Suction cup base

This design is a suction cup base compatible with a variety of printed tools i designed including a phone stand, a camera stand, a vice and various translation stages. This stage is fully 3D printed at the exception of 5x 10mm M3 screws and a few melt inserts (M3, 4.2 mm OD, 4mm thick) and provide a strong anchoring on windows, glass tables and any other smooth surface. Detailed assembly instructions are available on Instructable: https://www.instructables.com/Build-a-3D-Printed-Suction-Mount The print quality of the TPU suction cup element is critical to the reliability of this base. While soft TPU works best, hard TPU can also be used, just select the suction cup element accordingly. The suction cup MUST be printed on a smooth print bed, and glue is discouraged as it deteriorate the quality of the first layer. However be cautious as TPU can adhere so much that your printing bed can be damaged when recovering the print. Putting the bed and the print in a freezer before taking the print off helps. Glass beds work best. Printing parameters also matter. Use fully dense print profile to prevent pores in the part that the air can infiltrate through. Setting the wall number to a very high number (80) would do the trick. A little bit of over-extrusion (103%) also helps. For very long term uses, you can cast a thin layer of silicone or PDMS of the sucker base. I used this technique for a suction cup in my bathroom and its been holding on for 3 years (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5997443). If you cannot or do not want to use melt inserts i added a version of the top plate for M3 nuts. However i find this option less reliable. The other parts of this design use some supports but can be printed with standard parameters (0.2mm layers, 4 walls, 25% infill).