Build a Cheap 3D Printed Stop Motion Winder

When doing stop motion it's useful to have hardware to support the things you're animating. This can be as simple as a piece of string, a bit of armature wire, or as complicated as a multi dimensional rack gear winder.

I spent the last year exploring different flavors of winder. Mostly for lego scale stop motion. It's designed to be cheap, and use mostly 3D printed parts.

I use a $9 helping hands as a source of clamps and ball joints.

https://www.amazon.com/Neiko-01902-Ad...

You can get at the Fusion 360 file here: https://a360.co/3qsKxPs

And the 3D models are here:
https://www.printables.com/model/5552...

To get REAL winders and rigs you should visit ‪@edupuertasfruns‬ 's armature site. His rigs are real works of art, and my initial attempts at these things were based roughly on his GWX:
https://kineticarmatures.com/rigs-and...

If you're doing pro level stop motion the investment in pro rigs is going to be well worth it.
His video about the short comings of Helping Hands rigs is great and can be found here:
   • Cheapest stopmotion rig on planet earth  

Here are the threaded inserts I use:
https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/129/...

The cad should have a "hex nut" based version of the back of the head that can accommodate 4-40 nuts instead of inserts, but I haven't actually tried it out.

I'm just using JB Quick two part epoxy for the gluing.

This build makes a lot of use of nested brass tubing.
The razor saw I use is this one:
https://www.amazon.com/SAW-RAZOR-X-AC...

The 1-2-3 blocks are these ones:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...

Be aware that although the blocks are precision ground, the threaded holes can vary wildly in thread root diameter, so the alignment pins I made for the base may need to be adjusted in size if you want a tight fit. The fit isn't that important though.

Here are the hollow beads I used:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...

These are the solid beads I used from Ali Express. They work as is if you use a small diameter rod like SS welding rod. They can also be good if you have a way to drill them out.
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/325680...

Anyway. Feel free to as questions, let me know if you build some!

PS Oh and here is a download link for getting the cad files:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/g5q3w4...

Also here is the cut list for brass tubing. Sorry about the horrible mixing of SAE and Metric.

DIAMETER LENGTHS
1/8” 14.2mm, 7.2mm
5/32” 2mm, 2mm, 3.8mm
3/16” 3.8mm
7/32” 3.8mm

The exact lengths are not super critical.