I was having problems with slippage on my Printrbot Simple BETA z axis so I designed this little coupler. Seems to hold tight.

This is used to reduce a lot of wobble with Nophead's Z couplers if you have flats on your motor shafts. Despite the low print accuracy because these parts are so tiny, I reduced the wobble from awful to almost perfect.

The provided STL is for a motor shaft of 5mm diameter with a flat diameter of 4.5mm.

These are pipe clamps, commonly used for scaffolding, trusses and lighting rigs. In pairs, they hold two pipes together with a pivot. Used singly they can be used to clamp other things to a pipe (lights, etc).

These are sized for 1/2" steel pipe and 1/4"-20 bolts. A 1/4"-20 carriage bolt and wing nut tighen the clamp around the pipe, and a short 1/4"-20 bolt / nut is used to fasten them together / to other things. I use them to fashion quick temporary jigs and frames from pipes.

The pivot is not a bearing. It's just some flexibility when setting up the position and not meant to be spun around. The nut and bolt will unscrew and it will come apart!

There are so many variables when printing that their strength cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, consider these LIGHT DUTY -- and not replacements for steel clamps. They are not strong enough to trust anyone's life to! Don't use these to clamp a 200 lb spotlght over someone's head! Use at your own risk.

EDIT: You probably don't want to use this. It's too rigid. I'm currently using these: thingiverse.com/thing:22422 (I think mine's prettier but that doesn't count for much if the prints suck!)

If you need a rigid coupler these are great, but for most reprap applications (including the Printrbot Plus), give mine a miss. Sorry!

A simple coupler to mount M8 threaded rods to a NEMA 17 stepper. The up arrow points up!

I'm [no longer] using two of these on my Printrbot Plus and so far, [have changed my mind about them being] so good. (Don't overtighten!)

I was working on an OB 1.4 OpenBeam printer hardware kit for a friend and mis-cut one of the OpenBeam pieces. Since OpenBeam was having stock issues I had to fix the problem so I created this very strong OpenBeam coupler. The walls are over 8mm thick and it fits the OpenBeam very closely. It has bolt holes for 16 3mm screws which will vary in length depending on if you use washers or washers and locknuts. This piece when printed at 100% infill is extremely strong and could even be used to couple 1 meter lengths of OpenBeam if required.

Heigth 30mm
Diameter 20mm

PVC joining at different angles, great for PVC frames or any type of PVC builds that require joining. This part glues together and then can slip into a PVC pipe of your choice to hold it in place. Full customization, from a single PVC-to-PVC connection up to a 6 way PVC connection at all types of angles. Have fun with customizer!

M5 nut adapter for M8 Receptacle. I made this to use with M5 Z leadscrews.
instead of remix the X-Ends with M5 receptacles just use this simple adapter

Prusa Coupler 5mm to 1/4" treaded Rod.

This is a shaft coupler that I have used in several of my designs. It couples the 1/4 20tpi threaded rod to a NEMA 23 stepper motor. There is an allowance for the motor shaft to use a section of rubber surgical tubing to allow for some play in the output.

This coupler clamps directly to the lead screw, while also clamping to the motor via a rubber tube slipped over the shaft. This gives some tolerance to misalignment or bent screws without causing Z position errors like a springy helical coupler. It's just a tweak of Triffid Hunter's great iteration; in previous generations of the part, the clamping screws conflicted with the rubber tubing if the lead screw was smaller than the tubing O.D. This just locates the clamp screws relative to the larger of the tubing OD or the lead screw diameter, thus working with narrower screws (such as my 6.35mm ones) or thicker-walled tubing.

Joint I designed that eliminates nonlinearities in motor shaft and threaded rod.
My prints had improved since I use it.

On the last picture - left one is after attaching joints and right one before.

This is an OpenSCAD version of thing:5439. I really liked the original design, since it allows me to use the Parametric Prusa Lower Z Axis Mount (thing:19313) at the bottom of the z screws to support the weight of the x-axis without over-constraining the z-axis (as opposed to having the full weight of the z-screws and x-axis just hanging from the z-motor shafts in the standard Prusa design). However, I needed to modify it, since the shafts on the NEMA 17 stepper motors I got on Ebay were turned down to 4mm instead of the standard 5mm, and I am using 1/4"-20 threaded rod for my lead screws.

This file allows you to easily specify outer diameter, both shaft diameters, spring section length, end section length, center section length, number of twists per spring, number of sides on the coupler (facets), and the duty cycle of the spring (fraction of the spring that is solid).

Used to make simple small bamboo cubes, within minutes.

Scaled up it can form a quick enclosure for biocontainment or frame for mosquito netting over a bed.

It can form a "bin shape" for collection area with tarp or plastic in the center.
Suspend items from inside corner supports.

Stack several with corner guides to make columns or walls for building simple structures or even temporary housing frame.

For getting the extra length out of M6 threaded rods, carriage bolts etc.

I used this as a flexible coupler on a NEMA23 motor with 1/4" shaft to a 1/4" screw shaft. I had originally purchased some rigid shaft couplers but, they were transmitting way to much vibration that resulted in excessive noise. These couplers have considerably dampened the noise and appear to be strong enough. I haven't done extensive testing so I can't say what the longevity of these will be. I also had a design constraint of no longer than 25mm so the dimensions are 25mm long, 26mm width and height.

This is a coupler for adding extra extension handles to your paint roller. The ones that came with my paint roller broke, so I designed this replacement.

A cheap & dirty derivative of Finger Wheel that puts the 5/16" hex nut recess in the face of the wheel and uses the collar as a coupler to a 1/4" stepper shaft.


Printed on a SeeMeCNC H1 with 45% infill.

A redesigned version of the v1. I think it's more flexible and strong if the variables are set right.

Bukobot Thingy: thingiverse.com/thing:21746

This is a parametric Z rod/motor coupler for any 3D printer. Originally made for the Bukobot 3D Printer ( thingiverse.com/thing:21746 )

Features a "Flex Chamber" to be a little flexible for the not-so-straight Z threaded rods and one piece for both sides.

This is an oldham coupling used for eccentric (or shifting) drive shaft connections such as present at the Moineau pump thingy. but requires less height and space than most eccentric couplings.

I am using this coupling in my own Moineau pump derivative (in progress)
but am sure more people would like to use it for other unaligned shaft connections.
a schmidt style coupling has the same function and height

UPDATE!!!
All STL files are now being posted at bukobot.com

Buko is my idea of a new framework for the next generation of RepRap 3D Printers. 3D printers using this framework are called Bukobots.

- Easy to Build
- Easy to Expand or Upgrade
- Dual Extruder Option!
- Great Documentation
- Open Source
- Environmentally Friendly

Keeping true to open source, I'll be uploading Bukobot parts here little by litte as they are tested and finalized.

Here's a spider coupler for coupling two axes. Includes a cutout for a nut and a screw for attachment.

It's fully parametric, 16 parameters can be edited straight in your web browser.

Coupler for Z Axis, Revision 3, Beefed up a little. Created in PTC Creo

25mm Long 20mm Diameter. Now 5mm AND 0.25" (6.35mm) Bore files. I designed this for a light duty Z-Axis Nema 11 stepper (28BYG501) for a CNC engraver I am building.

I rounded all sharp edges for a professional appearance and to eliminate stress risers that could lead to cracks. Let me know if I missed any edges.

UPDATE - 3/3/2012: I added 3 new versions with a 1.5 turn helix cut. Mouse over file name and look for ones with 1pt5 at the end. Hopefully more robust. The originals were modeled after an aluminum one I had and I didn't account for the obvious material differences.

Adapt your lovejoy connector to your Nema 17 5mm rod motor. I was sent the wrong one so took the opportunity to create the Love Joy 5mm coupler for the World. Fits perfectly on the 5mm Nema 17 Stepper motors. Fits a M6 Nut and Screw.

Download V2 Version.** Alot Stronger than V1

This assembly allows the use of a spiral cut coupler on the z-axis. It uses a thrust washer assembly to eliminate leadscrew end-play, and otherwise corrects wobble in the z-axis.

***UPDATE 1/12/2012***
Added .PK2 and .STL for 4mm stepper shafts


***EDIT** Rev2, I made some adjustments to the columns and verified that the .PK2 file works in Creo again. I printed a new one and it looks better than the first one I uploaded. Let me know what you think. Use EricCoupler2 for the newer version.. I also found Thing# 12190, which is really similar, he made his first so I've listed this as a derivative though I created mine separately before I saw his.


This coupler came from my seeing and experiencing issues with other couplers. I wanted a Z coupler that was round and would not snag any loose wires. I wanted one that I would not have to worry about slippage, and that would be beefy. After a little experimentation, I decided the captive nut idea was the best. This is my first posted Thing, so Comments are certainly welcome. I design objects with PTC Creo. It's awesome. Elements is Free.

coupler that works with 5mm stepper motors, when the 5/16 threaded rod is double nutted. Hex hole is slightly bigger than a 5/16 nut, re-print hole bigger and fill with silicone if backlash is an issue for you.

Now with new version 3 that has two setscrews, Version 4 is two parts

This is a Z Coupler made of ABS and designed to take the wobble of the z axis on basically any machine off. This design (Mk2) is fairly stiff and easy to print.