The beauty of desktop 3D printing is that you can rapidly iterate on design refinements. Pictured above is my third version of a table top tripod. I have increased the size and height of the legs from my first version (shown below for comparison). In addition, I tapered the legs (which had the added benefit of creating some very cool carbon fiber patterns), increased the size and thickness of the shoulder joints and converted from a 1/4-20 to 3/8-16 mounting bolt. The result is a very stiff design that I would fearlessly trust supporting the $5,000 camera and lens combination I use for macro photography. This version was good enough to win Part of the Week at work, my first win since joining the company three months ago, a good indicator of the level of competition from my colleagues who each week create the most amazing entries. After using the new tripod for some actual work, I decided to increase the splay of the legs and make them a tad longer. I left Version 4 printing as I went home for the weekend and can’t wait to see the result when I return on Monday.