PCB holder

 Today's post will be quick one.

I got too irritated by all PCB clamps that don't all work all too wall so I decided to make my own! Inspiration came mostly from optical tables we use all around our labs.

I decided to make thin, heavy base plate with M3 holes every 10mm and adapters to be able to mount support wherever I want. The design looks like this:

quick render of design

Before commiting to expensive and long process of getting them milled from steel plate I decided to make sure that it's as useful as I think. For that I 3d printed prototype out of PLA. I wanted to make it out of black PLA but part way through filament ended and I had to quickly switch to orange. This is how it looks assembled:

PCB mounted for soldering



everything prepared for mounting PCB

It make look more complex than usual clamps to use but keep in mind that if board has screws on 10mm raster then spacers can be screwed directly into base plate. Additionally thanks to modular design boards can be mounted not only with mounting holes but also with all sorts of clamps.
Currently in design phase are mounts with magnet inside. They'll friction hold to steel plate to aid in positioning before screwing  them.

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