VC87 / VC97 / VC99 Tilting Bale

thingiverse

These Vici/Vichy VC87, VC97, and VC99 meters have several significant flaws, but if you're stuck with this meter, we'll just have to make the most of it. My biggest issue with this meter is the poorly designed tilting bale. It's too short, mounted too high on the back side of the meter, and far too flimsy to support the meter during use. To get a proper viewing angle for most users, given its mounting position, this meter would need to be approximately 2 inches longer, which would extend roughly 1/2 inch beyond the bottom of the meter's length and 2 inches outside the rubber case. To make the meter more usable for me, I added thickness to the stand and padded it to prevent it from hitting the rubber boot when fully open. This doesn't put the meter at an ideal angle, but it's a bit more reasonable than the angle it sits at with the included stand, and it feels less flimsy. There is another model available on Thingiverse by user thiagogoularte, thing:2491426, listed as a replacement stand for these meters. If you're looking for a direct replacement for the original stand and are otherwise happy with its functionality, you should download his design. His model is much closer to the original equipment and will print faster without the need for supports. I printed my modified stand using the default Creality CR-10 Cura Low Quality .28mm profile but reduced the support density to 5%. Printing it flat side down with 5% support density allowed me to remove the support in a single, easily manageable piece. Making a more usable stand for this meter was essentially a matter of getting off my "to do" list. I hope someone finds this useful. UPDATE:02192020 Stefano kindly posted his images and granted permission to add them here. The images with the blue stand are his. I think it looks much nicer in blue than it did in yellow. Thanks, Stefano!