I've really grown fond of the cheap 160 mm x ~23 mm diamond sharpening stones that are available for just a few dollars on places like AliExpress. Without buying the sharpener they are designed for, I haven't an ideal way to hold them in place while giving me enough clearance between the sharpening surface (25 mm proved ideal) and the table. This motivated me to design a clamp during what I'm sure was an important meeting. Along the way, I found ways to add angle guides to help those who are getting started with freehand sharpening.
If you are short of the requisite hardware, the tapered arms should press-fit onto the strut well enough to be used without hardware. If you are more vigorous with your sharpening, I suggest adding M3 nuts and bolts to help keep everything in place.
UPDATES
- 250415 - Added a version of the strut designed to work with M3 heatset inserts rather than the nut pocket.
Optional & Recommended add-ons:
- 4x M3 Nuts
- 2x 30-40 mm M3 Screws — Domed Philips or Hex head
- Two-sided Silicone tape — Gorilla Brand seems to be worth the extra few dollars.
Printing
- Parameters
- 0.4mm nozzle with 0.2mm layers
- 3 Perimeters
- 15-25% Gyroid infill
- Orientation & Support:
- Clamps: Hex hole up, no supports needed.
- Strut: Flat with nut slots facing upwards. Support wasn't necessary on my Prusa Mini+
- Knobs: Hex holes up, support from build plate only
Assembly Tips
- Knobs — As I didn't have any nylock nuts on hand, these are designed with a pocket to fit non-locking M3 nuts. After tightening with a driver, I haven't had any issues with them loosening whilst adjusting the clamps.
- Strut Nuts — Align the parallel sides of the nut and press-fit them in. I found a nail or thin screwdriver works very well as a lever to fully seat the nuts.
- Feet — As I didn't have any other adhesive pads on hand, what, I thought, would be the next-best thing proved to exceed my expectations. Apply a square of the tape to the bottom of the feet and push straight down with a straight edge like a box cutter to trim any overlapping material. While this is good to go as-is, I found applying some skin oils to the table side of the adhesive makes it much easier to unstick from the table while still preventing any sliding. As a bonus, the Gorilla branded tape seems to regain significantly more stickiness than no-name stuff when cleaned with isopropyl alcohol!
Questions, comments, suggestions, or requests for mods? Please let me know!
Nico
