Adapter to use camera tripod as a microphone stand

People complained that my laptop sound was buzzy, so I bought a proper microphone (thanks to mdw for advice, and loan of some kit). Proper microphones come with a holder that accepts a screw from your microphone stand. In my case, 3/8" "BSW" - similar to 3/8" US standard "coarse" (or if you unscrew a supplied insert, a special 27tpi 5/8" UNS).

I don't have a microphone stand and I didn't want to buy one. I have two camera tripods - a small one and a big one. My camera tripods have 1/4" coarse (20tpi) UNC screws.

Also, we have a 3D printer at home. And nowadays you can download a configurable screw thread from the internet. So I made myself an adapter. After a few iterations I have a pretty good object which can be used to fit my new microphone to either camera tripod. (I found that a UNC thread was close enough to fit the microphone's BSW.)

Of coure, this is Open Hardware and the (short) source code is available. (To build it you'll want to git clone to get the included files.)

Pictures below the cut. The flange at the bottom is because tripods usually have a soft top which is supposed to stop scratching the camera; a narrow hexagonal base would make gouges, hence the wide base. ( Read more... )