Ribbon cable clip for Raspberry Pi Camera

thingiverse

I Use Double-Sided Tape to Secure Ribbon Cables This lets you keep your Raspberry Pi camera's cable or any ribbon cable securely fastened to a surface using 19 mm double-sided tape. I utilize it to route the cable along my Printrbot Simple's bed side. Rounded teeth on the inside clip face grasp the cable, making it simple to slide lengthwise but harder to shift widthwise. Here is My Design File Print Settings Rafts: No Supports: No Resolution: 0.2 Infill: 10 Notes I printed this without a brim, but if you want to use one, be sure it won't close the gap between the clip halves. Post-Printing The space between the clip's two halves may get fused together by strings. Simply grab a hobby knife and push the blade in from both sides to loosen it. Clean the back of the clip with alcohol, add a strip of double-sided tape, and you're good to go! How I Designed This Why document my design process? I'm doing this because there's plenty of resources online telling you how to use design software but fewer that actually show the process of designing. Even simple objects like this one would help new makers see what goes into a practical design. Sizing I measured the width of my camera cable (16 mm wide, 0.13 mm thick) and the height of my build platform (25 mm) to get an idea of the final clip size. Since my double-sided tape is 19 mm wide, it made sense to go for a final height of 20 mm. Roughing-out In Tinkercad I sized a box into a thin strip to act as a visual placeholder for the cable and then used more boxes to rough out the clip's size and shape around it. Designing the Grip Now that I was looking at a rough approximation of the clip, it became obvious that it needed some grip. I wanted the clip to grab the cable firmly but I didn't want to achieve this by making the spacing between the halves very small (0.12 mm). Instead, I decided to use alternating teeth. The tips of these teeth could all occupy the same plane on the model, but the space between the surfaces of all the teeth would be about 0.6 mm apart; perfect for my 0.4 mm nozzle. I used the Cremallera shape generator by alumnes to produce the teeth and replace the placeholder boxes in the model. Final Shaping I moved the top row of teeth down to create an alternating pattern and also to make the front of the clip shorter than the back. I knew from previous designs that a clip is hard to use if both halves are the same length; you have to feel for the gap in order to insert the cable. I added hole boxes to cut off unwanted lengths of material. These let you create windows, giving the front more flexibility and allowing you to see the cable inside the clip when it's installed. The windows were kept narrow so that these overhangs would print cleanly. I used the MetaFillet shape generator by BobKrause to add fillets to the outer edges of the clip, mostly for aesthetics. Getting rid of those sharp corners helps the print look more finished. And That's It! Honestly it took me longer to document my design process than it did to actually design this part! I hope it helps!