Clamping bracket for sideway mounting of stepper motors

thingiverse

This project fills a need to attach Nema14/Nema17 stepper motors to a side wall, without using the motor's four screw holes on top or bottom. This approach comes in handy when the top of the motor features another mechanism, such as a direct extruder. The motor assembly can be inserted and removed quickly from the mounting bracket without needing to remove the top assembly. The position of the mounting screws is adjustable, allowing them to either be hidden inside the bracket (saving space) or remain accessible outside from the exterior. For outside screws, both normal and countersunk versions are available. The rear wall of the bracket has a configurable cutout for motor wires. The bracket features holes and air channels that allow better air cooling when the motor gets warm. The motor is secured in place by two M3 clamp screws at the front edges of the bracket. Two M3 screw nuts hidden in the front corners provide the corresponding mating threads. When using grub screws, the clamping mechanism remains almost invisible from the exterior. Motor brackets are printed upside down, so no supports are needed for printing. The OpenScad source is fully parametrized and commented, making it easy to adapt to special needs. Predefined ready-to-print versions are provided for Nema14 and Nema17 motors, with mounting screw variants including inside countersunk, outside countersunk, and outside normal screws. Update 2017-03-04: Three STL files have been added for Nema17, providing 3mm extra width (ew) at the rear for motor wiring. This might be necessary for motors that feature a wire plug perpendicular to the motor axis.