MS Surface Adapter brackets Allows MS Surface Pro 4 and Onward Tablets to work with a MS Model 1664 Dock

thingiverse

I have an older Surface Pro 3 and just got a new Surface Pro (5th gen) there are some slight but significant dimension differences between the two tablets. I wanted to make use of a docking station there are several options available MS makes a New Surface Dock that has a flexible wire connector an d a brick like body these are pricey but good. https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/p/surface-dock/8qrh2npz0s0p/hpr1?ocid=AID695933_SEM_XD4CrAAAGg1jlpJ_%3a20190125172428%3as&activetab=pivot%3aoverviewtab I also had a Surface pro 3 dock model 1664 that will work with the newer surface tablets but requires an adapter that once was available from MS for free but has been discontinued and is no longer available. There are 3rd party adapters available but these are pricey IMHO. The 1664 docs are nolonger made but are currently readily available on eBay and other sites for relatively much less cost. They give you one extra USB port and one less video port, a reasonable compromise from my perspective. MS had done a good deed in providing us with a downloadable 3D printable adapter files and Instruction sheets: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4039900/surface-using-surface-pro-4-with-your-surface-pro-3-docking-station On examination of the file and adapter it is an exact duplicate of the one previously available and will work but it is too long for most common 3D printers having a length in excess of 220 mm. The MS STL file is loaded here if you want tp use that one. In looking at the adapter as it loads up, I came to the conclusions I could make some minor improvements to make it printable for most printers while meeting the need. I decide to reduce it to two strips that install on either side of the dock back with double sided tape. This reduces the print to the minimal essentials that will make the adaptation needed and print quickly. There are depressions on the back surface of the plates for placement of the double sided tape that allows them to mount flat to the dock as per the original MS design. On further examination they were having it print horizontally which means that the layers are parallel to the length of the adapter putting the weaker inter-layer boundary in the plane of highest potential stress and making it more likely to break. In addition, in its original orientation it was angled upward that would result in extensive supports/rafts being needed also. Solution is to orient the two adapter strips so that they are printed on edge with a brim for added adhesion and let them print upward in the “Z” direction. This will put the weak inter-layer plane in the vertical direction in use and make them over all stronger in use. These are simply cut downs from the original print file set to give a better print result and meet the minimal need in print time and material to do the job well and sufficiently. I sliced them in Cura 3.6 and printed in black PLA with no supports only a brim as described. Dimensions should be in millimeters. They printed to fit snugly and well. You may have to scale them slightly for your printer depending on your configuration. I hope that this may be useful for some people.