Ersa i-Tool grip sleeve

thingiverse

Rubber sleeve for the Ersa iCon / iTool soldering iron grip. The early i-Cons came with a factory-installed soft rubber / silicone grip, that made the i-Tool grippier and easier to rotate in order to get the tip alignment right. Also it made the tool more comfortable to use imho. However the original sleeves wore down pretty quickly in industrial use and were impossible to replace once the plug was attached, so they changed the grip design to a robust all-plastic version years ago.This sleeve is designed to go on the newer version of the i-Tool (might fit onto the old ones with the grove too, have not tested it) and give you a better grip.It must be printed from a very flexible material with tight layer-adhesion to be able to fit over the i-Tool's rim. I used FILAFLEX 60A for this, which was a real PITA to print (5 hours of trying resulted in lots of swearing, 1 good part and 2 parts at least usable after some rework..). Probably something in the 70 range would be a good compromise of printability and stability. 95 isn't stretchy enough and breaks.To install, I suggest removing the heater from the i-Tool (just carefully pull it out with the screw of the tip), then stretch and gradually slide the sleeve over the front rim. Reinstall heater (watch orientation), done.