Thanks for the kind words everyone.
For those of you into 3d printing, I cannot stress enough how much more satisfying the hobby is when you start designing your own stuff. It took me a long time to get here but within a month of getting my first printer, I had designed and printed a Minimate compatible head. It's an easy start. For a basic head, you just need to subtract one cylinder from another. This is a pretty easy task to learn in any 3d software. The tool I use mostly is code based and free. You can get it at https://www.openscad.org.
The idea that I can visualize something and then have a workflow to make it a physical object just blows my mind sometimes. Here's an example of a simple Minimate style head in openscad. But it's easy enough to learn this technique in any 3d software. Google your tool of choice plus "boolean operation" and you'll find tutorials on how to add and subtract objects from each other.
Please note, // precedes a comment in the code. The rest of the line is ignored when running.
// $fn=X sets the number of facets for cylinders
// higher number = more detail but takes longer
$fn=100;
// difference means cut the subsequent objects
// from the first one
difference() {
// base head shape
cylinder(r=5.5, h=10, center=true);
// cut out smaller cylinder for peg hole
translate([0,0,-7])
cylinder(r=2.55,h=7);
}
Without all the commenting, it's quite simple
$fn=100;
difference() {
cylinder(r=5.5, h=10, center=true);
translate([0,0,-7])
cylinder(r=2.55,h=7);
}
PS In the sample above 'translate' means move in x,y,z coordinates. So the statement says move the second cylinder down 7mm before cutting it from the first one.