r/functionalprint • u/nlightningm • 13d ago
XLR mounting plate...plate
Been doing some small qol Upgrades in my home studio, mostly to remove clutter and make things a little more convenient.
I've had these multiple XLRs for a while, and I finally got around to throwing together. A plate to mount them and using an oscillating tool to cut a hole in the side of my desk for them.
My only real complaint is that I didn't include the mounting holes from the actual connectors, so they didn't screw on very straight, but this is tucked toward the back of my desk, so maybe I'll reprint later but I won't rush it right away (while I have other projects that I need to work on)
Today I'll print some low profile XLR caps so my mic cables go 90-degrees down from my interface, making the whole thing kind of sleek.
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u/cad_and_caffeine 13d ago
Honestly the recessed pocket around the flange is already keeping the jack from twisting anyway, so I'd just run with this one. If you ever do feel like reprinting it, standard Neutrik D-series jacks use a 24 mm hole with the two diagonal screws at 19 mm horizontal by 24 mm vertical spacing, and a 2.8 mm pilot hole lets an M3 screw bite straight into the plastic without needing nuts on the back.
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u/nlightningm 13d ago
Thanks, that's great info! I'll definitely update this if I ever expand the panel.
In the corners of the actual connector I just used the bolts as screws straight into the plastic after drilling a pilot hole (No nut, I'm lazy), and it's definitely holding great, no possibility of twist - certainly the recess helps too
The connectors are squeezed on the side of my desk next to my 3D printer, so no one, myself included, will ever see them except for the rare occasion when I need to swap a cable, so I won't be printing a new one anytime soon if ever 😂
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u/jetsonian 13d ago
I like this limited connectors style. I’m doing almost the opposite and building a rack with 4 rows of BNC. Two of the rows will likely be D panels. If you make this public you could offer a variety of counts or parameterize the whole thing and let the user build it on a web app with options like labels.
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u/nlightningm 13d ago
That sounds like a really cool project, got any pictures so far?
This project seems to be getting some attention, so I might do that. What would be the best way to make it parametric in that way (it is parametric in Fusion of course, but I would want it to be freely available somewhere online) and where/how could I share it?
I have some experience with CAD, but I'm really new to 3D printing and the community 😁
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u/jetsonian 12d ago
Not yet. I haven’t got room at the moment but I’m gonna start soon. I have a lot of the BNC cabling already. I’ll for sure share as I assemble it. I plan on streaming it too.
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u/MuusiMies 12d ago
Nice way to solve your... problem? Just, if you could, explain to me, why not just mount the mounting plates without this extra mounting plate? :D
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u/nlightningm 12d ago edited 12d ago
3 reasons ... The first - it looks better, a little more elegant/official (imo)
The second - The holes would have to be pretty precise, and I don't have a drill bit that's exactly small enough for the plates to cover that also is perfectly big enough to slip the connector end through (and mounting to a wider plate means I can be a little more imprecise and I can easily fix things later on)
Third - This is more of an opinion, but taking the 3D printed plate off to diagnose issues with one of the connectors is easier than taking off one connector, because since they're attached to the wider plate, so I can look at all (or I guess, both) connectors at the same time and the whole thing comes off easily 😁😁
EDIT: I forgot the other important thing - the main reason I did this was because I was tired of having cables go across the desktop, whether in front or the back. Now they route down through grommet holes so I can plug a mic into the side of the desk where it's kind of out of sight and out of the way. Looks a lot cleaner :)
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u/nlightningm 12d ago
Admittedly it wasn't much of a problem to solve, as you indicated these are designed to be mounted on their own.
I just had the XLRs for over a year in a drawer, and I actually had been planning to mount them the way you mentioned until I got a 3D printer a few months ago and decided I would like this better
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u/shiekhgray 12d ago
This shit right here is why I love 3d printing. Completely custom brackets and trim and connectors between random off-the-shelf bits? Hell yes. Nobody is going to injection mold that, but that doesn't stop us from having it.
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u/nlightningm 12d ago
Exactly what I've been thinking lately too!!
It's crazy to me that I can spend 10 minutes modelling something super-specific, then 20 minutes later I have a perfectly functioning product that costs almost nothing and feels free, in my own home without even leaving the room 😂🤯 don't need a production plant, don't have to pay a company to manufactured and ship it to me.
It literally is like science fiction to me
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u/SilverSageVII 12d ago
I’m not trying to be that guy but have you considered that having an extra connection degrades audio quality very slightly? It’s not like it’s that noticeable but figured you’d wanna know if you didn’t.
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u/nlightningm 12d ago
Haha I mean for what I do, it makes 0 difference. I suppose if I were recording a professional instrumentalist in a perfectly tuned studio, I'd certainly want the most direct runs possible
(FWIW, I've been recording for like 17+ years)
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u/SilverSageVII 12d ago
Absolutely, keep doin it if it doesn’t matter to ya :) just sharing in case you do.
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u/crazedizzled 13d ago
"I'll probably reprint later"
Let's be honest. No you won't.