VC87 / VC97 / VC99 Tilting Bale

These Vici/Vichy VC87, VC97, and VC99 meters quite a lot wrong with them, but if it's the meter you have, I suppose we'll just have to make the best of it...

My biggest pet peeve with this meter is the horribly designed, manufactured, and implementation of a tilting bale. It's too short, it's mounted too high on the back side of the meter, and it's too flimsy to support the meter during use.

To get this meter to a proper viewing angle for most, given the position it's mounted to the meter at, it would have to be approximately 2 inches longer, which would make it stand out roughly 1/2 inch past the bottom of the meters length, and of course 2 inches outside the rubber case.

To make the meter a bit more usable for me, I added to the thickness of the stand, and padded it to stop against the rubber boot when it's fully open. This doesn't put the meter at an angle I'd like, but it's a little more reasonable than the angle it sits at with the included stand, and it doesn't feel so flimsy.

There is another model here on Thingiverse by user thiagogoularte, thing:2491426, that is listed as a replacement stand for these meters. If you're looking for a direct replacement for the original stand, and you're otherwise happy with the way the original stand functions, you should download his model. His design is much closer to the original equipment and will print quicker without the need for supports.

I printed my modified stand using the default Creality CR-10 Cura Low Quality .28mm profile, but reduced the support density to 5%. Printing it flat side down with 5% support density allowed me to peel the support from this in a single, easily manageable piece.

Making a more usable stand for this meter was, more or less, a matter of getting off my "to do" pile.

I hope somebody finds this useful.

UPDATE:02192020 Stefano was kind enough to post his images, and permitted me to add them here. The images with the blue stand are his. I think it looks much nicer in blue than it did in yellow. Thanks Stefano!

Category: Electronics