Pickle Fork / Ball Joint Separator for Multiboard

Please excuse the residual ball joint grease. I use my tools! :D

This is a fairly simple hanger for the Multiboard system, intended for use in your garage - but this feels like one of those models that could actually be useful for something other than its intended purpose. 

It's made to hang a pair of ball joint separators, otherwise known as ‘pickle forks’ and I think I've heard ‘tuning forks’ in the shop as well. 

This probably won't do it for heavy truck ball joint tools, but it should fit any light truck and passenger car sets.

The two have in my possession are some cheap, generic forks that I probably bought from one of the big three parts stores or maybe from Harbor Freight. I've had them for over a decade, so I'm unsure about their exact origin, but they appear to be just like any available from the major brands. One of mine is ‘straight’, the other is ‘angled’, and they both fit nicely into each slot.

The snaps that interface in the back are pretty heavy-duty. They should hold considerably more weight than these couple of forks place on them. I've had this (rather, a weaker version of this) hanger in use for a few weeks now with zero change in overall dimension - a good sign that they'll hold up long term. They also snap securely into place, unlike the push-fit connections that I use for some lighter tools and accessories. No chance that they'll just back out one day - if the hanger fails, it's because it cracked and broke. And I seriously doubt that it will happen, when printed the way I set in the profiles above.

Slicer Settings:

I printed this in PETG with three wall loops and I would suggest you do the same or stronger, just in case. I used 15% infill which feels plenty robust. 

Like most of my models, I'm uploading a version of a print profile including ‘support filament’, which for me is just PLA on my PETG prints. That profile will print the best, especially if you have a dual-nozzle printer, and for not much extra filament or time. If you prefer, you can use the standard support version instead for a couple grams of filament savings, but it may be more difficult to snap into your Multiboard wall with less perfect dimensions. 

This model does require supports due to the way the snaps need to be printed. I would not suggest trying to rotate the model into any other orientation - it's not likely to help it print with less time or materials, but it will significantly weaken the finished part.

My original version of this hanger was much thinner where the forks sit. That said, it didn't fail or show any signs of imminent failure. I only redesigned it to this version because the shallowness of the original slots was bothering me, even with the draft angle. It felt like if they were bumped just right, they could fall out, and I really didn't want that much steel mass falling onto my workbench (and whatever is on it at the time) below.

I only designed this ‘dual fork’ model thus far. If you have more that you'd like to hang and don't want to print extra sets of this model (I'd recommend that anyway, as lining up more than two of these snaps on one part ends up getting difficult to snap into place on the Multiboard), I'm willing to make another model or two for different configurations. Let me know what you need, maybe along with some general max dimensions of the heads, and I'll make a new one for you!

Thanks, and be sure to check out my other Multiboard models as I release them. I have a plethora of tools in the automotive garage, wood shop, and 3D printer room… And I want to hang as much on the wall as I can, for the tools that aren't in a storage case or neatly fitted into organizers in my rolling toolboxes.