Rotated Hook replacement for "SpecStand Vertical Desktop Eyeglass Holder" by Steve-J

thingiverse

Here's what worked for me to complete the really cool eyeglass holder make from Steve-J, as remixed by Mr_Tantrum, and as finally printed through inspiration from andy_spoo. I'm sharing it all to help others avoid my mistakes, LOL, such controversy over a simple thing. The main piece, the stand itself, is easy to print, but that darned little hook on top is not! After many fails, I'm sharing what worked for me in the hopes of helping others. When I first read all the back and forth on Steve-J's original make, I was mad at the haters (you guys should be nicer). But they have a point. While the hook is elegantly designed, it's a surprising challenge to even slice, much less print for many of us. What I learned failing about six times: - I like the shorter, unannotated version from Mr_Tantrum. - There's no getting around support - Steve-J made that very clear (don't complain unless you read the manual). - Defaults plus support fail miserably for me (PrusaSlicer 2.0.0) - I got a melted blob of plastic on the extruder. - I finally got the original hook to print in PLA, but one whole half looked like crap due to all the support and tight spacing required to get it to print at all. - The problem is easily seen in the slicer: that little tip gets printed in thin air. For some reason, the support isn't generated under it. - I tried many combinations of parameters from layer thicknesses to support parameters, but it simply wouldn't slice to something printable. - Finally, I discovered another remix - just of the hook - by andy_spoo. While this hook was completely redesigned, I actually liked the original design better. But andy_spoo discovered the secret of printing this hook: rotate it. - So this remix is just the original hook rotated so that it will slice and print correctly with default settings and supports. - In the photos, you can see my final two successful prints, PETG (black) and PLA (silver), along with comparisons of the three hooks (the rough-looking silver one is the original rotation). I hope this helps the next person skip a bunch of iterations. Happy printing!