Low-Profile PCB holder(2 parts) oh and yeah a rubber band

thingiverse

I do most of my assembly under a microscope, so I prefer a low-profile holder that won't obstruct my view. A good friend made me a wooden one years ago, and I adapted it to the 3D printing world. The picture shows my prototype. I doubled the guide rods in the published STL file to accommodate bigger PC boards. My friend used a bolt, nut, and spring to hold the plates together, so I included the necessary holes in the design - but a rubber band will do in an emergency. Since I had a 1/4-20 bolt on hand, but no suitable spring, a rubber band was the way to go. Print note: The hole for the guide rods turned out perfectly except during the first layers. To fix this issue, I reamed it out with one of the metric hole drills shown in the attached picture - they work great in steel, and even better in thermoplastics.