The New Hotness

The original anchor / weight keeping the HQ Sixteen from rolling away suffered a disastrous fall, so I conjured a much better-looking replacement from the vasty digital deep:

HQ Sixteen - improved anchor — HQ Sixteen – improved anchor

The handle and fancy nut came from the deceased pepper mill, sitting on laser-cut acrylic in a 3D printed base, with a drawer liner disk peeking out from underneath.

The orange disk in the solid model represents the steel slug harvested from the old anchor:

HQ Sixteen Anchor - solid model - Show view — HQ Sixteen Anchor – solid model – Show view

A ring of hot-melt glue under the weight keeps it from rattling around in there, with the snug-fitting central post encouraging good positioning. I made the acrylic lid sit flush with the top of the base by the simple expedient of running another ring of glue around it, plunking the base + weight atop it on a flat surface, then taking a deep breath while the glue solidified. The nut & screw thus compress a solid stack of acrylic + glue + steel + glue + PETG-CF, rather than just parts flying in formation.

The OpenSCAD source code also produces a pair of outlines for laser-cutting the adhesive sheet and acrylic, suitable for export to an SVG file:

HQ Sixteen Anchor - solid model - cuts — HQ Sixteen Anchor – solid model – cuts

They’re offset inward by amounts appropriate for my CO₂ laser:

if (Layout == "Cuts") {
  left(BaseOD/2 + Gap)
    offset(r=-1.0)
      circle(d=BaseOD);
  right(Cap[OD]/2 + Gap)
    offset(r=-0.2/2)
      projection()
        tube(1.0,id=Cap[ID],od=Cap[OD],anchor=BOTTOM);
}

It might be prudent to apply those offsets to the original outlines in LightBurn or whatever you use for lasering.

The OpenSCAD source code as a GitHub Gist:

	// Anchor block for HQ Sixteen
	// Ed Nisley – KE4ZNU
	// 2026-09-29

	include <BOSL2/std.scad>

	Layout = "Show"; // [Show,Build,Cuts]

	/* [Hidden] */

	ID = 0;
	OD = 1;
	LENGTH = 2;

	Gap = 10.0/2; // build platform minimum spacing
	HoleWindage = 0.2;
	Protrusion = 0.1;
	NumSides = 832*4;

	$fn=NumSides;

	// Sizes

	Screw = [5.5,25.5,5.0]; // 10-24 screw + washer holding it together

	Weight = [11.0,80.0,11.5]; // stamped steel slug

	Cap = [26.0,Weight[OD],5.5]; // acrylic disk with handle hole

	BaseFloor = 10.0;
	BaseOD = 90.0; // printed anchor

	Spacing = 25.0; // Show view separation

	//———-
	// Model things

	module Housing() {

	tube(Screw[LENGTH],id=Screw[OD],od=BaseOD,anchor=BOTTOM) position(TOP) {
	tube(Weight[LENGTH],id=Screw[ID],od=Weight[ID],anchor=BOTTOM); // weight bushing
	tube(BaseFloor – Screw[LENGTH],id=Screw[ID],od=BaseOD,anchor=BOTTOM) position(TOP)
	tube(Cap[LENGTH] + Weight[LENGTH],id=Cap[OD],od=BaseOD,anchor=BOTTOM);
	}

	}


	//———-
	// Build things

	if (Layout == "Show") {
	Housing();
	color("Orange",0.7)
	up(BaseFloor + Spacing)
	tube(Weight[LENGTH],id=Weight[ID],od=Weight[OD],anchor=BOTTOM);
	color("Gray",0.8)
	up(BaseFloor + 2*Weight[LENGTH] + Spacing)
	tube(Cap[LENGTH],id=Cap[ID],od=Cap[OD],anchor=BOTTOM);
	}

	if (Layout == "Cuts") {
	left(BaseOD/2 + Gap)
	offset(r=-1.0)
	circle(d=BaseOD);
	right(Cap[OD]/2 + Gap)
	offset(r=0.2/2)
	projection()
	tube(1.0,id=Cap[ID],od=Cap[OD],anchor=BOTTOM);
	}

	if (Layout == "Build") {
	Housing();
	}

view raw HQ Sixteen Anchor.scad hosted with ❤ by GitHub

The New Hotness

HQ Sixteen: Improved Anchor