There are several semi-professional thrifters in my life that regularly rotate through the different Goodwill stores in our city prowling for deals. Their habit exposes me to a bit of second hand second hand shopping, and I always request camera equipment. Above is the current state of the tripod pile.

Often times these donated tripods don’t come fitted with their adapter plates for attaching to cameras. This nominally terminal condition is easily recoverable in the age of 3D printing.

Camgear 8403 gets an Arca Swiss plate courtesy of some PETG and an afternoon of CAD. The 1″ bolts are probably a but much, but they were the only 3/8″ bolts I had on hand. The file is available on printables.

This is the kind of bread and butter, life improving project that the maker movement is all about. I wish I got to do more of it. This tripod is now the heaviest-duty in my collection and I look forward to many more years of service.