January 20, 2023
Description
I needed this thumb nut as a counter nut for mounting my lockable ball joint, which can be found here: https://www.printables.com/model/370429-generic-lockable-ball-joint
Printing is very easy, just print the part in the uploaded orientation. I recommend PETG for mechanical parts, as PLA “flows” over time when it is under constant load. The M10 thread is tested to fit very well when printed on a Prusa i3 MK3S. As there is a tiny bit of mechanical play, I would guess that it fits also when printed on a budget printer. If it should be too tight, simply scale it up to 102% (or even more) in X and Y direction.
In case you are using FreeCAD and should be interested how I created the printable M10 thread, here is what I did. I used the “Hole" function in the PartDesign workbench and chose the parameters as shown below. It is important to set the “Custom Thread” checkmark and set some additional clearance. Otherwise the thread will be much too tight when printed. I found that 0.5mm of additional clearance gives a feeling close to a metal M10 nut when tried on a M10 metal rod.
Happy printing!
License:
Creative Commons — Attribution — Noncommercial — NoDerivatives
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