Universal Quick Release Tripod Shoe

thingiverse

Recently borrowed a tripod from a friend, and the first thing he said was, "don't lose that shoe." Looked for existing designs but didn't see anything I really liked, especially designs that would require sourcing a bolt with a folding handle/toggle thing. Couldn't find that bolt at my local hardware store. This design accepts a standard 1/2" thumbscrew easily sourced from any hardware store. The depth of the hole allows the entire screw to fit without grinding or cutting it down. Added some slots and holes to lighten it up, thought the holes may come in useful for a lanyard or something like that. The slots may be able to accept a small spirit level element; included the Fusion 360 file in case you need to change the size of the slots. This level should fit the big slots: https://www.ebay.com/i/332800758781?chn=ps&var=541920899118 Made it much bigger than the original one you see in the picture. Like the idea that it gives something else on the camera to grip, and for some cameras it will probably look and fit better proportionally. May print one for each camera and leave it on, making switching even easier since I won't have to unscrew the shoes to connect them to the tripod. Printed mine with a fairly open grid infill (20%), and when the printer started printing the last few layers of infill before the finishing top layers, paused the printer, mixed up some 5-minute epoxy, and carefully filled the infill areas with it. Took a popsicle stick and dabbed a small amount on, then pushed it into the infill holes as much as possible to get it pushed down as far as possible. This last step assumes you'll print it with the largest flat surface on the bottom since that uses the least amount of support. You'll have to print this way to fill the infill with epoxy while still on the printer. Could also sand away the surface layers after printing to expose the infill and fill with epoxy as well, but that's more work. This epoxy step was done because the part where the bottom of the base meets up with the angled surface is a bad stress riser, especially if you print with the layers parallel with the base. For this to work, MUST use an infill that is the same shape all layers and doesn't shift, like some of the newer 3D infill types. The epoxy fill will even be stronger than a 100% infill print. That may be overkill but makes me feel better that an expensive camera won't go crashing to the ground if that layer fails. Included the Fusion 360 file in case you want to customize further.