Hey everybody. Figured this would be a good sub-forum to pick some brains.

So, I know for obvious reasons why we want 3d prints to hold our cameras nice and snug. But I'm curious if there are any tips to maybe ease up on the tightness a little. I have a gopro 9 mount on one quad, and it's definitely a tight squeeze, but I can manage since I can get a good push from either side to slide in or out. Wouldn't hurt if it was a little easier though. More recently I bought the runcam thumb pro V2 and a 3d printed mount for it. I haven't used it yet, matter of fact just finished the build on a ummagawd 2fiddy. Time will tell, but seems like a great size camera to run on a smaller 5". If I like the video from it enough I'll put a mount for it on my armattan badger as well. The print is SO SO TIGHT though. I had to pry at the sides to eventually pull the cam out, and can't push too much from the front without risking a crack in the protective lens cover. I got the camera in with ease by heating the mount up a bit with a heatgun. The camera is so lightweight that I feel i'm going to break it trying to remove it. I would just leave it, but it has to come out to change out the clear filter with ND filters, access USB, etc.

ANYWAYS. A little bit of a ramble just to ask all of you who work with this stuff regularly: Are there any tips or tricks to making this a little easier?

It's possible that whoever 3D printed the mounts hasn't calibrated the scaling on their printer. Either that or the original designer didn't do so which means when someone else prints the STL it ends up being slightly too small (compared to the print that comes off the original designer's printer).

Unless you are able to 3D print the items yourself where you have the ability to adjust the scaling slightly if needed, your solution of heating the TPU with a hot air gun and then gently stretching the required areas of the print seems like the next best option to me.

(05-Jan-2023, 06:41 PM)SnowLeopardFPV Wrote: It's possible that whoever 3D printed the mounts hasn't calibrated the scaling on their printer. Either that or the original designer didn't do so which means when someone else prints the STL it ends up being slightly too small (compared to the print that comes off the original designer's printer).

Unless you are able to 3D print the items yourself where you have the ability to adjust the scaling slightly if needed, your solution of heating the TPU with a hot air gun and then gently stretching the required areas of the print seems like the next best option to me.

I wish I could get into 3D printing, but I can't start yet another hobby   Even if it does directly benefit this one. Tooooo much going on. And fair point with the scaling. Most of the prints I have purchased have come from a very reputable site (specifically a couple of gopro mounts and other various pieces). The Runcam mount was from a different site, but known for 3d prints as well. I think. Who knows, I might try stretching a bit and see what happens!

It would be worth contacting the site owner(s) who provided the prints to make them aware of the issue. Whoever prints mounts and then sells then should really have a physical version of the item that the mount is designed for so they can verify fitment of each 3D printed mount as part of their QC process before sending it out to a paying customer.