23Oct Printing a DSLR rig A frame handle.
I was working on a shoot last week and accidentally knocked over one my DSLR rigs. Â Thankfully the Cube Cage completely protected the camera, but the frame of the rig hit just right and busted off a small chunk from one of the handle mounts. I was thinking about ordering another one from CPM, or picking up one of the $50 aluminum A frame handles on ebay. Although after looking at it, I thought it might be an interesting test to see if I could print a replacement handle with the Makergear Prusa 3d printer I just finished building.
My first attempt was to reuse most of the hardware included with the CPM A frame handle. This worked out better then I expected and was just small enough to print on the Makerbot Thing-o-Matic, the downside is that it took almost 4 hours to print and I felt like the design could be improved. You can download the files and design here.
Version 2 was printed on the Makergear Prusa in 2 hours and 10 minutes and is a little bit to big for the Makerbot. This design still uses the same hardware but adds thicker walls and a little bit more plastic. It’s amazing to me that I can print more then twice as fast on the Prusa as I can the Makerbot. You can also find the design files for V2 here.
The final version uses a barbell configuration which saves on hardware and ends up making a much more compact design and sturdy feel. Total print time was 1 hours 51 minutes and I think this design is the winner. Each of these handles uses quit a bit of plastic, so they probably wont be showing up in the Noob store anytime soon, but it’s very interesting to see that something like this can be designed, printed, and used in the same day. It might also be interesting to try and adapt this design to work with a cheap easy to find handle like this one, but for now this will keep my rig together.
October 26th, 2011 at 2:59 am
Deejay I need your help once again dude!! I just read your recent post in regards to the A frame handle braking!!! (Yikes) I have a similar issue. I dropped my rig (luckily there was no gear on it) but it fell to the floor and the handle clamps broke, the both of them!! I was going to order some more from Cpm however they are roughly 28 bucks a piece and you still have to pay for the costly shipping!! Are there any other alternatives?
November 20th, 2011 at 9:11 pm
Send me an e-mail, and I’ll hook you up with one of my designs for $16.
November 28th, 2011 at 1:03 am
Awesomeness thank you so so much!!! i just need your email!!!
November 8th, 2011 at 5:29 pm
Oh man, I just bought one of these on eBay to save some ca$h. Hope it works out. Your A-frame looks awesome. Great work! If you decide to sell them, let me know 🙂
I was going to get one from CPM, too but the shipping was over 20.00!
November 20th, 2011 at 8:39 pm
Yea for some reason CPM’s shipping has been out of control lately. If you need one let me know I can probably make a one off for you. $14 sound good?
January 16th, 2013 at 12:11 pm
So I realize this is an old post, but is there any way I could get one of these? The CPM one’s a little too steep for me, and this looks like a better build anyway.