I was fairly new to 3D printing. Like many others I soon began to browse objects online and modify them to suit my needs. One thing that struck me after a relatively short time was, that most of the time I was modifying other peoples objects because I liked them but they could not be mounted In the way I needed them.

Maybe I overlooked something - leave a comment, if you know better - but I also could not find any outstanding efforts to abstract mount points from objects so that remixes which basically consist of reengineering the fixtures of an object would become less frequent.

This is why I decided to begin designing my own system. It basically consists of a sliding clip (or cleat) design, that has already seen quite a few generations of development. At the current stage I won't make major changes to the design of the clips any more, since they have proven many times to be very usable and sturdy during the last year.

It tries to combine the following primary goals:

• easy printing (esp. FDM)
• minimal size (big enough for a medium-sized screw)
• painless application (using carefully crafted guide planes and printable alignment helpers)
• sturdiness (one PLA clip at 30% infill is good for at least 10kg of continuous weight and 3kg of drag)

If you intend to create objects using the MultiClip design, please try your best to adhere to the following guidelines. They are meant to retain maximum interchangeability between clip- and object-designs.

• Do not resize the clip design; try to use multiple clips instead wherever needed.
• try to space multiple clips vertically by 35mm (from top to top) or any multiple thereof.
• try to space them horizontally by 25mm (from lhs to lhs) or any multiple thereof.

You can find the MultiClip object ready for your tinkering on TinkerCad!

I also designed two mount shapes for the clip; one that is designed to need some effort to click into place and will not come off easily and one that is designed to just slide in and out without major effort, for objects that need a fixed mount point as well as easy removal. Please see the thingiverse page for the mount for further information.

I am now regularly releasing new things using the MultiClip system, both for public use and as examples.

Also, I strongly encourage you to create remixes of the clip to create new object mounting capabilities I have not yet realized. Comments and suggestions are also very welcome.

Update 2020-10-19

• Kermi radiator mount clips now available
• Quite a few new MultiClip Objects in the collection (link above).

Update 2018-09-21

• Updated the alignment helper
• New: MultiClip Glue!

Update 2018-08-26

• improved and corrected models for the 3mm and 4,5mm screw MultiClip and the screw hole marker clip.
• new MultiClip for 5mm screws with 10mm head diameter. For a screw this strong, using ABS to print the clip is recommended.

Update 2018-04-04

• improved alignment helper tool

Update 2018-02-23:

• Optimized Stapler Clip
• Varied Screw Clips. Now 2 sizes and they bear marks which screw size they are for.

Update 2018-01-27

• Added stapler clips.
• Added clip alignment helper tools