Helping Hands ball attachment

thingiverse

I acquired some budget-friendly assisting hands from Aliexpress, but they came equipped with double adapter ball joints, which I preferred not to have individual assisting hands. So, I replicated them. The insert is designed to provide added strength because you print the piece standing upright for the screw threads, resulting in a slightly weakened area along the layer lines. I simply forced the insert into place; it was such a tight fit that I don't think glue was necessary. You might even opt to print the ball joint component without the insert and still achieve satisfactory results. It's a fairly snug fit for my assisting hands, which appear to be these: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001003588878.html I placed the attachment into a wood vise, allowing me to push the hand onto it with considerable force. However, if I had made it any looser, it would not have maintained its position. I discovered this item, which can be adapted (converted to a hole in Tinkercad) to produce female screw threads for the assisting hands as well. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2269821