November 9, 2021
Description
I purchased a USB Microscope and it came with a rather small stand for what I needed to use it for. After looking around for a good adjustable stand I came across the fully 3D printed design by DengisKong https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4928947. I really liked the design and added features. I also didn't have any M5 hex screws to go with the other popular designs which DengisKong actually remixed for their design. The only thing I wanted to improve was the base. I have a couple different 3rd hand soldering tools that both use the loc-line style of flexible arms. I designed a new base and bolts for the microscope stand that fit on these aluminum bases.
I used PLA for all my prints.
I printed the bolts quite slowly and with max part cooling fan. I had pretty good results with 30 mm/s. I printed the rest of the mount and base at 60 mm/s. One of my test bolt prints had some layer height inconsistencies but still worked great in both of the bases I own.
Layer height of 0.2mm. Standard Cura settings other than that.
I used Fusion 360 to design the bolts and the new base mount. Then I used Tinkercad to merge my new base mount with one of the existing stand bases from DengisKong. I find Tinkercad easier to work with when only .stl files are available. But Fusion 360 gives me greater control over the geometry and part design.
License:
Creative Commons - Attribution