3D printable Macbook clamshell stand (free download)

Apple’s “Clamshell Mode” allows you to use your Macbook in it’s closed position, as long as it has power, input devices and an external display. Originally meant for users who had bought the 27″ thunderbolt display, this feature is particularly useful as a space-saving option to keep your workspace clutter free.

Inspired by Twelve South’s BookArc, which I would happily have bought if I could find one local to me – I headed off to Thingiverse to see if anyone else had ever managed to pull something like this off. What I found were a number of designs for older Macbooks but none for my newly-released touchbar model, which was alot slimmer than the previous generation.

While there were a few designs that interested me enough to consider remixing them, the other issue I had to overcome was printing it on my delta printer which has a rather small bed volume of 200mm, of which I was only able to use about 130mm of ,at the time, due to the warping issues that had been plagueing me for quite some time. There was only one option left – I would have to design my own stand. It would have to be minimalistic and effective and it had to fit inside my print area.

I measured the profile of the edge with a pair of calipers by first measuring the thickness after the curve, then measuring the thickness of the edge and calculating the radius between them. I used the fillet command to create the radius. I got it almost perfect on the first print, and after a quick adjustment to the fillet radius, I printed it out in eSun’s silver PLA+ and had to watch it like a hawk all the way through, paranoid about the edges warping. I used a brim support which a taped town to the bed and 2 hours later, Voila.

If you like this design and would like to make one for yourself, head over to my Thingiverse page and download it for free. If you do, a like and follow would be great and I’d be super chuffed if you posted a make 🙂 Enjoy!