8020 40x40 corner bracket cover holder

thingiverse

### 8020 40x40 corner bracket cover holder clips These clips go inside the corner brackets that join two pieces of 8020 40mm aluminium profile. They hold the plastic covers in place, which otherwise fall out too easily. - The original covers are retained. (They look nice. I wanted to keep them. The only issue was that they fell out too easily.) - The covers are held securely without glue. - You can still pull the covers off with your fingers when needed. ### Check your bracket type There are a few types of corner bracket and covers, some with slightly more friction and slightly different dimensions to others. See the photos I have included, which show exact height and width measurements, to check if you have the same style and size as mine. These are the ones which came with the Sim Lab P1-X sim racing cockpit, and it looks like the TrakRacer TR80 also uses the same ones (based on photos from their website). These are designed to work with M8 bolts with DIN 912 heads, or anything smaller that would fit inside them. (M6 should be fine, for example, although I haven't tested that.) Again, see the photos for examples. ### Two clip variants There are two versions of the clips: 1. One for the usual case where *both bolts are at the far end of each bracket slot*. Used in the normal case of joining two alu pieces where both the alu profile slots line up with each other and with the bracket slots. 2. The second type handles the more unusual case where *one of the bolts is in the middle of the bracket slot*. Typically used when joining two alu pieces where one of the alu profiles is across the join instead of pointing into it, as often the case with the seat rails on sim racing cockpits, where you also need to snap off the metal tabs on the back of the bracket as well. ### Installation The clips can be installed with one bolt already in place. If both bolts are in place then you will need to undo one of them temporarily, but you can usually do that without the frame falling apart, meaning you shouldn't need to dismantle an existing setup to install these. If neither bolt is in, just pop the clip into the bracket's slots and then put the bots in. Or, if one bolt is in, slide one foot of the clip under the bolt, then put the other bolt in. The bolts then hold the clips in place, but should allow a bit of wiggle so you can line things up. When installing the clip with one bolt in the middle of the bracket slot, I recommend removing that bolt, rather than the other one, to make life easier (but it is possible to do it the other way around, too). ### Printable Tools Help Installation Two simple printable tools are also included to help with installation. These give you a way to push or pull on the clip in order to line up the cover feet and get them in. One tool is push-only, and probably all you really need. The other tool has little hooks that also let you pull on one side of the clip, to make a bit more room on the other side, should the other side be hard to reach. While the second tool does two jobs, it's also harder to remove once the cover starts to close, so I'd just go with the first unless you run into a need for the second. I usually find that one of the cover's legs goes in by itself, and then I need to push a little with the tool to get the other leg in. Make sure the leg which is in is in as little as possible, so that the leg you're trying to get in doesn't go in at an angle and make things worse or risk snapping. (The cover legs seem surprisingly strong, but there's no reason to test that!) ### Removal Removing the cover is a simple case of pulling it off with your fingers. It takes a little force but not much. ### Printer Tolerances This was tuned to my printer, and your printer's tolerances and sizes may be slightly different to mine. Since the parts need to fit quite well, and be tight but not too tight, it's possible that could be a problem. If you need any slight adjustments to the widths of anything, let me know and I'll see what I can do.