Thought I'd post in this thread to not clutter up another one.

I bought a new front shift (my old one had a bad spring so it needed to be changed regardless of what I planned to do). I got a Shimano Deore LX Front Trigger Shifter (model SL-M580) that mounted just fine after I hacksawed my previous shifter/brake combo in half. I did however have the same problems as I had before getting it to shift correctly (atm it's set so it won't shift up from the smallest chainring, I had gotten it to do two, but I kept on tweaking and gave up). The rear one seems to be fine but also needs adjusting, which is kind of hard when the front doesn't work... So I decided to get a new front derailleur too. I snagged a Deore XT for $20 so I was pretty happy, until I noticed it's a direct mount model (FD-M781), which needles to say, my bike doesn't have. A quick search came up with $40 adapters, which makes me feel like I may as well return it and get the right one, but I do have another option left. I have access to a 3D printer, and can probably model the adapter, I can even do one or two tries until I get it right, however, will this still be as good (both from the performance of a direct mount with adapter and homemade adapter breaking perspective)? The material is pretty resistant and light (kind of like a good plastic), if it makes a difference...