Ball and Socket

thingiverse

I designed an adjustable mount for another project, requiring it to hold a few hundred grams or more and withstand some vibration. I came up with this design to meet those needs. The tolerances are quite tight on this, so any part with a thread (nut and socket) is printed at 0.1mm resolution or the size of all parts is increased. A short video demonstrates a quick test of the parts: https://youtu.be/XHjbzKNqYlk. The ball and socket design was inspired by a Manfrotto camera mount and a cheap Ebay car windscreen mount for my phone. The ball jointed end can be easily redesigned to any length, as well as the socket and ball combination. The socket is sized at 15.3mm in diameter and the ball at 15mm, with a small ridge in the socket that provides a satisfying click when the ball is inserted. The shaft diameter is consistently 8mm, which can be increased or decreased depending on requirements. I allowed for a bit more tolerance on the threads, setting it to 0.4mm, and printed them at 0.1mm resolution with a speed of 40mm/s. The ball_ball parts come in Ver (vertical) and Hoz (horizontal) versions, indicating the flat edge (edge to touch the print bed) and the orientation of the part when printed. The vertical version will allow for a more complete ball shape to be printed, while the horizontal version provides greater strength along the length of the arm due to layer alignment. The flanged socket has 4 fixing holes, centered at 18.9mm from each other. Print Settings: Printer Brand: Wanhao Printer Model: Wanhao Duplicator i3 V2 Rafts: No Supports: No Resolution: 0.1mm Infill: 30-50%