3D Printed – Tripod Stand

Having just bought a new x10 Macro Lens for my phone and found that it was extremely hard to get blur free images, especially of fast moving things like ants! I needed a tripod – a 3D printed Tripod.

The Design

I had printed a tripod some time back for my GoPro and Will had been using it for his stop motion videos. It had seen quite a lot of good use but the legs had started to fail, this was because it was a very clever single print design by Walter on Thingiverse that had started to wear and no longer snapped into place. Mini Tripods by Walter

Our phones are now larger and heavier, especially with the lens attached, so I needed something more rigid. The designs for the new tripod and phone mount were produced by Kernel770 and again published on Thingiverse:

Printing

Settings

Nozzle size – 0.4mm, Layer Height – 1.5mm, Infill 20% Rectilinear

I did however add infill modifiers to increase infill to 60% on all the mounting holes & hinge points where the bolts would go and the clip for the phone.

Materials to complete the build

The end build up is really straightforward.

End Result

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This prints come out really well with the pearl red filament on the Prusa MK3. The stand’s very robust when open and supporting my phone and folds away reasonably flat for storage.

The phone support / clamp works really well with its rubber band mechanism, the only issue is when the phones removed the band falls out. I will have a think and maybe come up with a trap idea to improve the design, otherwise I will use a little hot-melt to prevent them falling out.

For my intended purpose which was stabilising the phone when using a macro lens, the tripods a little too large for focusing on things directly below (like ants) but this could be rectified by designing some smaller legs. For anything else or for Wills stop motion projects its perfect.

Thanks again Kernel770 for a really nice design.