Models on Cults
Print and Photo: Abby Brown
I look forward to continuing this journey. Here is the 2024 collection that can be found on Printables and MakerWorld.
Highlights 2023 – Model Theme: Pirates
In 2023, I had been on a break from designing and printing with the beginning of the school year. My family attended the trade show Maker Faire in a neighboring county, and it reminded me to check whether the Christmas Community Print Drive theme was announced. Pirates! During the entire drive home, we talked about ideas, and I sketched out some designs, including the Treasure Map Toy. We had a lot of fun with these. Placing a map in one hand and spyglass in the other immediately kindles the imagination.
Print and Photo: Abby Brown
In 2023, 20,098 toys were printed, and 1,803 gifts were delivered.
Here is the CCPD 2023 collection that can be found on Printables.
Highlights 2022 – Model Theme: Space
For the space theme in 2022 I was excited to contribute a few of my own designs and proud that I was doing better with interesting features that don’t require supports. It was thrilling to see my planets and radio towers printed by other people and to know they were going to a good cause. We printed a LOT of planets in 2022!
Print and Photo: Abby Brown
Here is the CCPD 2022 collection that can be found on Printables.
Highlights 2022 – Model Theme: Farm
Fall 2021 was a tough semester of teaching as my high school students were readjusting to being on campus after a year of distance learning. Everyone was still wearing masks, and personal interaction remained limited. Through my online activity with the 3D printing community, I learned about the Christmas Community Print Drive. It was a spark of joy and a new way to connect with the world. And it meant more 3D printing!
Print and Photo: Abby Brown
By the time I started, the farm-theme designs had already been set, so the printing spree was on! Printing other people’s models taught me a lot about designing for 3D printing and for printing without supports. Participating was fun for the whole family. My kids assisted with choosing colors and which animals, vehicles, or structures to print next. Later, they helped with the sorting, counting, and packaging for shipping. Even now, they handle the toys with care and comment on how much joy they will bring to other children who don’t have as much as they do.
Conclusion
I hope this ever-expanding guide to the Christmas Community Print Drive gives you a clear idea of what’s involved. Big kudos to Loyal Moses and his family for keeping this project going year after year. I am thrilled to see its growth.
Find more details, printing guidelines and shipment information on thelmshow.com.
Find Loyal Moses:
https://linktr.ee/loyalmoses
The models featured in this guide are available on Cults and other websites for free or for a small fee.
Abby! What a wonderfully well-written article, and thank you so much for always being so willing to contribute your talents and share our print drive with the world! This is our 4th year, and putting safe, fun toys in the hands of children and families in-need really means a lot to us—we are quite literally changing the world with our little 3D printers.