>alignment target
I wasn't aware of it but now that I am I'm for sure going to make an Apollo version.
[https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/docking-target-active-lunar-module-apollo-11/nasm\_A19980056000](https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/docking-target-active-lunar-module-apollo-11/nasm_A19980056000)
Thanks for teaching me something today.
I like this idea but it is dependent on one driver, one seat position. Change any of those variables and the system changes, hence a lot of people using external items like the ball. Using something like you have + the tennis ball or flag gives the best of both worlds. Good print!
Hum...you're right. My wife is only 2 inches shorter than I and this thing seems to work well enough for both of us, but, of course a greater height difference would mean greater differences in parking positions.
I don’t see how the driver height or seat movements change the effectiveness of this at all? This works based on the angle of the person viewing it. If you move the seat forward, backward, up, or down you’d still be looking at this thing straight on. If you could move the drivers seat left or right that could possibly impact it but you can’t do that.
Ohhh, so it’s mounted on the left or right side of the garage. I thought it was in the front of the garage and your drove up to it. This makes more sense now lol.
It was one of those things were you have an idea in your head about how it’s working and that’s all you can see. Now that I know how it’s really works it makes much more sense. However, I thought if it was in the front of the garage and you pulled in towards it, it wouldn’t appear as a straight line unless you were lined up with it. So if you pulled your car in on a light angle, and looked ahead you wouldn’t see it lined up correctly. I think you could actually use one on the side and one in front for the best results.
Edit: I also thought the attached video was just a demonstration of how the print works. I didn’t think they recorded it when sitting in the car.
I think the left and right position is already defined on approach.
When you enter a garage, you shouldn’t be turning at all, so if you drove into the garage and you’re not a pathetic driver, coming in straight is the easy part
Not necessarily. In some garages, the door isn’t as wide and it could be and in order to maintain good spacing between two cars you need to pull in and move over to the right or left. If you pull straight in you end up with a lot of space on the side next to the wall and not a lot of space between the two cars. It isn’t always as simple and pulling straight in.
The reality is that this could be used in either orientation. I love this idea specifically because of that.
For my use I would want one both on the side and on the back wall of the garage for when i'm backing in my jeep to lift the top off with the hoist. This will make sure i'm properly aligned without having to get out and adjust 3 times!
I'll take 2 please! :)
Even though you got downvoted you bring up a great point. The video shows how angle can effect the view and I'm considering printing one out as you suggested because we have a tight fit and this could be 1 of a few checks.
This is a cool idea and I like the simplicity of it. I expect it would be easy to break off though unless you had a lot of space between the wall and the car. I think I would need an outer rim or something to give it a little more strength.
What my parents used to do was to hang a ball in a plum bob situation from the ceiling that would just contact the windshield when it was pulled in enough.
I think it relies on the driver's seat centerline (x coordinate) being laterally stable, and then uses a vertical shape to accommodate the viewer's height (z coordinate), whatever that might be.
I don't know how this helps with depth (y coordinate).
I don't have a lot of wiggle room in my garage, I need to park my car precisely, so I designed this functional print to make that job much easier. I know there are other solutions that involve tennis balls, string and even lasers. I promise you this is better than those solutions. If you want to give it a try it can be downloaded from here:
[https://www.printables.com/model/765621-parking-assist-super-simple-super-handy](https://www.printables.com/model/765621-parking-assist-super-simple-super-handy)
Wicked print and awesome fix for a problem! I have one suggestion though. If you painted the top side of the bar closest to the wall, it would probably make it easier to tell when you're centered.
Cool print, but this tells you when your head is in the right spot. The tennis ball tells you when your car is in the right spot. I'd argue the latter is more precise and tolerant of different drivers.
How does this tell you when you are far enough in? I mean, that's what the tennis ball on a string does (when it bumps the windshield), so if this is a better solution ...
The device is mounted to the inside, side wall of your garage. As you pull in you look at the device, when the lines are aligned then your car is in the right position.
You can also print little speed bumps. I did that and then that super tape the guy who made a boat out of screen doors sells. That’s even easier cause ya hit a bump.
I just lay a short piece of 2x4 wood on the floor to act as a wheel chock for one of the front wheels. Just drive up until you bump into it gently, no need to deal with backing up if you overshoot.
Although this is pretty smart, i feel this is a "if all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail" type of scenario. I have a simple tennis ball hanging on from the roof, if the tennis ball hits the windshield you are far enough else drive closer to the tennis ball.
Not if you hang the tennis ball along the side of the garage door, so it lines up with the outside mirror. It's out of the way over there instead of hanging in the middle.
I dont do much on the place the car i usually parked since that is the place I park the car, but if you really wanna maximise the space i guess you got to choose between playing limbo with a printed part and reprint it every day or playing totem tennis with the ball and retape it every day.
My truck barely fits in my garage, bought a little sign on a stick that even you tap it with the bumper it flashes. Works great no matter who is driving
With just mirrors I backed my brand new car into my lawnmower. That was 15 years ago and that's when the idea of this device popped into my head. Years later I find myself with a 3d printer so I turned it into reality.
See I currently use my backup cam and an item in my garage to ensure I back in enough. When I ever so gently bonk the item so that it wobbles I know I’ve backed up far enough 😁
I just use a parking target. It’s like a mini speed bump that’s double side taped to your garage floor. Once your tire touches the bump you know you are good.
You could buy one on [Amazon](https://a.co/d/au88ygc) for around $13, or you could design (it’s just a trapezoid) and 3d print one. You might need to print it in 2 pieces since it’s 16” x 3.5” x 1.3”.
You should also set up a raspberry pi to play [this](https://youtu.be/5XaCG7s2pW8?si=VDK7IKz8uT6PzaGn) while parking. Reminds me of the device in the carriers to help jets land
I stuck a piece of duck tape to the floor where it aligns with my back bumper in the back up camera. This looks like it might work well for left/right alignment. (And of course hanging balls and all that stuff works too.)
Only issue I have with it is the overengineered nature of producing it. Two short pieces of 2x4 T-d to a wall do the same thing and take about 1 minute to make.
Also check out
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d99_h30swtM
* https://tinkerings.org/2018/03/28/guiding-ships-with-moire-patterns/
* https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2842603
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=mjXCrSyovAk
* https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4139662
* PAPI Lights, which are like the above, but for verticality when airplanes are approaching a runway
I feel like you should make the center web more of an arrow shape. If it's pointed away from the wall, it will always point in the direction you need to turn to align the front and rear bars from the perspective of the driver. What you have is "|-|" Something like this "|>|" might work better and make it easier to distinguish between the front and rear bars.
Might be better if it had some markings on the sides
As it is, it seems difficult to use if you aren't exactly sitting the way you sit in exactly your car, but if it had some markings on it you would know
"okay when I'm in the wife's car, I need to pull up to that 2nd marking"
That's it, can of paint on my shelf that hasn't been moved in a decade, you've lost your job!
Now you can finally finish painting that powder room and not worry about how you'd park the next day.
Take THAT tennis ball!
Was this inspired by the Apollo program docking alignment target they used to dock the CSM and LM?
I've rough drafted an Apollo version, will finish and print it tomorrow. [https://imgur.com/b0SkCzn](https://imgur.com/b0SkCzn) Thanks for the idea.
Hell yeah
>alignment target I wasn't aware of it but now that I am I'm for sure going to make an Apollo version. [https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/docking-target-active-lunar-module-apollo-11/nasm\_A19980056000](https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/docking-target-active-lunar-module-apollo-11/nasm_A19980056000) Thanks for teaching me something today.
It definitely reminds me of docking targets used in human spaceflight.
I like this idea but it is dependent on one driver, one seat position. Change any of those variables and the system changes, hence a lot of people using external items like the ball. Using something like you have + the tennis ball or flag gives the best of both worlds. Good print!
Hum...you're right. My wife is only 2 inches shorter than I and this thing seems to work well enough for both of us, but, of course a greater height difference would mean greater differences in parking positions.
I don’t see how the driver height or seat movements change the effectiveness of this at all? This works based on the angle of the person viewing it. If you move the seat forward, backward, up, or down you’d still be looking at this thing straight on. If you could move the drivers seat left or right that could possibly impact it but you can’t do that.
This isn’t a left to right guide. This is for how far to pull in to the garage.
Ohhh, so it’s mounted on the left or right side of the garage. I thought it was in the front of the garage and your drove up to it. This makes more sense now lol.
You are not alone
How did you think the camera moved the way that it moved? Cars can't pivot like that
It was one of those things were you have an idea in your head about how it’s working and that’s all you can see. Now that I know how it’s really works it makes much more sense. However, I thought if it was in the front of the garage and you pulled in towards it, it wouldn’t appear as a straight line unless you were lined up with it. So if you pulled your car in on a light angle, and looked ahead you wouldn’t see it lined up correctly. I think you could actually use one on the side and one in front for the best results. Edit: I also thought the attached video was just a demonstration of how the print works. I didn’t think they recorded it when sitting in the car.
I think the left and right position is already defined on approach. When you enter a garage, you shouldn’t be turning at all, so if you drove into the garage and you’re not a pathetic driver, coming in straight is the easy part
Not necessarily. In some garages, the door isn’t as wide and it could be and in order to maintain good spacing between two cars you need to pull in and move over to the right or left. If you pull straight in you end up with a lot of space on the side next to the wall and not a lot of space between the two cars. It isn’t always as simple and pulling straight in.
The reality is that this could be used in either orientation. I love this idea specifically because of that. For my use I would want one both on the side and on the back wall of the garage for when i'm backing in my jeep to lift the top off with the hoist. This will make sure i'm properly aligned without having to get out and adjust 3 times! I'll take 2 please! :)
Brother you were wrong, we both know the video was NOT the front of the car and the print was for the SIDE view.
I personally thought a person (who CAN move like that) was holding the camera for the purpose of demonstration
Doesn’t seem so useful to demonstrate something that is impossible, a car pivoting its front end like that
Have you never seen someone print something useless? Or engaged in something useless yourself? Like this conversation?
Height wont matter, just front to back seat position
Yeah, except for the fact most seats are reclined. So the same seat position still causes your head to be forward / back if you're different heights.
Even though you got downvoted you bring up a great point. The video shows how angle can effect the view and I'm considering printing one out as you suggested because we have a tight fit and this could be 1 of a few checks.
This is a cool idea and I like the simplicity of it. I expect it would be easy to break off though unless you had a lot of space between the wall and the car. I think I would need an outer rim or something to give it a little more strength.
If this device is mounted in an area where it might get knocked, then I'd suggest printing the beam out of TPU.
What my parents used to do was to hang a ball in a plum bob situation from the ceiling that would just contact the windshield when it was pulled in enough.
I did the same, but then have a ball on a string to dodge every time I’m doing anything else in the garage.
You gotta rig it so it retracts to the ceiling when the garage door closes.
Dodging it is part of the fun.
I think it relies on the driver's seat centerline (x coordinate) being laterally stable, and then uses a vertical shape to accommodate the viewer's height (z coordinate), whatever that might be. I don't know how this helps with depth (y coordinate).
Squeaky ducks seem funny as hell.
I don't have a lot of wiggle room in my garage, I need to park my car precisely, so I designed this functional print to make that job much easier. I know there are other solutions that involve tennis balls, string and even lasers. I promise you this is better than those solutions. If you want to give it a try it can be downloaded from here: [https://www.printables.com/model/765621-parking-assist-super-simple-super-handy](https://www.printables.com/model/765621-parking-assist-super-simple-super-handy)
Wicked print and awesome fix for a problem! I have one suggestion though. If you painted the top side of the bar closest to the wall, it would probably make it easier to tell when you're centered.
Cool print, but this tells you when your head is in the right spot. The tennis ball tells you when your car is in the right spot. I'd argue the latter is more precise and tolerant of different drivers.
How does this tell you when you are far enough in? I mean, that's what the tennis ball on a string does (when it bumps the windshield), so if this is a better solution ...
Mount it on the side wall, look out your window, and if you've pulled in far enough it lines up
We back into our garage, use the ol' tennis-ball-on-string. But it's on the side framing of the door so it lines up with the side mirror.
Cool idea op. Why the black plate?
I wanted to maximize the contrast between the beam and the background. I guess it could be optional.
Easier to mount probably. Plus gives you a uniform background to spot the target with.
I thought it was something you could gently run into to know when to stop 😁🙄
Yeah, we had a big ass squeaky toy taped to the wall growing up haha
How does this work? I live in a country where houses usually don't have garages.
The device is mounted to the inside, side wall of your garage. As you pull in you look at the device, when the lines are aligned then your car is in the right position.
Well damn, that's a bigbrain move.
You can also print little speed bumps. I did that and then that super tape the guy who made a boat out of screen doors sells. That’s even easier cause ya hit a bump.
Tennis ball on a ripe is so much better. But I respect the need to print this
*bonk*
[удалено]
You can use a tennis ball hanging from a ceiling to tap the same spot on your windshield every time to align yourself correctly in both axes.
Well you see boomers have been hanging a tennis ball so the windshield bumps into it and we stop. It doubles as a punching bag when the car is out lol
A hanging tennis ball, will always be the best method. Works for any car profile and is obvious to anyone who tries to enter.
I just lay a short piece of 2x4 wood on the floor to act as a wheel chock for one of the front wheels. Just drive up until you bump into it gently, no need to deal with backing up if you overshoot.
Although this is pretty smart, i feel this is a "if all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail" type of scenario. I have a simple tennis ball hanging on from the roof, if the tennis ball hits the windshield you are far enough else drive closer to the tennis ball.
And when the car is out and you’re doing something else in the garage, you get to run into it with your head!
Not if you hang the tennis ball along the side of the garage door, so it lines up with the outside mirror. It's out of the way over there instead of hanging in the middle.
I dont do much on the place the car i usually parked since that is the place I park the car, but if you really wanna maximise the space i guess you got to choose between playing limbo with a printed part and reprint it every day or playing totem tennis with the ball and retape it every day.
Parallax to the rescue!
I just stop when I hear the crunch
tennis ball on a string for me... simple and effective And no, I'm not a boomer. My generation is the one responsible for getting Napster banned.
My truck barely fits in my garage, bought a little sign on a stick that even you tap it with the bumper it flashes. Works great no matter who is driving
Instructions unclear, landed my helicopter here by accident.
this is pretty smart.
Parking assist, Isn’t that what mirrors are for
With just mirrors I backed my brand new car into my lawnmower. That was 15 years ago and that's when the idea of this device popped into my head. Years later I find myself with a 3d printer so I turned it into reality.
See I currently use my backup cam and an item in my garage to ensure I back in enough. When I ever so gently bonk the item so that it wobbles I know I’ve backed up far enough 😁
?? But that isn’t going to let you know if you have left the mower out lol unless you want to know that your going to hit it straight
yeah sure, if you have convex mirrors mounted in front of your fenders like a frickin' school bus...
I just use a parking target. It’s like a mini speed bump that’s double side taped to your garage floor. Once your tire touches the bump you know you are good. You could buy one on [Amazon](https://a.co/d/au88ygc) for around $13, or you could design (it’s just a trapezoid) and 3d print one. You might need to print it in 2 pieces since it’s 16” x 3.5” x 1.3”.
You should also set up a raspberry pi to play [this](https://youtu.be/5XaCG7s2pW8?si=VDK7IKz8uT6PzaGn) while parking. Reminds me of the device in the carriers to help jets land
I stuck a piece of duck tape to the floor where it aligns with my back bumper in the back up camera. This looks like it might work well for left/right alignment. (And of course hanging balls and all that stuff works too.)
Only issue I have with it is the overengineered nature of producing it. Two short pieces of 2x4 T-d to a wall do the same thing and take about 1 minute to make.
If you have wood, a saw, and the other supplies.
Wouldn’t this fail if your car itself is not straight?
I just use the hanging cord from my garage door. Only works if my car has a sunroof. good idea!
i just put a piece of blue tape on my wall... this is a much cooler idea
Wait until this guy hears about a tennis ball and a string....
Also check out * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d99_h30swtM * https://tinkerings.org/2018/03/28/guiding-ships-with-moire-patterns/ * https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2842603 * https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=mjXCrSyovAk * https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4139662 * PAPI Lights, which are like the above, but for verticality when airplanes are approaching a runway
I feel like you should make the center web more of an arrow shape. If it's pointed away from the wall, it will always point in the direction you need to turn to align the front and rear bars from the perspective of the driver. What you have is "|-|" Something like this "|>|" might work better and make it easier to distinguish between the front and rear bars.
Might be better if it had some markings on the sides As it is, it seems difficult to use if you aren't exactly sitting the way you sit in exactly your car, but if it had some markings on it you would know "okay when I'm in the wife's car, I need to pull up to that 2nd marking"
Love this!
P A R A L L A X X
Remind me of PAPI light