Manfrotto Bogen 3021 Tripod Leg Clamp Lever

thingiverse

This is a replacement leg clamp lever for the Bogen 3021 photography tripod. This is an older but excellent tripod that was popular 20 or so years ago. They hold up very well except for these plastic lever clamps. The thumb levers tend to break off over time leaving you with no choice but to use pliers or some other means to loosen and tighten each leg extension. You can buy replacements, but they cost upwards of $40 each! I thought I would take a shot at creating and printing my own.The challenge was in creating the spiral ramp at close to the same pitch as the original part. The other problem is the thumb lever on the original extends beyond the body on the opposite side of the ramp, so without a lot of supports, it was gong to be difficult to print. I solved the ramp problem in Tinkercad then re-engineered the body so it would be flush with the thumb lever. I also made the thumb lever a little thicker than the original so it would, hopefully, be less likely to break off over time. The file comes up in Cura (14.12) as not being watertight, but I've printed 6 of these and have had them in use for about a month and they are solid and holding up well. I see no sign of portions separating. The bottom edge of the round end of the thumb lever prints a little off on my printer as it's an overhang. I could probably fix it with some printer settings, but it's not a problem for me. You may have to clean out the central shaft with a drill bit and it's helpful to clean out the recess where the bolt head goes, depending on how clean of a print you can make. You will also likely have to tap the bolt home in the recess as it's a tight fit, by design.