Update: motorcycle parts fail
March 23, 2026
My hopes were quickly dashed. In a previous post, I described my DIY system to support my navigation tablet on the motorcycle. Yesterday, I took it for a shakedown, and found a fatal flaw in the 3D printed “arms”.
The previous version of the arms were able to be printed flat, and were quite strong. After installing some new handlebars, with a narrower flat area in the middle, I had to revise the arms to jog the clamp over a bit, to fit on the handlebars. The new design looked pretty good, and fit well on the bike… but that jog proved to be a weak spot, and both arms broke there on my test ride.
I’m no longer confident I can do this with 3D printed parts, at least not with a material I can easily print. I’ve ordered a commercial aluminum version that I had previously considered. I like my version better, and I’m not 100% sure that this one will fit on my bike the way I want (it’s a generic, one-size-maybe-fits-all part) but it should be strong enough, and it’s way cheaper than having my own parts machined.