Designing the threaded rod in OpenSCAD
Creating 3D printed threads and nuts can be challenging due to the imperfections in the process. A slight droop while printing can result in a threaded connection that is too tight to be of use. Generally, this occurs with smaller-sized threads such as M3 or M4. For this reason, we will only use 3D print threads on the rods for our laptop stand and use standard M10 nuts to secure the rods to the frame.
Why not print all the hardware we need?
It is of little value to 3D print objects that are available in great abundance, such as standard nuts and bolts. The cost of the filament coupled with the time taken makes printing standard nuts and bolts expensive compared to just purchasing the hardware. This, of course, would not be the case for those who live in more remote areas.
For the threaded rod in our laptop stand design, we will be using a library to generate an M10 bolt. We will replace the head of the M10 bolt with a long cylinder and...