Flying stems

For replacing a snapped stem or giving a flyer more height. The flat foot superglues to any base, and the top joins the model with either a peg that fits a hole you drill or a ball joint so you can pose it.

The STLs are 15, 20, 30 and 35mm stems with a 4.8mm foot and a peg 1.8mm across and 4mm long, plus a 20mm stem with a 4mm ball. The height is the stem itself, so the peg or ball adds a little on top.

For other heights or joints, open stem.scad in OpenSCAD and use the Customizer panel (Window › Customizer). It needs a recent development snapshot of OpenSCAD (2024 or later), because the 2021.01 release is too old.

What you can change in the .scad:

• Stem height and foot diameter

• Connection: a peg (diameter and length) or a ball (diameter)

This is part of HobbyKit, a free generator I made. hobbykit.app makes these in a browser, along with magnetised bases to stand them on and holders and trays to match.

Print settings

• Upright on its foot

• No supports

• 0.12mm layers for a clean peg or ball

• PLA or PETG. Tall stems hold up better in PETG.

Files

• flying-stem-15mm.stl: 15mm stem with a peg

• flying-stem-20mm.stl: 20mm stem with a peg

• flying-stem-30mm.stl: 30mm stem with a peg

• flying-stem-35mm.stl: 35mm stem with a peg

• flying-stem-20mm-ball.stl: 20mm stem with a 4mm ball joint

• stem.scad: the OpenSCAD source for other heights and joints