Movement holder made with 3D printer

[LittleWatchShop]

I like the well-known brass movement holder for doing work, but when I have a movement in the "waiting for parts" mode, it is nice to have it sitting in a nice stable holder.  So, I decided to print this movement holder.

Print time was 20 minutes.  Probably took me about that long to design it.  Now that I have one complete, I can tweak it for other movement sizes with only a few minutes of effort.

FYI, this is a Landeron 51 chrono.  I cleaned it and it is running fine, but I need hands and a decision about the dial.  I have a dial, but it is in really poor shape.  I see hands and dials on Ebay, so I just have to decide which one to commit.

[jdm]

This type of holder should be so sligly undersized so to grab thanks to a slit in the diameter. And when is for a chrono mov.t all the difference is made by having pushers.

Will you publish it on Thingiverse or perhaps just attach files here?

[LittleWatchShop]

1 hour ago, jdm said:

Will you publish it on Thingiverse or perhaps just attach files here?

I am attaching the Freecad file.  I use Freecad which is open-source software that is heavily supported and it is FREE.  Been using it for three years and love it.

 

STL file also attached, but it is not as useful because it is much harder to edit.

When I get some time, I will parameterize this for easier mods.

movement_holder 2.FCStd movement holder.stl

Edited April 11, 2021 by LittleWatchShop

[LittleWatchShop]

OK, here is a version that is parameterized.  All you do is enter the diameter of the movement.  I have not run a bunch of cases to make sure it does not break.  In Feecad, after opening, click on spreadsheet and just enter one number.

MovementHolder.FCStd

[LittleWatchShop]

I have added the ability to set the Radius of the stem cutout as a parameter in the spreadsheet.  Also reduced the height of the overall holder.

 

MovementHolder.FCStd

Edited April 20, 2021 by LittleWatchShop

[LittleWatchShop]

Here is an update on the movement holder.  When I store an unfinished movement in the popular domed parts carrier, it tends to flop around if I try to place it in the center.  The solution was to put a base on the holder that sits nicely in the center partition.

[LittleWatchShop]

I consider myself ISO9001 compliant as I continually improve!    (at least I think I do)

[Waggy]

I made these as generic movement holders, they are 2 for 1, just flip them over to get a 0.5mm larger or smaller. just let me know and I can send you the .stl file for them.

[LittleWatchShop]

Nice! Yes, send them.

[Waggy]

Here is the .stl file for the movement holders, just change the file extension from .pdf to .stl

MultiMovementHolder.pdf

[RickTock]

For someone completely new to 3D printers, do you have any suggestions on what to purchase? My main interest is little horology tools like these movement holders, mainspring winders, and such. For what it's worth, I'm running Apple computers at home.

Thanks!

[Waggy]

3 hours ago, RickTock said:

For someone completely new to 3D printers, do you have any suggestions on what to purchase?

My son owns the printer, I just feed him the drawings and he works his magic. I'll see if I can get any advice from him and pass it along.

[LittleWatchShop]

3 hours ago, RickTock said:

For someone completely new to 3D printers, do you have any suggestions on what to purchase? My main interest is little horology tools like these movement holders, mainspring winders, and such. For what it's worth, I'm running Apple computers at home.

Thanks!

I use a Lulzbot Mini which I bought about five years ago.  Have been very happy with it. Print ALL the time.  It is a little pricey.  I suggest you consider a Prusa.  The product line is well received and is very economical.

[moodesu]

Good work on the holders, I am printing the 2 for 1 now.

[Waggy]

35 minutes ago, moodesu said:

Good work on the holders, I am printing the 2 for 1 now.

Hope you like them

Anyone have any 3D stuff they have made that would be good to share, I asked on another post about movement holder rings for Seiko (not dial spacers) but nobody has responded 

Edited February 16, 2023 by Waggy

[Waggy]

On 2/16/2023 at 6:55 AM, moodesu said:

Good work on the holders, I am printing the 2 for 1 now.

Let me know how they turned out

[Waggy]

I just uploaded these movement holders to thingyverse as well as two types of movement rings for Seikos, all free to use,  modify and distribute. Just doing my bit to help fellow enthusiasts.:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5866401

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5866398

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5866388

[moodesu]

On 2/21/2023 at 1:08 AM, Waggy said:

Let me know how they turned out

Mr filament broke halfway through... Do you have the separate files rather than 4 in 1 file?

[Waggy]

Sorry I don't have a separate file for each holder, I sketched them out and my son drafted them for his printer. I have now forced myself to learn the software he uses, but these were done before that. I'll see if I can get him to split them out.

[GuyMontag]

On 8/14/2021 at 2:35 PM, LittleWatchShop said:

Here is an update on the movement holder.  When I store an unfinished movement in the popular domed parts carrier, it tends to flop around if I try to place it in the center.  The solution was to put a base on the holder that sits nicely in the center partition.

I have a 3D printer on the way and am playing around learning FreeCAD. This looks similar to what I will be trying for my first project (movement holder that fits in the hand setting tool). Could you post the FreeCAD file? I'd like to see if I can adapt it to what I am trying to do.

 

By the way, your movement holder has that 'ledge' that is below the top of the holder which the movement rests on when in the holder. When you designed how thick the ledge is and how far down from the top it is, did you get those numbers from measurements you did on the movement or is there some other way you decided on those numbers?

Edited November 26, 2023 by GuyMontag

[LittleWatchShop]

2 hours ago, GuyMontag said:

I have a 3D printer on the way and am playing around learning FreeCAD. This looks similar to what I will be trying for my first project (movement holder that fits in the hand setting tool). Could you post the FreeCAD file? I'd like to see if I can adapt it to what I am trying to do.

 

By the way, your movement holder has that 'ledge' that is below the top of the holder which the movement rests on when in the holder. When you designed how thick the ledge is and how far down from the top it is, did you get those numbers from measurements you did on the movement or is there some other way you decided on those numbers?

WRT does not support FreeCAD file types.  PM me and I will attach to my reponse (if it lets me), or we will go offline via email.

My design was a simple hack more or less.  All measurements except for the width of the movement were SWAGs.  You will see in the FC file, I created a spreadsheet to parameterize the elements.  The extra piece on the bottom to fit the movement holder was also an "addon" hack using the Part workbench.  It too is a hack...lol.  When exporting to stl, you have to select two sets of elements.  If I were to do it over again, I would assemble the whole thing using Part Design workbench.

[GuyMontag]

3 hours ago, LittleWatchShop said:

WRT does not support FreeCAD file types.  PM me and I will attach to my reponse (if it lets me), or we will go offline via email.

My design was a simple hack more or less.  All measurements except for the width of the movement were SWAGs.  You will see in the FC file, I created a spreadsheet to parameterize the elements.  The extra piece on the bottom to fit the movement holder was also an "addon" hack using the Part workbench.  It too is a hack...lol.  When exporting to stl, you have to select two sets of elements.  If I were to do it over again, I would assemble the whole thing using Part Design workbench.

Thanks, I'll send you a PM.

[Waggy]

Wow, great minds think alike, I use freeCAD and also have a 3D printer being delivered by Santa , I currently have to bribe my son to use his. I was was thinking on Friday afternoon that it may be cool to try some parametric modelling in freeCAD and sketched out a parametric movement holder. My idea was to measure the movement outer diameter and then let freeCAD spit out the complete design.

Here is what I sketched in my lunch hour (including a doodle I did whilst on a very boring conference call) on Friday:

I also plan to put a fillet (0.25?) on some of the outer 'corners' mainly for aesthetics, and one on the entry to the seat to make it easier to get the movement in, but didn't get time to add them to my sketch, blue circles above.

 

Also l1  is the cutout for the stem/crown, was thinking of making it U shaped rather than square, but would model it as a square and simply fillet the corners to make it a U shape.

Just in case you can't make out my handwriting:

d1 = variable (the movement holder OD and the only input you need to make)

d2 = d1 + 10 mm

d3 = d1 - 5 mm

d4 = d2 x 1.5

r1 = h2

l1 = 10mm (with 2mm filets{?} to make it a U shape)

h1 = 5mm

h2 = 30mm

h3 = 5mm (will only need this outer dimension also to be h3 if I decide to keep the 'shoulders' at the top of the model, thinking I may just skip the outer shoulders and have the top and bottom linked by an ark without the shoulders... I will need to think about this....any ideas??? My initial thinking is that the shoulders may flex a little as you push the movement in and grip the movement better, but not sure how realistic this idea is?) - see version 1 and version 2 below.

Once I get to grips with it, I'll post the freeCAD design on thingiverse and you can also PM me for it from here

Version 1 and version 2 of the top of the movement holder

Edited November 27, 2023 by Waggy
Typos

[Michael1962]

Off topic, sort, but I intend at some point to 3D Print a clock. 

[Waggy]

Think I did it.....

Below  is my parametric movement holder (size 30mm movement)

Below is size 10 mm movement (minimum size before model breaks):

Below is size 70 mm movement (maximum size before model breaks):

And here is the Parameters table - only need to change the red text cell at the top:

PM me if you want the link to download

This is in FreeCAD not sure if it will play nice if exporting in other formats, but I'll give it a go if you let me know what you need.

I think I managed to create a link you can download the freeCAD file:

LINK HERE

Thingiverse link:

LINK HERE

Edited November 27, 2023 by Waggy