Sweeping 2-line name plate

A desktop nameplate, sweeping around in a circle. Customize it to show your name or text. 

To do that, use the makerworld customizer (fonts are only Arial currently) or install OpenSCAD on your own computer and follow the customizing instructions below or follow these in depth instructions.

In total more than 600 first names are included as STL and the following texts:

• Whatever it is, I'm against it
• Don't Panic!
• Flat is boring
• <- I'm with stupid
• Random plastic junk
• Please stop helping

Bugfix November 2023: Instagram logo renders now, thanks to Scabackel and others to report the issue.

Update October 2023: Per popular request (thanks to melzein for reminding me even with a full print), you can now set the font alignment (center, left, right) separately from the special characters. And you can have two special characters, on both sides at the same time. Please activate “textmetrics” in OpenSCAD to use the latest version!

Big update December 2022: Now you can add any emoji as special character on the side! Just use the customizer or use
    special_emoji="🎅"
Please make sure you installed the free noto emoji font from google and use the latest SCAD file.

Customizing

To configure, please:

• install the latest develop snapshot of OpenSCAD on your own computer 
• activate “textmetrics” via Edit → Preferences → Features → textmetrics
• 
• follow the detailed customizing instructions below or follow these in depth instructions.

Other models

If you need love-themed name plates, check out the 600 name plates with heart: 

Or the the 1200 name plates with the text “I love you…":

And a version saying Happy valentine's day: 

There is a more professional version available with 1250 names: 

And also a crazy version:

There are more configurable-text-based creations available, like multi-line label, gadget display stand, bunting banner, customizable text box III, pyramid text, name plate, Customizable text box with lid and round text. Have also a look at my configurable pack of dogs, rabbits, reindeers and santas. There are also useful coat hangers and finger toys.
Or just check out all my creations.

Detailed customizing instructions

Using the OpenSCAD customizer, you can customize (see also section below):

• You can add a big heart ♥, smiley ☺ or other special characters (†←→↑↓◄►♪♫☼♀♂♦♠♣∞#!?$%&*+@) now to the left or right of the text! And you can choose also special characters, like pen, clock, key, pin, star, gift, thumbs up, thumbs down, cogwheel, mail, cake, person, Instagram, cloud, book, speaking bubble, puzzle piece, shopping cart, cloud download, boarding pass, trashcan, circular arrows and many more.
• You can have 2 lines on top of each other (as requested by schoonke), or even 3 lines (as requested by blitza700). To configure, leave some "textstring" variables empty, and there will be less lines generated.
• You can add magnets, as requested by leostevo. You can select sizes like a Cube 10x1, Cylinder 8x3, Cylinder5x2.5, Cylinder8x1.7 or Cylinder12x2.5. Also you can embed them in your print by increasing magnet_closing_layer to 0.2mm, as requested by Mavi222, check out his make for more info.
• "HiddenText" and "HiddenTextSize" will generate text on the underside of the base of the nameplate. Use it for notes, dates, hidden messages, etc.
• The roundness: Set "faces_segment=2" to have a quick preview in the customizer on this webpage. Once all is OK, set "faces_segment=8" to make the final render.
• The shown text.
• You can set "Bold", "Italic", etc, for each line. It must be supported by the text you selected though. (e.g. Bangers does not support it)
• The font. Nice is e.g.: "Orbitron", "Bangers" or "Luckiest Guy". You can set all fonts (top line, bottom line and under-base-text) separately. By default, all are same as "fontname1".
• Each lines font size individually.
• The angle where the text is cut (lower angle will make printing easier)
• The distance between the lines
• The type of base (round, minimal_straight, pedestal, chamfered_rectangle, rectangle, rounded_rectangle). Thanks to rlsmith46 and bratoff for the idea. Use "minimal_straight" if you want to print the text face-down.
• Wether you want the text up (to put it onto a table, etc) or upside-down (e.g. to stick it on a wall)
• You can print caps for the text to glue them on top. Just set part_to_generate="text_caps". This was mrcpu's idea and request.
• You can add "swiss-cheese" holes in the base plate. This is an experimental feature for TheprofessorODK to add metal spikes to the model.

If you could take a picture of an actual print, please "comment" and attach the picture. - I am curious to see your uses in the wild!

If you like it, please have a look at all my customizable creations. There are configurable-text-based creations, multi-line label, gadget display stand, sweeping name plate, bunting banner, customizable text box III, pyramid text, name plate, Customizable text box with lid and round text. Have also a look at my configurable pack of dogs, rabbits, reindeers and santas. There are also useful coat hangers and finger toys.
Or just check out all my creations.

By the way, the quote "Whatever it is, I'm against it." is from a song by Groucho Marx in the movie 'Horse Feathers'.

• Thanks go out to constantmotion, DynoCZ, MrCharlie, Cowfeet, Mavi222, blitza700, Scorp62, melzein, GreggSanford and CoreyBorders for the great pictures of their prints.
• Thanks go to gaellafond for his excellent converter from SVG bezier curves to OpenSCAD which I used to add some more icons to the customizer.
• Thanks go to Lyle for a suggestion to use a module of thehans.
• Thanks to thehans for his module rotate_extrude2 which automatically uses the best way to rotate-extrude both in Thingiverse and if you use your own OpenSCAD installation.
• Thanks to Sergey Ershov for his multimedia icons etc which are used here. Also thanks to Oleg Turbaba for his iconoteka icons. Thanks go out to Instagram for their Glyph.
• Thanks to raulfragoso for the additional magnet sizes.
• Thanks go to bratoff for finding a bug!
• Thanks go to Hamish Trolove for the script to generate holes in a regular pattern.
• Thanks go to DomusNerd for pointing out a bug which prevented emojis to show up in Linux/Mac environments

Have fun!

Printing

You can print it without any support, as long as you leave the cut-angle below 90 degrees.
Standard settings will be fine, like infill of 20%, layer height of .2mm, 2 perimeters, 4 solid layers on top/bottom.

Upright print by MrCharlie: Octolapse

Here a video of DynoCZ's print: Timelapse movie

Customizing instructions

• Download latest version of OpenSCAD, (See section "Development snapshots" at (https://www.openscad.org/downloads.html) )
• If you want to use the latest Version “Centered_Sweeping_Name_Plate_VZZ__NeedsTextmetrics.scad”, please also activate “textmetrics” in OpenSCAD: Edit → Preferences → Features → textmetrics
• Download the .SCAD file from here.
• Open the .scad file in OpenSCAD.
• Change the variables to your liking:
  • In the OpenSCAD "View" menu, the option called [Hide customizer] must be unselected to display the customizer.
  • Alternatively, change variables in the code: You find the variables in the beginning of the .SCAD file. E.g. text="your text";
• For fonts:
  • Set the fontname (and ensure you have that font installed on your system): fontname="Bangers";
• Press "F5" to get a quick preview.
• Press "F6" when you like the preview. This will render the geometry and takes a little time.
• Press "F7" to save the geometry to an .STL file.
• Slice and print the .STL file.

Some Fixes if you have issues with OpenSCAD:
1) Your font of choice is not found by OpenSCAD on your PC.

• In case you miss some fonts in OpenSCAD, download them from google: http://www.google.com/fonts
• e.g. for "Bangers" here: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Bangers
• Install all the fonts you want to use. Then restart OpenSCAD.

2) OpenSCAD won't pick up newly installed fonts in C:/Windows/Fonts.

• In case new fonts are missing, put the font TTF files also in C:\Program Files/OpenSCAD/fonts/Liberation-2.00.1/ttf and restart OpenSCAD again.
• Alternatively, put them in C:\Program Files/OpenSCAD/fonts/Lib

Alternative Printing instructions

Here are helpful hints from MrCharlie for an alternative way to print, see also his make:

• Printing the letter faces flat on the build plate is a nice look. For this:
  • Make sure to make the base thicker and use the "minimal base", so set "round base" to "0".
  • Ensure the top text is not much wider than the bottom text.
  • There is still an overhang from the base which requires killer cooling/bridging ability or better toss some supports just under the base.
• If you are doing two lines somewhat close together, having a font where the P's etc don't drop below the line is best, use capitals if you have to. HOLTWOOD ONE, BOWLBY and LUCKIEST GUY are 3 fonts I know that do that.
• If you have a small print bed you can place this at 45 degrees to make the most of the build space.
• Printing time at .2 and 60-80 MM/s: A short name was 5 hours (for 140mm width). A very long name takes 15 hours (at 240mm).

Names included

Here I list all the Czech, German and English names availabe as STL files. The names are included here so people using this site find this print and the STL when searching for their name.

Aaron, Abigail, Adam, Adela, Adrian, Adrien, Agathe, Alan, Albert, Ales, Alex, Alexander, Alexandra, Alexandre, Alexia, Alexis, Alfred, Alice, Alicia, Amanda, Amandine, Amber, Amelie, Amy, Anais, Andre, Andrea, Andreas, Andrew, Aneta, Anette, Angela, Angelika, Anja, Anke, Ann, Anna, Anneliese, Annette, Anthony, Antje, Antoine, Arnaud, Arthur, Ashley, Astrid, Audrey, Aurelie, Aurelien, Aurore, Austin, Axel, Baptiste, Bara, Barbara, Bastien, Beate, Ben, Benjamin, Benoit, Bernd, Berndt, Bernhard, Bernt, Bettina, Betty, Beverly, Billy, Birgit, Björn, Bobby, Brandon, Brenda, Brian, Brigitte, Britta, Brittany, Bruce, Bryan, Bärbel, Camille, Carin, Carl, Carla, Carol, Caroline, Carolyn, Carsten, Catharina, Catherine, Cathrin, Catrin, Cecile, Cedric, Celia, Celine, Charles, Charlotte, Cheryl, Chiara, Chloe, Chris, Christa, Christel, Christian, Christiane, Christina, Christine, Christoph, Christopher, Claire, Clara, Claudia, Claus, Clemence, clement, Coline, Coralie, Corentin, Cornelia, Curt, Cynthia, Cyril, Dagmar, Damien, Daniel, Daniela, Danielle, David, Deborah, Debra, Denisa, Denise, Dennis, Detlef, Detlev, Diana, Diane, Dieter, Dirk, Dominick, Dominika, Donald, Donna, Dorian, Doris, Dorothy, Douglas, Dylan, Edith, Edward, Elena, Elfriede, Elias, Elijah, Elisa, Elisabeth, Elise, Eliska, Elizabeth, Elke, Ella, Ellie, Elodie, Elsa, Emeline, Emil, Emilia, Emilie, Emily, Emma, Enzo, Eric, Erica, Erich, Erika, Erna, Ernst, Erwan, Erwin, Estelle, Ethan, Eugene, Eva, Evelyn, Evzen, Fabien, Fanny, Filip, Finn, Florent, Florian, Frances, Francesco, Francois, Frank, Franz, Frida, Frieda, Friedrich, Fritz, Gabriel, Gabriele, Gaetan, Gary, Georg, George, Gerald, Gerd, Gerda, Gerhard, Gerhardt, Gert, Gertrud, Gisela, Gloria, Grace, Gregory, Gudrun, Guillaume, Günter, Günther, Hana, Hannah, Hannelore, Hans, Harald, Harold, Hartmut, Heather, Heidi, Heike, Heiko, Heinrich, Heinz, Helen, Helene, Helga, Helmut, Helmuth, Henry, Herbert, Hermann, Herta, Hertha, Hildegard, Holger, Honza, Horst, hugo, Ilse, Ines, Inge, Ingeborg, Ingo, Ingrid, Irmgard, Irmgart, Isabella, Ivonne, Jack, Jacob, Jacqueline, Jade, James, Jan, Jana, Janet, Janice, Jason, Jean, Jeanne, Jeffrey, Jennifer, Jens, Jeremy, Jerome, Jerry, Jesse, Jessica, Jirka, Jitka, Joachim, Joan, Joe, Joerg, Johann, Johanna, Johannes, John, Johnny, Jonathan, Jordan, Jose, Joseph, Joshua, Joyce, Juan, Judith, Judy, Julia, Julie, Julien, Juliette, Justin, Justine, Jutta, Jörg, Jörn, Jürgen, Kai, Karel, Karen, Karin, Karl, Karolina, Karsten, Katarina, Kate, Katharina, Katherine, Kathleen, Kathrin, Kathryn, Katie, Katja, Katrin, Katrina, Kayla, Keith, Kelly, Kenneth, Kerstin, Kevin, Kimberly, Kirsten, Klara, Klaudia, Klaus, Krista, Kristian, Kristina, Kristine, Kuba, Kurt, Kyle, Käte, Käthe, Laetitia, Larry, Lars, Laura, Lauren, Laurie, Laurine, Lawrence, Lea, Lena, Lenka, Leo, Leon, Liam, Lieselotte, Lina, Linda, Lisa, Logan, Loic, Lola, Lothar, Lou, Louis, Louise, Luca, lucas, Lucie, Lucy, Lukas, Madison, Maelle, Maeva, Maik, Maike, Manfred, Manon, Manuela, Marc, Marcel, Marco, Marcus, Marek, Maren, Margaret, Margarete, Margarethe, Margaux, Margot, Maria, Marianne, Marie, Marilyn, Marina, Marine, Mario, Marion, Mark, Marketa, Marko, Markus, Marlies, Marlis, Marta, Martha, Martin, Martina, Mary, Mathew, Mathias, Mathieu, Mathilde, Mathis, Matteo, Matthew, Matthias, Matthieu, Max, Maxence, Maxime, Megan, Mehdi, Meik, Meike, Melanie, Melissa, Mia, Michael, Michaela, Michal, Michelle, Mickael, Mike, Mila, Mohamed, Monica, Monika, Morgane, Nadin, Nadine, Nancy, Natalie, Nathan, Nicholas, nicolas, Nicole, Niels, Nikol, Nils, Nina, Noah, Noemie, Norbert, Oceane, Olaf, Oliver, Olivia, Ondra, Ophelie, Otto, Pamela, Patricia, Patrick, Paul, Pauline, Pavel, Pavlina, Peter, Petra, Philip, Philipp, Phillip, Phillipp, Pierre, Quentin, Rachel, Radek, Rainer, Ralf, Ralph, Randy, Raphael, Raymond, Rebecca, Regina, Reiner, Reinhardt, Remi, Renate, Rene, Richard, Rita, Robert, Robin, Roger, Rolf, Romain, Romane, Ronald, Rose, Rosemarie, Roy, Rudolf, Rudolph, Russell, Ruth, Ryan, Rüdiger, Sabine, Salome, Sam, Samantha, Samuel, Sandra, Sara, Sarah, Scott, Sean, Sebastian, Sebastien, Sharon, Shirley, Siegfried, Sigrid, Silke, Silvia, Simon, Simona, Sofia, Solene , Sonja, Sophia, Sophie, Stefan, Stefanie, Stephan, Stephanie, Stephen, Steven, Susan, Susanne, Sven, Swen, Sylvia, Tanja, Teresa, Terry, Theo, Theresa, Thibault, Thibaut, Thomas, Thorsten, Tim, Timm, Timothy, Tobias, Tom, Tomas, Tony, Torsten, Tristan, Tyler, Ulrich, Ulrike, Ursula, Ute, Uwe, Valentin, Valentine, Veronica, Victor, Victoria, Vincent, Virginia, Vojtech, Volker, Walter, Walther, Waltraud, Wayne, Werner, Wilfried, Wilhelm, Willi, William, Willie, Willy, Wolfgang, Yann, Yvonne, Zachary, Zoe, Zuzana.