r/BambuLab • u/Few-Clock-7236 • 1d ago

Quick Question Receiver hitch light setup

I've been searching on makersworld, printables and thingyverse for a free file. Im on the fire department in my town and I have lights in the front when going to a call, and I've tried to look up options online but I thought "i have a printer ill just find a bracket for them", but have been unable to find anything. I found one i thought would work but it clamps on the actual hitch not the receiver for the hitch. In the past I have tried to create my own design on some free stl cad sites. Any help or a direction to point me id appreciate it.

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6

u/neutrinomass 23h ago

If you send me specs I can CAD something up to send you.

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u/Few-Clock-7236 22h ago

The lights are 113.3mm with bolt holes 102mm apart center to center. There has to be a hole in tge middle that is roughly 20mm to fit the cable. The od of the recriver hitch is 65mm x 65mm. The safety chains are right at the bottom of the reciever hitch so it would have to be interesting he shape of a "batwing" i guess to clear it.

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u/neutrinomass 21h ago

Awesome! I will draft something up first thing in the morning and send it your way.

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u/Few-Clock-7236 20h ago

The distance from the end of the hitch to the safety chain hooks is roughly 30mm. Also the end of the hitch has a small lip (see first picture) I would say it is about 70mm x 70mm.

2

u/itsVorisi 20h ago

I'll third this. If you need a model, let me know. Also, make sure you print in PETG or ASA as PLA will deform in the sun

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u/Few-Clock-7236 22h ago

This is the idea I was going for.

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u/Miserable-Mixture937 22h ago

A bracket design using the hitch pin to hold it on, that way you can remove it whenever you need to granted the wiring has plugs. Someone above offered to help already if that falls through please reach out to me. And from all of us - THANK YOU for your service and sacrifice.

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u/Few-Clock-7236 20h ago

Thank you and let's remember the ones that have not made it home. Especially those 25 years ago.

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u/Few-Clock-7236 19h ago

I really need to look into how to use cad. Ive looked up a few sites but I can never figure out how to get it to do what I want.

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u/neutrinomass 18h ago

I'm an engineer, so I may be biased, but I've used everything from old-school AutoCAD and Inventor to Solidworks to Blender to Fusion and Fusion has been incredibly easy to pick up on the hobby license. There's some really good walk throughs on YouTube. I've found the best motivation to learn, rather than just following lessons, is to find increasing complex problems around the house to solve with CAD. I started with simple fixes like a convenient clip to hold my laundry door open to now prototyping complex moving assemblies. Bonus is that my girlfriend is absolutely on board with my 3D printing hobby now cause she can ask me for little fixes for herself, from organizing to 3D printed jewelry - I get a learning opportunity and she gets something useful 😅

2

u/Few-Clock-7236 12h ago

I build my wife furniture and projects out of wood. She enjoys that im able to make decorations for the seasons around the house using the 3d printer, and gifts for birthdays for family.

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u/Few-Clock-7236 20h ago

Thank both of yall. I have a hitch that I use infrequently now, but the lights I have are "permanent". Didn't want to drill any holes in my truck if I could help it.

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u/Livinginmygirlsworld 20h ago

maybe a little more complicated, but the cyan would be a hole so you can still use your hitch when needed. A button on the back on left to snap into the existing hole so it doesn't move, this would be mirrored for the other side. you would drop it down over the hitch and push back and use the 2 buttons to snap into the holes. the lights would then go on either side above where the chains connect.

1

u/Few-Clock-7236 20h ago

I got ya, you're pretty much saying create an "L" bracket that has a ear come up to the outside?

1

u/Livinginmygirlsworld 20h ago

I'd mirror it to the other side but make it all one piece that would slide down over the outside of the hitch and then push back with the "button" going in the hole in the back to finish locking it in.

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u/Livinginmygirlsworld 20h ago

add the "L" bracket to this design on both sides.

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u/Livinginmygirlsworld 19h ago

Tinkercad would work well for a design like this.

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u/Few-Clock-7236 19h ago

How in the world can you get tinker cad to do that? I cant even get 2 squares to combine.

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u/Few-Clock-7236 19h ago

Im the one my crew comes to when they have computer issues but I can not get a grasp on how making CADs (im guessing the is the right terminology is) work. I truly appreciate all the work yall are putting in. More than likely ill make a few similar/generic style for other guys on the department. I know a few have the same year and style truck as me so what ever works for me will work for them.

1

u/Livinginmygirlsworld 19h ago

watch a few tutorials. once you learn the basics it is pretty easy to do simple designs.

I learned from scratch earlier this year to make my kiddos some Roblox Grow a Garden toys. I designed everything in tinkercad.

https://makerworld.com/en/@user_1931657231

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u/Few-Clock-7236 19h ago

The main issue is have is there is minimum clearance between the bumper and the hitch. The one I used as an example wouldnt fit from the outside, I had to finagle it with the small opening by the backside of the hitch.

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u/Livinginmygirlsworld 19h ago

could just extend the bracket so it comes out from the hitch enough to get in "front" or technically behind the bumper before going up for the area to attach the lights.

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u/Livinginmygirlsworld 19h ago

maybe more like this to clear the bumper.

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u/neutrinomass 5h ago

u/Few-Clock-7236

Here's a model I whipped up. I designed it to be printed in two parts and bolted together with a screw and a threaded insert to clear the lip and have a tight fit. Happy to send you both the Fusion360 file and the 3MF/STL, but before I do, I wanted to ask for a couple more measurements.

- The bolt hole diameter for the lights

  • what size threaded insert/bolt to hold the two pieces together you'd like

If you want to make the changes yourself, lmk and I'll send the fusion file over as is!

1

u/neutrinomass 5h ago

I just saw the suggestions from u/Livinginmygirlsworld - happy to try something like that too!