3d-printed, Modular Camera Stand for Photo and Video

As an avid photographer and film maker I often have the need for a practical desktop camera stand. I found that normal camera tripods are big and bulky and they don't work well when camera is pointing down. You can buy a magic arm but it will cost you a fortune.

This 3d printed camera stand is great for macro shots, vlogging, or web cameras with tripod mount. It is intended for small to medium sized cameras.

3d printer

3x M6x40mm hex bolts

3x M6 nuts

3x M6 washers

Camera fixing screw (Withworth 1/4")

A piece of sand paper for grip

Glue

Scissors

Optional:

Self-adhesive craft rubber sheets (flexible adhesive foamboard)

L-shaped Lamp clamp. Often found on old lamps. A versatile and low profile way to mount the camera stand.

The hex bolts should be available on a well assorted iron store.

I have a collection of camera fixing screws that I harvested from old camera gear, but you can get it in a good photo/video store and comes in many shapes. They should all fit more or less, just make sure the knob isn't too big and the screw not too long. The technical name for the screw is withworth 1/4".

Self-adhesive craft rubber sheets can be found in a well assorted hobby store. This foam adds a great touch to the camera plate and base plate, increasing grip and giving it a professional touch. Other materials can be used too, like an old mouse pad, or a silicone mat.

Select your parts

Here is how you select the parts you need to print:

1. Select one base plate (clamped with rubber pocket, clamped with rugged surface, screw mount for permanent fastening)
2. Select either slim arm 10 cm A + B or slim arm 15 cm A + B
3. Select wide arm 10 cm or 15 cm
4. Select your camera plate (for rubber pads or rugged)

You can also skip the arms entirely and mount the camera plate on the holder directly (wall mount).

If you have craft rubber available, you should print the base plate and camera plate in the "for rubber"-version. You can also use an old mouse pad (thin) as a soft material.

The parts should be printed in different directions. The arms, camera holder and knobs will be strongest when printed flat. The base plate, however, has the most strain, and should be printed upright.

Printing materials

You can make all the parts simply with PLA, but if you want to add strength, you can try PETG or PC+.

• Arms and base plate: PETG. it's a stronger material, known for keeping a high pressure in bottles. PETG can be troublesome to stick to the print bed. Luckily, the arms have a large surface and sticks pretty well. To make the base stick, I used masking tape on the build plate and set bed to 80, first layer, then 65 degrees. The nozzle was set to 235 degrees.
• The camera holder was made with PLA. It has less strain so this was an easy one. Could be PETG as well.
• Knobs: ABS. I love the matte, silky and professional finish ABS gives. ABS can be hard to print because the objects tends to warp and bend during printing, but small objects are usually turning out fine. I set the bed to 100-110 degrees and nozzle to 225. To minimise warping, I used the raft setting, and as soon as the raft was finished, I added some masking tape to clamp it to the build plate (see image). After printing there was still some bulging under the knob, so I gave it a good rub with medium sand paper. The super smooth finish was made with 0.14 layer height. After printing i rubbed the bottom agains some medium sand paper to flatten it out.
• Polycarbonate/PC+: It has a rumour of being though to print, but I had no problem printing arms and base plate at 250 degrees with bed set to 100/110 degrees.

General print settings for strength

All my parts was printed with top/bottom and wall thickness of 1.2mm and an infill level around 35%. I belive the main strength is in the walls, and you don't need to go crazy on the infill even if it's a camera stand. I usually set the extrusion temperature towards the higher end of the recommended scale and disable cooling, to have the layers bond better together.

Colors

Photography is about aesthetics, right? So why not make it look good? I prefer black or gray on the main parts, but some yellow or other bright colour on the knobs makes it stand out! (Pun intended)

Rub the backside of the knobs so you get a nice flat surface. I designed these knobs to give the best possible grip when tightening the arm.

We should make some grip discs to make the arm joints locks tightly. Start by taking a small piece of medium grit sandpaper, apply on the backside and fold so you get a two-sided sand paper. If you have superglue and activator, put on each side and you have a firm bond.

Use one of the knobs to draw a circle, then cut with scissors. Pinch a hole in the middle with a sharp object so the bolt can go trough later. Five discs are usually enough as you only need one on the top camera holder.

We can make some nice padding using the craft rubber sheets. Use a ruler to measure and cut two strips for the camera holder and a bigger one for the base plate. The size of each strip should be about 35x15mm and the large base plate should be 74x64mm.

If you don't have craft rubber, an old mouse pad and some glue can work great too!

This is the fun part, and is very easy. Insert the washer, then add grip discs between the arm parts. The "B" type arms has inserts for the nuts and will prevent them from rotating.

Here I'm showing a setup with webcamera (no support needed), and also the gear I made the instructions with!

I hope you enjoyed my design. This is a modular solution, so please feel free to add more parts into the system! And feel free to share your thoughts and feedback. Thanks for reading!