3D printed L-bracket

Having a son that is a computer software designer and he has a 3D printer, I took my need for a custom L-bracket for my little D3500 to him and together we designed a real jewel!

Pulling up the dimensions for ARCA rails, and measuring the camera body shapes, we came up with a really nice L-bracket. We printed up a couple prototypes, adding or removing material, adding features like the lightening holes and "center of lens" markings, for a real custom fit. Then we stress tested the early models by literally trying to destroy them using a vise and a 3 lb sledgehammer.... This 3D plastic (PLA+) is pretty darn tough stuff... I have ZERO fear of failure with this L-bracket....something else will be breaking before this L-bracket does.

Cost in plastic to print this L-bracket: $1.75

Just thought I would pass along some photos of the bracket, maybe to inspire others to "think outside the box" when you can't find something for your particular model of camera.

2sealsonwheels wrote:

Just thought I would pass along some photos of the bracket, maybe to inspire others to "think outside the box" when you can't find something for your particular model of camera.

All good, but you should post the design on Thingiverse or Printables.

That's what I've done with literally dozens of lens adapters and other camera add-ons that I've designed. No income from it, but it's nice to share. 

Just a warning - be careful if you ever leave this in a hot car.  PLA's upper temperature limit is pretty low, it's kind of notorious for degradation when it's warm.

IIRC it's just the opposite at cold temperatures, I think that while some plastics get brittle when it gets cold, PLA becomes EXTREMELY strong.

Entropy512 wrote:

Just a warning - be careful if you ever leave this in a hot car. PLA's upper temperature limit is pretty low, it's kind of notorious for degradation when it's warm.

IIRC it's just the opposite at cold temperatures, I think that while some plastics get brittle when it gets cold, PLA becomes EXTREMELY strong.

All true, and in freezing temps PLA can hold up better than steel (one proof being a shattered coupler in my ice maker's crusher that I replaced with a PLA part). PLA is also amazingly non-reactive with most chemicals.

It's worth noting that some PLAs can be heat treated to hold up a bit better: you bake 'em around 200F for something like 10 minutes to promote growth of internal crystaline structures. Some claim to be "dishwasher safe" after such treatment. Still, none of the low-temp extrudable filaments does well in a hot car for hours at 140F; prints don't fall apart, but they'll sag under load, etc., and are more prone to delamination. Some doped PLAs are a bit more temp resistant, for example conductive PLA (which contains carbo strands) and some of the ones with metal nanoparticles. However, they also tend to have poorer bonding between layers.

BTW, ABS isn't much better than PLA... think melted Lego blocks left on a radiator. Supposedly, polycarbonate and other higher-temp materials do better, but they have their own problems. You might think SLA resin prints would do better, but those plastics also tend to have PLA-like temp limits. Even laser-sintered metal prints don't do too well until after burning-out the binder and baking, which typically causes 25% shrinkage; basically, the binders used to coat the metal nanoparticles often aren't a lot different from PLA (although metal powder for sintering might be 70% metal, while the metal-doped PLA filament is usually less than 30% metal).

Easiest fix is to use one of the 3D fab houses that can make your part in more robust materials. Stereolithography using Accura 48HTR sounds promising: it claims a Tg (glass transition) between 195-212F. I suspect PAHT-CF Carbon Fiber Nylon filament on my Bambu X1 Carbon might be good enough; it has a Tg of 158F, while typical PLA is Tg around 140F. Best I can use in my Bambu would be polycarbonate with a Tg of 293F! However, most 3D printers can't print polycarbonate...

As expected, some GREAT knowledge found here... Thanks for all the technical information!!

I'm not one to leave my camera gear in hot cars... Ever!

That said after reading the last couple of posts, I believe I will take one of the earlier prototypes and subject it to exactly that (hot car in middle of summer on a 100+° day here in Kansas)...but without my camera attached to it! Then stress it again until it breaks.

Interesting too about cold temperature properties.

I also like the idea of looking into sending the file to an outside printing place... I will talk with my son about places like that.... But I'm going to assume that the cost may be prohibitive....since my original thought was to just purchase a ThreeLeggedThing Ellie Short Base, $70... But it will prove interesting to look into tho!

And realistically, since it's being used on an extremely lightweight camera/lens setup (NIKON D3500), and I'm very attentive when mounting the camera/bracket to my tripod, and I'm pretty gentle on my stuff, and after seeing forces required to break the 3d printed prototypes, I think this one will serve me well for literally the "rest of my life"... Lol... More time and testing will tell.

Thanks again for everyone's input.

ProfHankD wrote:

Easiest fix is to use one of the 3D fab houses that can make your part in more robust materials. Stereolithography using Accura 48HTR sounds promising: it claims a Tg (glass transition) between 195-212F. I suspect PAHT-CF Carbon Fiber Nylon filament on my Bambu X1 Carbon might be good enough; it has a Tg of 158F, while typical PLA is Tg around 140F. Best I can use in my Bambu would be polycarbonate with a Tg of 293F! However, most 3D printers can't print polycarbonate...

I haven't tried virgin PC, but prusa carbon fibre PC is very easy to print. As long as your nozzle is wear resistant and your hotend isn't PTFE lined, it should print on anything - the prusa mini handles it just fine. I did use a draft shield, I figured spending a few grams on that was less filament overall than losing a print to warping (so I don't know how essential it was).

2sealsonwheels wrote:

As expected, some GREAT knowledge found here... Thanks for all the technical information!!

I'm not one to leave my camera gear in hot cars... Ever!

That said after reading the last couple of posts, I believe I will take one of the earlier prototypes and subject it to exactly that (hot car in middle of summer on a 100+° day here in Kansas)...but without my camera attached to it! Then stress it again until it breaks.

Interesting too about cold temperature properties.

I also like the idea of looking into sending the file to an outside printing place... I will talk with my son about places like that.... But I'm going to assume that the cost may be prohibitive....since my original thought was to just purchase a ThreeLeggedThing Ellie Short Base, $70... But it will prove interesting to look into tho!

And realistically, since it's being used on an extremely lightweight camera/lens setup (NIKON D3500), and I'm very attentive when mounting the camera/bracket to my tripod, and I'm pretty gentle on my stuff, and after seeing forces required to break the 3d printed prototypes, I think this one will serve me well for literally the "rest of my life"... Lol... More time and testing will tell.

Thanks again for everyone's input.

Last time I looked into SLM nylon they had a minimum order value of £30, so for a small part like this you'd probably come in around that and comfortably under the ellie base.