Print-in-place: captive ball joint, Ø24 ball, limited cone — dimension sheet
Source: Xem Studio, https://xemstudio.com/objects/print-in-place-ball-joint/  (sheet CC BY 4.0; files Xem Studio Design License, https://xemstudio.com/license/)
Basis: Xem Studio design: spherical seat with 45° mouth and lip; one designed running gap of 0.40 mm
Catalog version: 2026-10-20

Overall (mm): length 60.0, width 60.0, height 45.0
- 3D print in place — prints already assembled, moving, in one job. Drawn at true size with no printer tolerance added; the 0.40 mm running gaps are part of the design.
- Running gap 0.40 mm per side, 0.80 mm on diameter — part of the design, drawn as is. On the 45° faces the same 0.40 mm is measured square to the face (0.57 mm along the axis).
- Bed: socket on its square flange, ball centre 14 mm up, stem vertical. The ball stands on a Ø6 flat: its lower cap below 45° is a 45° cone down to the bed.
- Support while printing: the socket is a sphere 0.40 mm larger than the ball, kept only between 30° below the equator and 45° above it — above 45° the opening begins, below 30° a 45° cone opens to the bed — so no ceiling in the socket is flatter than 45°; the ball, its foot cone, stem and knob flare are all within 45°.
- Captured: the mouth (Ø17.5) and the lower lip (Ø21.5) are both smaller than the Ø24 ball, so it can leave neither way.
- Freeing it: hold the socket, rock the stem round the full cone a few times and spin it; a firm first push breaks the foot off the bed.
- Motion: the stem tilts 29.6° from vertical in every direction (a 59.2° cone), stopped by the stem on the mouth edge, and spins freely; computed by tilting the model about X, Y and the diagonal.

key  value  what
gap_mm  0.4  running gap per side on every moving interface (radial, axial, under captured parts) — part of the design, not a tolerance
ball_d_mm  24.0  
socket_sphere_d_mm  24.8  ball + 2 × 0.40
stem_d_mm  6.0  
mouth_d_mm  17.54  socket opening at the top (45° up the sphere)
lip_d_mm  21.48  socket's lower lip (30° below the equator): holds the ball from falling out
cone_half_angle_deg  29.6  stem tilt from vertical to the mouth stop, any direction
cone_angle_deg  59.2  full cone swept by the stem
spin_deg  360 continuous  about the stem
axial_play_mm  0.57  ball lift from the drawn position
socket_od_mm  44  
flange_mm  60 × 60 × 4  4 × Ø4.5 on 48 × 48
knob_d_mm  16.0  on the stem, 45° flare
height_mm  45.0  as printed

Files elsewhere (not hosted by Xem Studio; license as stated by the publisher):
- Xem Studio: Print-in-place mechanism design (geometry computed in the generator) — web — Xem Studio design — https://xemstudio.com/

Free files (Xem Studio Design License, Xem Studio; STEP + STL, 3 parts): https://xemstudio.com/files/hardware/print-in-place-ball-joint/index.json
API: https://xemstudio.com/api/geometry?object=print-in-place-ball-joint