I find that when working with electronics, multimeters are always either in the way, positioned so that the leads will not quite reach what I need them to, or oriented so that I cannot see the display. Moving them around is not a big deal, until the desk / table / bench top starts getting crowded, then they somehow manage to get caught on whatever will cause the most disruption to my setup (despite not generally having any snaggy protrusions to hang up on things).
While ruminating on these frustrations, I decided it would be really nice to have something that would:
- get the multimeter(s) off the desk / table / bench where I am working (so it is not in the way)
- be able to adjust the position so that I can still read the display
- be above whatever I am working on, so leads do not get caught up and can reach anywhere on the desk / table / bench top
- preferrably be able to be pushed back out of the way when not in use
It occured to me that a swing arm desk lamp could do all of those things. When I started looking for something to use as a donor, I realized a microphone arm was very nearly the same thing (and I would not end up with a spare lamp sitting around). I ended up using this one specifically, purchased from amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08G4M9C8G/
My Klein MM300s have a convenient mount to attach to a belt hanger, and when I looked to see if anybody had created any type of 3D printed mount I found alsch's wall mount on thingiverse. I printed one off to test and it worked perfectly.
A created a couple quick fitments for the mic stud, loaded up the wall mount into Sketchup, and in short order had my first test print. I was not sure if having the stud oriented up or down would work better, so I did a version for each direction (as it turns out, I prefer the stud oriented down).
These adapters worked beautifully. A 3/8 - 16 hex nut is required, but should be easy to find any hardware or home improvement store.
I have included both the .skp and .stl files for both adapters.
John Tatum is a software developer living in central Texas. He likes clean code, scalable infrastructure, and automation. When he is not at work, John enjoys whatever seems interesting at the time.