Last time, we made a version that was lasercut rather than 3D printed. 3D printing is great for prototyping, but can take quite a while to make. Lasering or injection molding is significantly faster. So we went the next step and started to modify the with the laser in mind.
As mentioned in the previous post, we arranged it for 3 different positions. The 3 positions represent the 3 sides one would solder the wire to the male and female plug for 12 - 16 AWG or 8 - 10 AWG. Yes, some of our customer solder 8 AWG wire onto the plug. In this design we needed to insert the stand into the base. This can be tricky since depending on the source, the actual thickness of the acrylic can vary by a 0.001". We found that it was difficult to control, so we would need to take another look at that aspect of the design in the next iteration.
A major improvement came in the form of the material. We used cast acrylic in this version since it cuts cleanly with the laser, and there was paper masking, so that the flashback from the laser would not distort the acrylic. The previous version used extruded acrylic. We also added rubber feet to ensure the base was stable whether on a picnic table, workbench, or desk. Are we done, or close, maybe. We will continue experimenting and then we will also test it in the real environment.