3D Printed Linear and Rotary Positioning Stages

A 3D printed, gridfinity compatible, linear and rotary positioning system for science and research applications designed in FreeCAD.

Thomas Hankinson

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Description

The easy stage ecosystem are a set of positioning stages that are fully 3D printed and only need basic M3 bolts to be assembled, though some silicone grease is recommended. They're gridfinity compatible and make building at home optical research setups much cheaper and easier. I actually made these to position an open sourced electrospray ion source I've built that I might post here when its more complete. I presented these along side the ion source at a British Mass Spectrometry Society (BMSS) conference earlier this year (the AI SIG 2025) where it won an award.

I'm planning on adding motorized versions of these in the near future, alongside a Z stage based around a scissor lift. I might also make some T8 threaded rod versions for moving heavier payloads. You can find the designs on my printables and on the github repo I made for this project linked below. All CAD is provided and was done in FreeCAD.

Details

Printables:

https://www.printables.com/@Hungry_Hank_1776250/models

GitHub: --> Always go here for the latest CAD and Accessories

https://github.com/SGTHANKI/EasyPrintedStages

Components

6 × M3x8mm Bolt The only non-printed part.

Project Logs

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Update: 13/3/2025
Thomas Hankinson • 3 days ago • 0 comments

Update: 13/3/2025

I'm currently putting the finishing touches to a motorized version of the linear stage using 28BYJ stepper motors and a ULN2003 driver. The control is handled by a Pi Pico because they're easy to re-program for non-technical people like those who I often ship these stages to. Once I've got the motorized version and a controller done I plan to work on either a Z stage or expand the project into more lab hardware like a syringe pump. If anyone has any ideas or wants to contribute to the project hit me up!