Tripod Ball Head

cults3d

Thingiverse has a great selection of tripods but I couldn't find a suitable ball head, so I designed this one myself. It can handle small DSLRs with short lenses. It features 3/4" tripod threads on top and bottom, along with printable adapters for the more common 1/4 threads. If you're using a large camera, I strongly recommend investing in metal thread adapters for better durability. The design includes a small o-ring with a 6mm inner diameter and 1.8mm thickness to improve grip on the ball. It works fine without the o-ring but feels better with it. I've also included a flat-bottomed o-ring that can be printed in flexible filament. There are two ways to make the ball: one prints in two parts and screws together with an M3 x 20mm screw, while the other prints without the screw. I recommend using the version with the screw for anything larger than a small camera. The cross-section and exploded view show how to assemble it. This model can be printed entirely without supports in the orientations shown in the attached image. It has overhangs of up to 60 degrees and one bridge section of about 6mm, making it not too challenging to print. I recommend printing it with a fine layer height to maximize thread quality and ball smoothness. I used 0.1mm layer height and a nozzle diameter of 0.4mm or smaller, as the horizontal thread in the main housing won't work with larger nozzles. I also used 60 percent infill. The builds shown are a mix of Paramount Matte Black PLA, Verbatim Silver PLA, and Proto-Pasta Blue HTPLA. Update 9/29/2018: I updated a few files. The "Ball for M3 screw" now has an extended thread depth to accommodate the 20mm M3 screw. The "quarter inch base adapter" was extended by 1.5mm to add strength, and the "quarter inch top adapter" had its thread shortened by 1mm because it was longer than some camera threads. The "Ball with stalk - M3 screw not required" now has a reduced depth of 3/8" thread and uses a taper to remove the need for bridging inside. Update 9/30/2018: I added an optional printable threaded washer that can be used as a stand-off between a metal adapter and your camera, protecting the base of your camera. This is not needed if you're using a metal thread adapter.