8.4 Finishing the device

AI workstation · 11 Oct 2026

A stand that passes its checks is still a bracket until the cables, the desk contact and the airflow are dealt with. This step made each v3 stand a complete device.

Cables

The PC's rear ports face the monitor's port edge, so every cable starts on the same side. They split two ways:

• To the monitor (mini HDMI and USB-C): out of a side exit in the cable bay's end wall, then 98 mm along the monitor's back to its ports, level with them. The check runs a 10 mm path along that route clear of the carrier, the shell, the monitor and the PC.
• To the desk (power, network, USB): down through the bay's floor, then down the fin's back edge through a TPU clip.

The clip grips the fin's back edge by friction and holds the cables in a 12 mm loop behind it. The cables push in through a 3 mm slit. The fin's back edge leans, so the clip's pocket reaches 1.5 mm past the edge's furthest point. The clip is 18 × 28 × 12 mm and 2.5 g of TPU 95A.

Desk pads, and a trade-off

A PLA foot slides on a desk. A TPU pad stops that, but where the pad sits changes the balance.

The tipping edge is wherever the stand touches the desk, so in 6 $y_\mathrm{front}$ belongs to the pad, not to the foot's rim. Four round pads at 45° would pull the front tipping edge in to about 70% of the radius. A ring keeps it near the rim.

So each foot gets a TPU ring 8 mm wide, 3 mm in from the rim, pressed into a 0.8 mm recess and standing 0.4 mm proud. Even 3 mm costs something: the weakest push to tip on E2 went from 5.3 to 5.1 N. Every stand still clears 5 N on every edge.

The recess in the foot's underside prints as an 8 mm bridge.

Vents

The shell's grilles open 915 mm² below the PC, where air comes in, and 2,105 mm² above it and over the bay, where air goes out. The PC's own side vents are about 600 mm² on each side. The shell's openings are larger than the vents they serve, so the shell does not throttle the flow. The real test is still a temperature measurement under load.

Printing TPU

The slicing script handles PLA only, so the pads and clips are sliced in Bambu Studio with a TPU 95A preset. Soft TPU and the AMS Lite need care; the external spool holder is the safe route. The clip's pocket prints at the model's 14 mm, with no clearance, because it grips by friction.

Where v3 stood after this step

E1's figures changed once more when its fin was thickened (8.2); 8.7 has the final ones.

Still open: the dock coupon, the monitor's real weight, the PC's temperature inside the shell, and the cables in hand against the 50 mm bay. Short right-angle plugs would keep the bay tidy.