Leg cap, made to measure

Measure the bottom of your chair or table leg — the diameter of a round one, or the width and depth of a square or rectangular one — and we will cut a cap that slips over it, with the inside drawn a little bigger than the leg so it goes on by hand. You choose how far up the leg it reaches and how thick the base under it is. It prints open end up, with no supports.

What you need before you start

What it will take

Shape of the leg: 2 to choose from
Diameter of a round leg: 10–200 mm
Width of a square or rectangular leg: 10–200 mm
Depth of a square or rectangular leg: 10–200 mm
Height of the side wall: 5–60 mm
Thickness of the base: 1.5–10 mm
Nozzle size: 4 to choose from
Filament: 5 to choose from

As it comes

Inside, across30.8 mm

Outside, across35.6 mm

Height, base and wall18 mm

Filament if printed solid, roughly9 g

Build plate: 36 mm as it comes, never more than 256 mm.

What you need to hand

A calliper for the bottom of the leg: the diameter of a round leg, or the width and depth of a square or rectangular one.
How far up the leg you want the cap to reach.
Your nozzle size and the filament you will print it in.

Your leg

Measure at the bottom of the leg, where the cap goes, with a calliper. Choose the shape first: a round leg uses the diameter, a square or rectangular one the width and the depth, and the other figures are not used.

Shape of the leg

Round, or square and rectangular. A round leg uses the diameter below; a square or rectangular one uses the width and the depth.

Diameter of a round leg

Only for a round leg. Measure across the bottom of the leg with a calliper, where the cap will go, at its widest. If the leg tapers, measure at the height the top of the cap will reach.

Width of a square or rectangular leg

Only for a square or rectangular leg: across one face, near the bottom, with a calliper.

Depth of a square or rectangular leg

Only for a square or rectangular leg: across the other face, at right angles to the width. For a square leg it is the same as the width.

The cap

How far up the leg the cap reaches, and how thick its base is under the leg. What is filled in is a usual size, not a measurement of yours.

Height of the side wall

How far the cap reaches up the leg, measured from the floor of the cap inside.

Thickness of the base

The solid floor under the leg, between the leg and the ground.

The printer it will come off

Set these to the nozzle you will print with and the filament you will use; what is filled in is only our usual setting. The nozzle decides whether the walls come out the thickness we drew. The filament does not change the model: it sets the weight estimate, and flags TPU, whose fit we do not simulate.

Nozzle size

The nozzle you will print with. It does not change the model — it decides whether the walls come out the thickness we drew.

Filament

Sets the weight estimate, and flags TPU, whose fit we do not simulate. It does not change the model.

Finer adjustments

Clearance round the leg

How much bigger than the leg the inside of the cap is drawn, on each side. We allow for the print coming out a little small; more clearance slides on more easily but sits looser.

More for around the home

End cap for a tube or pipe
A plug or a cap for the open end of a tube, pipe or tubular leg, drawn from the diameter you measure.
What you need A calliper for the inside or outside diameter of the tube.
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Corner cap
A cap that slides over the corner of a table top and rounds it off, cut to the thickness of your top.
What you need A calliper for the thickness of your table top.
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Levelling wedge or shim
A wedge or a flat shim for under a foot, drawn from the two heights you measure.
What you need The gap under the foot at both ends, with a calliper's depth rod.
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