Category: 3D printing

The past few days, the media have been having a field day with the "now you can 3D print you own gun" story. (Here on BBC for example).

Do yourself a favour and read this comment on Hackaday before you join the choir…

Here's another 3D printed component: a tiltable camera holder. It consists of two parts: the base and the front plate. The front plate has four standoffs with 2 mm holes for mounting the camera PCB with M2 machine screws. It also has a small bracket with a 1 mm hole for the rod that connects to the servo.

The front plate is attached to the base by M2 machine screws. The holes in the base are larger than the screws so they can rotate freely and a washer between the screw head prevents the screw head from digging into the plastic.

Here is a model of the front plate (modelled in ViaCAD 2D/3D) and the front plate and base assembled and checked for clearance when rotating in Autodesk Inventor Fusion (click for full-size):

And there is the finished and assembled piece:

3D printed camera holder (click for full-size image)

CAD files

• Autodesk Fusion 360 file
• STL files

I've just ordered one of these nice machines:

Yessiree, a MakerBot Replicator 2 3D printer. Unfortunately, there is 4-6 weeks lead time so I can't begin playing with it right away. Fortunately, that gives me time to brush up on my 3D modelling skills (this 3D printed enclosure came out pretty good though so I'm not starting from scratch).

And there's lots to learn: different types of filament, extruder settings, slicing profiles and whatnot.

Sure, I can wait. I'm not impatient for the Replicator 2 to arrive at all...