I’m angry, folks. This could have been avoided! Why in the world are so few manufacturers utilizing the six hole this year?! We haven’t had an easy opportunity like this since 2020, and we won’t get another until 2028. Wake up, people!
In retaliation, I personally designed a duotone 3D file that can be printed at home without an AMS, without any screws, and will make anyone who wears them the coolest cat at their New Year’s party. I’m even giving away the STL files to you HIVE readers so you, too, can print these for free! In order to receive the code, though, you’ll need to read through the ramblings and musings of one “blue_awning”, self-proclaimed Expert on Number-Based Novelty Fashionwear for the Eyes.
(Please include my official expertise when quoting this incredibly insightful blog, thank you very much.)
I was hopeful to publish this earlier in the week so there would be more time for everyone to download and print their own pair, but alas, Time is a real jerk.
Man Stresses Himself Out Over Self-Imposed Deadlines
What a whirlwind the past few weeks have been! We’re fast approaching the end of the year and I am not much closer to getting my ducks in a row when it comes to launching this new business venture. I’m making slow progress, chipping away at pieces of the towering wall standing before me with the fleeting scraps of time I manage to find while juggling family, our home, and the holidays. I also promised myself and all of you a blog chronicling these events, so here’s a brief update!
Setting up my shop deserves a post in itself. There are SO MANY PIECES! Eventually, when the shop is fully furnished, I’ll be sure to make a retrospective including the full conversion from “neglected outdoor storage shed” to “Blue Autumn Studio HQ” with full power and internet.
A few weeks ago I streamed on Twitch for the first time in months to share my big midlife career aspirations with my lovely community. This year has been quite cursed on many personal levels, but one constant in my life that always brings joy is the group of friends I made streaming over these past few years. While I only managed to broadcast less than twenty times in 2025, everyone came out to show encouragement and love for the new venture.
The streams were typical “blue_awning chaos” but with an added caveat: 7 cameras at multiple angles with varying delays. It brought the chaos to a whole new unexplored level. The goal of the stream was simple: unbox my new printers!
New and Used
The printers I purchased were a mix of new and refurbished. I have a lot of information to share about the state of refurbished Bambu products but that’s a story for another time.
Spoiler alert: It’s surprisingly positive!
Once my shop was furnished with printers, I needed a model to test the production line. I started with my main product which is set to launch in 2026. Testing went well, but I was struck with inspiration while I was out holiday shopping for the family.
One of the most wasteful traditions we have here in the Capitalism Corral known as the USA is the mass-production of awful New Years glasses. As a (begrudgingly) consumerist citizen I make sure to buy some for my family every year. Even with my lowest expectations, the 2026 glasses I’ve seen in the stores managed to infuriate me to the point of taking action.
What even is this?
20026? 20260? A hole in the middle of the two?
Why isn’t anyone using the six for the other eyehole?
WHAT IS GOING ON IN THIS WORLD?!
Designers of the world, we haven’t had an opportunity like this since 2020! We won’t be getting another chance like this until 2028. Take advantage of the times, people! USE THE SIX HOLE!
I couldn’t sit around with all of my knowledge and let this opportunity go to waste. I’ve got the tools. Not necessarily the time, but certainly the gusto.
When someone has this much on their plate already, wouldn’t it be foolish to divert their attention further by adding yet another new project to the mix?
Blue “Foolish” Awning Presents: 3D-Printed Multicolor New Years Glasses, No AMS or Screws Required!
I’ve never designed eyeglasses before, but I’ve worn them enough to understand the concepts. Fueled by the inherent rage of wasted opportunities and a 24 ounce mug of coffee, I wielded my calipers and thrust them toward my face, measuring the distance from one viewpoint to the other. From there, I measured from my eye to the edge of my head, to the place I expected the arms to protrude from the back of the frames.
I opened my CAD software and drew two ovals based on my measurements to represent the ‘zero’ and the ‘six’ hole. I connected the holes with an arced bridge which will be supportive of all types of schnoz. Big honkers, little sniffers, you name it and these should fit. After that, I doodled until I was happy with the style of the ‘six’, then threw lines at the screen until I was satisfied with my ‘two’. I didn’t want to use any established fonts or AI. I wanted to make sure the files were uniquely mine, an important requirement for all products I plan to list in my store.
Finally, I added an exclamation mark on the side to give the overall design a sense of balance. Pleased with the style, I added an outline to the edges to give it a little more visual interest. I printed my first prototype and was generally happy with the result! There was room for improvement, but I knew the most important piece of the puzzle was solved. The six hole was fully operational!
Making the Glasses Functional
The next step was to attach the arms. My initial duotone design required the frames to be printed face-up because the color extrusions happen near the top layer. If I tried to add hinges to the back, the frames would need substantial supports in order to print successfully, which leads to ugly finishes and substandard build strength.
I wanted to make this model as universal as possible, so I opted to design everything for the most common users: 0.4 mm nozzle and a 0.2 mm layer height (the plug-and-play default). I tried to print a hinge inset within the base of the frames, but the measurements were too small for a 0.4 mm nozzle to print cleanly.
Ultimately I decided to redesign the duotone style so the frames could be printed face-down with the hinges protruding from the back. To do this, I inverted the color extrusion to give the frames a debossed look. This way when someone prints the frames, they don’t even need an AMS to get a high quality multicolor print. You can set the slicer to manually change colors at a certain layer, eliminating the waste from unnecessary filament flushes and removing the need for a prime tower or an AMS! I made a quick tutorial demonstrating how it works.
Along with the color redesign and the addition of the hinges, I also increased the overall size to balance the weight as it sits on the face. I explored the option of a print-in-place hinge, too, but ultimately it was too brittle to print pre-attached to the frames. I’ll be going deeper into print orientation and layer strength in a future post. For now just know, it wasn’t worth the effort for a disposable novelty.
So how will the arms attach to the glasses, Blue? You have me printing them separate from the frames and expect me to have eyeglass screws to assemble them?! I don’t just keep tiny screws sitting around the house, Blue!!
Well, my overzealous rhetorical friend, let me tell you why these glasses are special! I designed the hinge knuckle with a 1.9 mm diameter which means you have the option to either use a standard 10mm M2 screw like regular glasses OR you can simply use some raw filament as the pin.
Most manufacturers of 3D printing filament these days produce and spool their filament with a 1.75mm standard diameter. That means these glasses don’t need any hardware at all! You simply place the arms in the hinge, stick raw filament directly from your spool through the knuckle, and snip! I made a video to demonstrate.
I designed this with enough tension so the pin should never fall out on its own as long as the model was printed using a standard 0.4 mm nozzle. Folks using a more precise 0.2 mm nozzle may notice the filament slipping, in which case I would recommend heating a screwdriver or soldering iron to fuse the bottom of the pin to the frame. In all my testing this hadn’t been necessary, but different climates and conditions may have an impact.
Ultimately I was very happy with the final outcome of these glasses. I printed enough for family and friends who, similarly, were disturbed and enraged by the terrible 2026 designs they had been seeing. I understand that next year will be a challenge for these glasses designers, the seven is a tricky digit to wear. But come on, people. 2026 was handed to us on a silver platter, yet by and large we failed the assignment.
Better Late Than Never!
I know this is quite late for me to post, it was nearly a retrospective instead, but I wanted to offer this model for free to fellow HIVE readers. There is still plenty of time in the USA to download and print these glasses yourself, but I understand internationally that may not be possible. To those I say, "Happy New Year, time traveler! How's 2026 looking from the future?"
For those that still have time, you can head to my unfurnished barebones Shopify site at https://www.blueautumnstudio.com to claim your free copy of the model! Use the discount code SIXHOLE to get them 100% off. I’ll be de-listing this and returning my shop to the “dust and cobwebs” starter mode at the end of the night so grab them quick! The store will be empty for a few weeks while I finish setting everything up in the new year.
I’ll be back soon with more posts. One of my resolutions is to try to post an update each week in 2026. That’s over fifty posts! My community on Twitch knows all about my empty promises, but I’m still new on HIVE. There’s still enough reasonable doubt here for you to believe I’ll keep up with that consistency!
I’d like to wish almost all of you a very happy and healthy 2026 New Year!! But to those designers that had the audacity to perpetrate glasses designs that don’t utilize the Six Hole, I wish you a slightly less happy 2026 New Year and the haunting knowledge that you have been judged on a global scale. Don’t make the same mistake in 2028!!
Much love, all. Happy New Year!
My welcome post can be found by clicking here!
Socials are still being built. Starting a business is hard!
The ones currently available are here: https://linktr.ee/blueautumnstudio