Ground spikes for tripod positioning

[Mognet]

After experimenting with some plant pots laid out in a triangle to help with positioning the tripod I've 3D printed some ground spikes that should hopefully be better while also not being trip hazards. The soft ground from the recent rain helped greatly in pushing them in.

This could be one of my saner ideas. Just need a clear night to try it out.

The STL for it is attached.

 

TripodPeg.stl

[DougM43]

before building a permanent pier i used to use wine bottle caps pressed into the lawn to mark my tripod positions, unfortunately whenever i mowed the lawn the lawnmower used to suck them up, and if i let the lawn grow they became impossible to find. These look like a perfect solution.

[Mognet]

Thanks. The intention is that these would be safe against lawnmowers, but I have no idea if they actually are yet. They're 75mm long, and didn't go into the soggy clay soil here that readily, so might be ok. They're pushed in level with the surface.

[Vallantho]

Thinking of doing something like this myself. What material did you use? I’m wondering how well PLA will hold up over the year ranging from wet and soggy to dry and hot?

[adyj1]

On 24/02/2024 at 19:11, Mognet said:

I've 3D printed some ground spikes

What infill percentage did you use? I must admit, I've printed a few astro bits at 100% for peace of mind - even though it shouldn't strictly be necessary. 

[Mognet]

I didn't do anything special with the printing. The filament is 3DQF PLA, and I printed it with 4 perimeters and 10% cubic infill. Whether it holds up to our weather or not remains to be seen!

I believe @Chriske has used prints outdoors, and somewhere in the forum threads I think there are a few others, so there should be some opinions on long term outdoor use. As these are under compression they might be ok.